Leading US air belly carrier United Airlines has joined the cargo.one digital cargo booking platform. Currently, the service on cargo.one is available to selected customers in the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland but the carrier plans to progressively introduce the platform to additional markets in the months ahead.
Chop! Chop! Quick-thinking Chapman Freeborn delivers urgent car parts
Air charter broker Chapman Freeborn landed an AS-355 helicopter on a carpark to get automotive equipment to its destination in time for a German car manufacturer. The company drew upon its fifty years of experience to identify and request the use of an adjacent car park as a temporary helipad.
“We are well aware that for our automotive customers, every second lost to inactivity translates into enormous costs,” said Reto Hunziker, President – Europe, Chapman Freeborn. “By arranging for a car park on a neighbouring site to be used as a temporary helipad, our expert team were able to deliver the spare parts needed directly to the customer’s door.”
The air charterer also recently supported a manufacturer with the testing of new cars at a remote quarry, shuttling around 250 people to the site from a nearby racetrack in Southern Germany.
New Americas chief for ECS
ECS Group has also appointed Paco Ortega as regional vice president. He will spearhead ECS Group’s commercial development efforts and work to establish greater cohesion across its US, Central, and South American operations.
With over 30 years at ECS Group, Paco Ortega has led numerous major initiatives, including integrating North American offices and establishing key partnerships across the continent. In his expanded role, he will forge stronger client connections, create regional synergies, and grow ECS Group’s ‘Abilities’ service portfolio, while overseeing the implementation of digital solutions.
His appointment follows that of Jean Ceccaldi as chief executive as part of a strategic restructuring of the airline general sales and service agency company.
New look for SATS and WFS
SATS and its wholly-owned subsidiary Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), have created a new unified global visual identity to reflect their integration, 18-months after SATS completed the acquisition of WFS. The WFS brand name will be retained in the Americas and EMEAA region, however. The new look will be rolled out in phases over the next three years and will eventually appear on SATS’ and WFS’ uniforms, airport vehicles, and infrastructure such as warehouses acros 215 stations in 27 countries.
Portugal’s TAP restarts Manaus flights
Portugal’s TAP restarts Manaus flights TAP Air Portugal has resumed three-days-a-week services from Lisbon to Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas with the first flight arriving at Eduardo Gomes International Airport on 4 November operated by an A321 neo aircraft. The service operates via Belém. The Portuguese carrier also flies from Lisbon to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belém, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Fortaleza, Natal, Maceió, Porto Alegre, Recife, Salvador and Florianópolis and from Porto to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
More stations for Menzies’ MACH system
Menzies Aviation has extended its partnership with technology services and consulting company Wipro to roll-out the Menzies Aviation Cargo Handling (MACH) cargo management system to 28 new stations in 2025.
MACH has already been deployed at 24 locations across four continents, with a further 13 airports on track to go live over the coming months.
Since its launch in November 2023, the new cargo management system has been introduced at locations including Dallas Fort Worth, Auckland and Johannesburg OR. Tambo and has managed more than 150,000 tonnes of cargo. It will ultimately be used by more than 3,000 end users, with over 600 Menzies employees now trained to use the system.
Menzies says it improves data accuracy as all electronic information is populated automatically across the system.
Air cargo fires ‘were dry run for plane attacks by Russia’
Parcel fires in courier packages in the UK, Poland and Germany in July were dry runs aimed at attacking flights to North America, the BBC is reporting, citing Polish prosecutors.
According to the report, Western security officials have now told US media they believe the fires were part of a campaign by Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.
The incidents prompted the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Transport Canada to implement emergency measures on air cargo from Europe on 13 September. Under the new rules, most cargo originating from Europe can only be transported on passenger aircraft where it is tendered by a Known Consignor or a shipper with an “established business relationship” with a regulated agent such as a freight forwarder or air carrier.
Four people have also been arrested in connection with the incidents.
The BBC said that Russia had denied being behind acts of sabotage but is suspected to have been behind other attacks on warehouses and railway networks in EU member states this year, including in Sweden and in the Czech Republic.
Polish prosecutor Ms Katarzyna Calow-Jaszewska was reported as saying that a group of foreign intelligence saboteurs had been involved in sending parcels containing hidden explosives and dangerous materials via courier companies. The fires broke out in a container due to be loaded on to a DHL freighter at Leipzig, at a transport company near Warsaw, and at Minworth near Birmingham. The head of Germany’s BfV domestic intelligence agency was reported as saying it was only by a stroke of fortune that the Leipzig device had not ignited in mid-air.
According to Western officials the fires originated in electric massage machines containing a magnesium-based substance. Magnesium-based fires are hard to put out.
“The group’s goal was also to test the transfer channel for such parcels, which were ultimately to be sent to the US and Canada,” Ms Calow-Jaszewska said.
Turkish to start Santiago flights
Turkish Airlines is to start passenger A350-900 flights from Istanbul to Santiago, Chile, from December 18. They will operate four times a week, via São Paulo in Brazil.
SpeedX owner buys Accelerated Global Solutions
Chris Zheng, founder and chief executive of last-mile delivery specialist SpeedX has acquired New York City headquartered, Accelerated Global Solutions, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition builds on a two-year collaboration between SpeedX and AGS, combining SpeedX’s last-mile delivery with AGS’s customs brokerage and freight forwarding services.
Both companies will continue to operate as separate, cooperating entities under their existing brands.
In his new role as president and chief executive of AGS, Zheng will build an integrated supply chain product suite.
SpeedX delivered its first parcel in November 2022 and now reaches over 9,000 zip codes and more than 150 million consumers across the US and CanadaIt expects to be delivering upwards of half a million parcels per day in 2025.
AGS operates warehouses and offices across North America, with key locations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, Portland, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Toronto.
Antonov delivers satellite for space study
Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines and Ceva Logistics have delivered the Hera satellite from the European Space Agency to the NASA shuttle facility in Titusville in the US. The 40-tonne consignment was carried on one of the operator’s An124 aircraft and included the 1.13 tonne satellite which is being used to study the composition of asteroids.