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Britain’s Bournemouth ready for the rush

Chris Lewis
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Britain’s Bournemouth ready for the rush

Bournemouth Airport and handler Cargo First are gearing up for peak season, with resident operator European Cargo due to bring additional A340-600 freighters on stream shortly to cater for growth in Far East to UK e-commerce.

European Cargo already operates three converted Airbus A340-600 freighters on China-UK routes (Chengdu and Haikou) with further aircraft due to commence operations in the coming months, Bournemouth says that busy London hubs are already constrained and volatility in the Red Sea continues to drive multi-modal cargo solutions.

Bournemouth Airport managing director Steve Gill, said: “Our collaboration with European Cargo has established Bournemouth as a reliable and cost-effective hub for e-commerce and other air freight into the UK, with a proven track record of delivering a highly efficient service for time-sensitive consignments for our customers. With European Cargo’s additional freighters coming on stream shortly and the constraints facing other UK hubs, we see a significant opportunity to grow the market further as we ramp up for the peak season.”

He added that Cargo First had recruited 15 new staff to warehouse, aircraft handling and security roles in the last year and was looking at longer term infrastructure investment to create more dedicated cargo facilities at Bournemouth.

European Cargo chief executive Jason Holt added: “We recently celebrated the first anniversary of flights from Bournemouth to Chengdu and in our first year operated almost 300 flights carrying some 20,000 tonnes of cargo. With our fourth fully converted long-haul freighter expected to enter service in July and two more by October, we see continued growing interest in our aircraft and services. We continue to gear up to handle the autumn peak and accompanying additional services coming on stream in the next few months.”

European Cargo’s Airbus A340-have a maximum payload of 76 tonnes and a cargo capacity of 440 cubic metres.

Both Bournemouth Airport and Cargo First are part of the UK’s privately-owned Regional and City Airports (RCA) group. RCA also owns Coventry Airport, Exeter Airport and Norwich Airport as well as executive jet centres.

Qatar Airways signs deal with Malaysia’s MASkargo

Chris Lewis
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Qatar Airways signs deal with Malaysia’s MASkargo

Qatar Airways Cargo and Malaysia’s MASkargo have memorandum of understanding for joint cargo business operations. The two carriers will offer enhanced connectivity via their hubs at Hamad International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It follows the expanded codeshare agreement signed in 2022 to offer more passenger connections. Qatar Airways Cargo is the launch customer for the Boeing 777-8 freighter and has purchased 34 aircraft with options for 16 more. Malaysian Airlines has obtained 20 new A330neo aircraft for passenger aircraft with belly-hold capacity.

Constant Climate in Strasbourg

Chris Lewis
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Constant Climate in Strasbourg

Strasbourg in eastern France has become IAG Cargo’s latest Constant Climate approved station in Europe, bringing the total in the region to 29. It will facilitate the transportation of temperature-sensitive healthcare products from France via IAG Cargo’s hubs in London and Madrid. Other recent station openings include Cincinnati and Cape Town.

Retirements and e-commerce set to tighten freighter market

Chris Lewis
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“Inconvenient retirements” of aircraft could lead to a tightening of the narrowbody freighter market, says Gediminas Ziemelis founder and current chairman of the board of Avia Solutions Group, a provider of ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance) services.

As the freighter market has begun to stabilize after the return of passenger aircraft belly capacity, the drop in demand for narrowbody freighters and the corresponding decrease in supply could result in capacity shortcomings in the near future. There has also been a fall in passenger-to-freighter conversions, Ziemelis states.

Narrowbody freighters are vital to e-commerce operations and, with the elimination of belly capacity during the pandemic, as well as the growth of e-commerce, many aircraft owners and operators turned to passenger-to-freighter conversions as a potential way to increase their revenue.

As a result, conversions more than tripled from 61 in 2019 to about 185 in 2023, with the 737-800 freighter type seeing the most growth, with many lessors converting aircraft speculatively because they had no use for them in the passenger market at the time.

While the narrowbody conversion market saw tremendous growth during the first two years of the pandemic, deliveries of converted freighters have slowed now that passenger flights have resumed and even overtaken 2019 levels. Converters reduced their delivery schedules in 2024, while others have voiced concerns about challenges facing maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities, including supply-chain shortages and decreasing demand.

Narrowbody freighters coming off conversion lines have also headed into storage, leading to concerns about overcapacity, according to Oliver Wyman.

However, the rise of e-commerce has confounded traditional thinking of the freighter market. While growth of air cargo has traditionally been closely linked to growth in GDP, long-term air cargo traffic will continue to outpace global trade growth, according to Boeing’s most recent Commercial Market Outlook, published in June 2023.

E-commerce has doubled its share of retail sales over the last five years and could account for 23% by 2026, with a demonstrable impact on narrowbody freighter demand, says Ziemelis, quoting the Commercial Market Outlook by plane manufacturer, Boeing.

Boeing’s also says that new express networks will continue to support the growth in e-commerce, with a forecasted growth of 58% in express fleets over the next 20 years, while specific rates of growth will change per region with new opportunities being created around e-commerce platforms. In the narrowbody market, for example, the 737-800 freighter has already been adopted and utilized by the likes of Amazon, DHL, Mercado Libre and JD.com for their own networks.

However, an increase in retirements is expected in the next few years for many of the aircraft in the express freighter fleet. While e-commerce has relied upon narrowbody workhorses like the 737-400F and 757-200F, both types are nearing their inevitable retirements.

In fact, Boeing estimates that there are more than 700 30-year-old narrowbody freighters still in service.

Ultimately, airlines will be facing a shortage of converted narrowbody freighters as retirements continue. Combined with the decrease in conversions in the long-term outlook, there is an impending shortfall of freighter capacity in this segment.

Global air cargo set for double-digit growth in 2024 

Chris Lewis
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Global air cargo set for double-digit growth in 2024 

Global air cargo set for double-digit growth in 2024 

The global air cargo market is on a pathway to double-digit growth in volumes in 2024 after a +12% year-on-year jump in demand in May, according to the latest data analysis by Xeneta.

Despite conservative, low single digit forecasts at the end of last year, expectations have been boosted by six consecutive months of ‘quite extraordinary’ regional demand. The global air cargo spot rate in May consequently registered its second consecutive monthly growth, rising +9% year-on-year to $2.58 per kg, and up +5% pts month-on-month.

Xeneta’s chief airfreight officer, Niall van de Wouw, said: “In terms of growth data, analysts sometimes say ‘once is an incident, twice is a coincidence, and three-times is a pattern’. In the world of air cargo, there’s an undeniable pattern emerging. We can’t use the word ‘surprising’ anymore. When we take a mid-term view of the market, with these kinds of numbers, we might be on track for double-digit growth for the year. It is now a possible scenario.”

While the growth in general spot rate must be measured against a low comparison in May 2023, van de Wouw says the market this year adjusted well to absorb the +5% increase in airlines’ summer capacity.

The highest year-on-year rate increase for May was the +110% rise in the spot rate on the Middle East & Central Asia to Europe corridor, to $3.21 per kg due to continuing Red Sea disruption. Southeast Asia and China to North America spot rates rose +65% and +43% to $4.64 per kg and $4.88 per kg respectively, while China-Europe spot rate also recorded double-digit growth, up +34% year-on-year to $4.14 per kg.

Dynamic load factor in was largely unchanged month-on-month at 58%, but up by +3% pts year-on-year.

How companies see the current market, van de Wouw acknowledged, depends on which region they are active in. Spot rates from North America and Europe to China fell -32% and -23% year-on-year respectively in May to $1.61 and $1.65 per kg. The Transatlantic market also suffered with the corridor experiencing freight rate declines in both the front and backhaul lanes. Increased belly capacity due to summer passenger travel led to drops in air cargo spot rates.

Europe-North America spot rate declined -21% to $1.77 per kg in May versus the previous year, while, eastbound, the North America-Europe corridor spot rate was -16% lower at $1.08 per kg.  

Heading towards the second half of the year, van de Wouw pointed to other positive market indicators. A bright outlook for Q4 2024 may be on the horizon following last year’s bumper end-of-year volumes. This may also be helped by a threefold increase of ocean container shipping spot rates from the Far East to North Europe and the US West Coast compared to the previous year, due to port congestion and wider disruption caused by conflict in the Red Sea, reducing the cost gap for shippers or forwarders contemplating a modal shift to air cargo.

A major shift of volume from ocean to air, however, is unlikely, Xeneta says. Compared to the onset of the Red Sea crisis or the Covid pandemic, cost spikes this time around are most likely triggered by shippers frontloading imports ahead of the ocean peak season to eliminate impacts from increased supply chain disruptions.

China’s cargo market to North America continued to gain from the resilient US economy and its strong e-commerce demand. The big question for the air cargo industry is what happens following the US crackdown on e-commerce shipments from there?

Van de Wouw comments: “At the end of 2023 we saw the dramatic impact China’s e-commerce behemoths had on the air cargo market. Everyone is now waiting anxiously to see what happens in the upcoming peak season. But if the potential rising costs and increasing transit times of e-commerce ex-China leads US consumers to procure less and less, that can have a ripple effect globally.

“If fewer freighters are required to carry e-commerce, they will enter the general air freight market (again) and produce a noticeable supply impact, putting downward pressure on rates. This possibility cannot go unnoticed.”

Musical duo for air broker

Chris Lewis
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Musical duo for air broker

Air charterer Chapman Freeborn has appointed Paul Kindred as senior business development manager – music and entertainment. He brings more than three decades of experience in the business including spells at Premier Aviation UK and Air Partner, as well as 25 years working at major record companies, including ten with Sony Music Entertainment.

He will work alongside newly appointed team leader, Chloe Phelps, who joined Chapman Freeborn in 2018 as part of the Tour Support Team. In her new role she will manage chartering services for music tours as well as nurturing client relationships.

Both will be based at the London Gatwick Airport headquarters.

“Chapman Freeborn has been chartering aircraft for the music industry since 1973, impressively coordinating major music tours, festivals, and one-off concerts for household names, right from the start,” said Kindred. “Chapman’s music and entertainment division is supported by experienced teams strategically located in all corners of the globe, that have deep inside knowledge of local and regional markets and are therefore able to offer better, more tailored solutions to clients, no matter their need or location.”

Phelps added: “Chapman Freeborn has an extensive global network which allows us to offer a bespoke, on-demand service for clients no matter the requirements and despite it being such a high-pressured, high-profile, fast-paced industry.

“Central to my role will be looking out for promising up-and-coming artists, thereby ensuring our client roster stays ahead of the curve as our music and entertainment vertical plays an even bigger role to our ongoing global growth strategy.”

FAA awards $187 million in airport grants

Chris Lewis
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The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration has awarded another round of funding for 90 airport-related infrastructure grants, totaling $186.7 million across 34 states.

The projects are funded under President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Airport Infrastructure Grants (AIG) program, part of the $25 billion total included in the law for airport improvements such as terminal expansions and baggage system upgrades, to runway safety enhancements. To date, nearly $9 billion of the $15 billion total of AIG funding has been made available to airports across the country.

“Millions of people fly every day, and making sure passengers can get to and from their destinations safely, and with less stress, has been a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The funding we’re announcing today will help 91 airports make critical upgrades to improve travel and further modernize our aviation infrastructure.”

FAA associate administrator for airports, Shannetta R. Griffin, added: “These grants not only invest in the physical infrastructure of our airports, but also in strengthening safety and improving efficiency for travelers, and help the economy thrive.”

Airports receiving the largest funding are:

  • $61.8 million to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Michigan:This grant funds the rehabilitation of an existing on-airport roadway to provide a path for aircraft rescue firefighting trucks, airport vehicles, or ground service equipment to safely operate in movement areas.
  • $23.5 million to San Diego International Airport in California: This grant funds the construction of a new 1.2 million-square-foot terminal building to include 30 gates and related areas.
  • $19.7 million to Kodiak Airport in Alaska:This grant funds the reconstruction of Taxiway F pavement to meet FAA design standards and improve safety.
  • $20.5 million to Pittsburgh International Airport in Pennsylvania: This grant funds reconstruction of the existing terminal building to allow for more efficient movement of passengers and baggage, increase energy efficiencies and replace aging infrastructure including the gate seating areas at 30 gates.
  • $8.1 million to Portland International Jetport in Maine: This grant funds rehabilitation of a portion of the existing parallel Taxiway A pavement to meet FAA standards and various other airfield projects such as installation of taxiway lighting that improve safety.

More than $454 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has been made available so far, for more than 56,000 infrastructure projects across the nation. More than$866 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments have been made in the US.

Andrew Summers to run Europe for broker ACS

Chris Lewis
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Andrew Summers to run Europe for broker ACS

Broker Air Charter Service has appointed Andrew Summers as regional director for its mainland European offices. An 18-year ACS veteran, he will be responsible for helping ACS heads of our operations across Europe in cargo, private jets and group travel grow their businesses and expand into new markets. As a fluent Russian speaker Andrew will also continue to oversee growth in central Asia through the Kazakhstan office.

WFS wins Air France KLM contract in Phoenix

Chris Lewis
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WFS wins Air France KLM contract in Phoenix

Air France-KLM has extended its partnership with WFS in North America with a new three-year passenger and ramp handing contract in Phoenix. It is the airline’s 17th destination in the US. Air France now operates three flights a week to and from Paris Charles de Gaulle.

New-look Skypallet ready for take-off

Chris Lewis
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New-look Skypallet ready for take-off

Airfreight tech company Wiremind says that Beta-testing of its Skypallet 2.0 space optimization and palletization tool is well underway and the significantly improved version is on tracking for launch this summer.

Skypallet 2.0 will bring a more intuitive interface, greater processing speeds, and workflow automation thanks to its integration with Wiremind’s cargo management system, Cargostack.

Wiremind says that Skypallet, launched in 2017, was the first commercial software to offer air cargo-specific 3D visualisation and optimization of pallet and container loads, addressing some of the industry’s most pressing pain points and giving commercial teams the operational know-how to quote shipments more efficiently.

For the new version, it has rewritten Skypallet’s code base in a new programming language which makes for faster calculation and more advanced palletization algorithms. Integration into Cargostack also allows deeper integration and significant workflow automation.

It also includes new data points that can be used by the palletization engine such as freight status or its build characteristics on an inbound leg to produce more granular results.

Wiremind chief executive Nathanaël de Tarade said: “Various improvements to Skypallet over the years means it is now used at multiple touchpoints and processes in the air cargo lifecycle by our customers. While Skypallet has already been integrated to customer systems through its API, it has remained a ‘stateless’ application relying on external systems to provide shipment and capacity inputs per calculation. By incorporating it into Cargostack as part of our version 2.0, we now have the architecture to retrieve and hold all the relevant inputs consumed by the palletization algorithm, through deep integration with a customer’s core reservation system.”

He added that this means that Skypallet can run autonomously in the background using the booking, flight and aircraft data to recommend outputs back to the airline system such as remaining available volume, suggest offloads and significantly automate the flight release process. Wiremind is also exploring new use cases with early adopter customers including a new module to manage end-to-end special load processes, in-warehouse use for build planning and execution, and aircraft weight and balance capabilities.

With the 2.0 improvements, Wirelmind says that Skypallet can be used throughout the entire cargo lifecycle from quotation to booking acceptance, capacity control, flight release, through to operations. It will be progressively rolled out to new and existing customers over the coming 12-18 months with a comprehensive change management plan.

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