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United set to become biggest US airline to Africa in new winter schedule

Airlines

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October 28, 2024

United set to become biggest US airline to Africa in new winter schedule

United Airlines said it would add nearly 4,600 flights per day including service to four new international destinations in its winter schedule. Three times a week 767-300ER flights between Newark/New York and Marrakesh launch on October 24 and, combined with United’s recently announced services from Washington Dulles to Dakar, Senegal launching in May 2025, United says it will serve more destinations in Africa than any other US carrier. There are also expanded weekly flights from Washington DC to Accra, Ghana beginning in October and Lagos, Nigeria beginning in December.

It has also become the only US carrier to fly to Cebu, Philippines, with daily 737-800 aircraft from service from Tokyo -Narita.

Several seasonal routes are extended into the fall and winter months, including to Milan and Rome from Chicago O’Hare and Madrid from Washington Dulles now flying until December 2024 and daily flights between Washington/Dulles and Lisbon, now extended to January 2025.

It will make its second daily service between San Francisco and Seoul-Incheon year-round. United will also add a second daily flight between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

The airline is also increasing flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai with daily flights starting October 26 on a Boeing 787-9.

In Latin America, it is adding a year-round service to from Houston to Medellin, Colombia, complementing existing routes to Bogota from Newark/ New York and Houston. From February 15, United will be the only carrier connecting the Northeast US to Dominica with a weekly Boeing 737-700 service. United is also planning additional servicess from Chicago, Houston, Washington DC, and Los Angeles to Buenos Aires, Argentina; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Morelia, Mexico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and San Salvador, El Salvador.

Etihad launches Toronto connection

Chris Lewis

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October 28, 2024

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Etihad Airways’ operated its first Airbus A350 passenger flight from its Abu Dhaibi hub to Toronto Pearson Airport on October 27. The carrier is also due to start daily flights to Boston November 1, six months after launching the route. The airline now flies 42 times a week to North America: twice daily to New York JFK, and daily to Boston, Chicago, Toronto and Washington DC.

Etihad Cargo will meanwhile introduce additional frequencies to existing routes and a new passenger destination, Nairobi in its new winter schedule from November 2024.

In Europe, it will add 36 weekly flights, with Frankfurt, Paris, Rome and Milan moving to double-daily services along with additional flights to Manchester, Zurich and Düsseldorf. In Southeast Asia, services to Thailand will increase by nine flights, with Bangkok reaching triple-daily frequency and Phuket increasing to 20 flights weekly. In the US, flights to Boston will increase from four to daily.

In South Asia and the Indian Ocean, the Malé route, which currently has 14 weekly flights, will switch entirely to widebody aircraft starting from December 15. Additionally, widebody frequencies will increase for Bengaluru from two to three flights per week, and Hyderabad will increase from nine to 11 flights weekly.

The new A320 route to Nairobi, also launches on December 15 with four weekly flights.

Etihad is also promised further additional capacity in summer 2025, with 41 extra flights per week to Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Middle East including double-daily flights to Manchester, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, and Zurich. In June 2025, it will introduce two new destinations—Warsaw and Prague—with four weekly flights to each.

Qatar launches Wiremind optimiser

Chris Lewis

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October 28, 2024

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Qatar Airways Cargo has launched Wiremind’s Cargostack Optimiser revenue management suite. The carrier’s revenue management teams now benefit from improved AI-generated recommendations, an intuitive user interface, a fully configurable business rules engine and an overbooking strategy recommendation algorithm. Both parties undertook extensive efforts to validate the machine learning models, including testing and iterating on multiple approaches to deliver significantly improved revenue results.

WestJet rolls out Priority product

Chris Lewis

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October 28, 2024

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Canadian carrier WestJet Cargo will launch its new Priority product from November 4. It gives eligible cargo top priority for loading and transport, guaranteeing that shipments travel on specific flights and is designed to meet the needs of industries requiring fast, reliable transportation of critical goods, such as healthcare and manufacturing.

Priority offers reduced tender cut-off times at WestJet Cargo’s main hubs—Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto and Westjet plans to expand to more hubs in the future. For narrowbody flights, the cut-off time is shortened to two hours before departure instead of the usual three hours, while widebody flights require three hours instead of the usual six. In the unlikely event that a Priority shipment does not fly as confirmed, the Priority charge will be fully refunded.

Dachser celebrates half century stateside

Chris Lewis

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October 23, 2024

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Dachser celebrates half century stateside

Dachser USA Air & Sea Logistics, the US subsidiary of German-owned global logistics provider DACHSER, celebrated its 50^th anniversary on September 16.

The family-owned logistics operator from Germany opened a location in New York in 1974, moving into an overseas region for the first time. Over the decades that followed, Dachser USA expanded its footprint across the country; a presence on the US West Coast followed in 1998, with the opening of an office in Los Angeles, California. Further branches came shortly after, Chicago in 1999, and, among other locations, Charlotte, Boston and Atlanta in 2005. Detroit is the latest addition to the US branch network in, opened in 2018.

In the past two years alone, five US branches have relocated to other facilities within their home region, to accommodate growth or get closer to customers or to logistics infrastructure like airports and ports. In 2023, the Atlanta branch opened a dedicated contract logistics, Dachser’s largest in the US so far in terms of pallet spaces and overall surface.

The company has also continued its expansion in the Americas, with own branches in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. As of 2023, around 650 employees across 23 locations in the Americas have moved 98,500 shipments totaling 281,400 tons.

Dachser is now seeking to integrate its activities in the Americas with its European Logistics road network, offering single-source door-to-door solutions.

CCT captures UK’s Tower

Uncategorized

Chris Lewis

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October 23, 2024

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Massachusetts-based Cold Chain Technologies has acquired fellow packaging specialist Tower Cold Chain in the UK for an undisclosed sum.

CCT provides advanced thermal packaging and digital monitoring solutions for temperature-sensitive life sciences products.

Founded in 1999, Tower designs, manufactures, and operates a fleet of passive reusable temperature-controlled containers used to transport high-value life sciences products from its headquarters at Theale west of London and its network of more than 20 service hubs on five continents.

CCT chief executive, Ranjeet Banerjee said: “Tower has developed an impressive portfolio of highly technical, robust reusable products capable of exceeding the stringent requirements of global pharmaceutical clients. This combination further establishes CCT as the leader in temperature-controlled packaging solutions with unmatched thermal engineering expertise, digital monitoring and tracking, global manufacturing, and commitment to sustainability.”

Tower chief executive, Niall Balfour responded: “We are excited to leverage CCT’s robust product portfolio, manufacturing capabilities, proprietary track-and-trace software, and leading R&D expertise to accelerate our worldwide growth. We have long admired CCT as a leader in our industry and believe it is the ideal partner to support Tower’s next chapter of growth. We look forward to working with Ranjeet and his team to better serve our customers, our employees, and the entire life sciences community.”

Tower is CCT’s fourth acquisition since partnering with Aurora Capital Partners in 2019 during this time it has expanded its portfolio of sustainable packaging solutions, entered key new life sciences verticals, launched its digital platform, and grown its global manufacturing and service capabilities.

DHL and IAG sign giant green fuel deal

Chris Lewis

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October 23, 2024

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DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding have signed the largest ever sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) agreement with IAG Cargo.

The partners plan to use an extra 60 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) under a renewed contract with IAG Cargo in 2024 and 2025. They say that the deal will slash emissions by around 165,000 tonnes of CO2.

The fuel will be certified by International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) and derived from sources including old used cooking oil and waste food and will mainly be delivered to London Heathrow.

IAG Cargo chief executive, David Shepherd, said: “By utilising 60 million litres of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, we are not just reducing our carbon footprint by an estimated 165,000 tonnes of CO2e, we are demonstrating the power of collaboration in driving meaningful change. This reinforces IAG Cargo’s commitment to sustainable air freight solutions and brings us closer to achieving our group goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.”

DHL Express starts work on Cincinnati hub expansion

Chris Lewis

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October 23, 2024

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DHL Express starts work on Cincinnati hub expansion

DHL Express has started work on expanding its aircraft apron and a 305,000sq ft aircraft maintenance facility at its main US hub in Cincinnati. The $292 million scheme includes eight new gates, bringing the total at the gateway to 75 and is expected to be fully operational by January 2026.

Cincinnati hub currently handles 117 daily flights and a fleet of 64 aircraft, and is one of three DHL global hubs, along with Hong Kong and Germany.

A new aviation maintenance hangar will be built on an additional 50 acres and will have space for two Boeing-777s side by side and will allow line maintenance to take place under cover.

DHL Express will also take on 300 new employees at the new maintenance facility under its joint venture with Kalitta Air.

DHL Express executive vice-president of global aviation, Rob Hyslop said: “We have been enhancing our network capabilities with newer and more fuel-efficient aircraft, and this new facility complements those efforts with additional space for more aircraft to be maintained at the same time. This translates into faster turnaround times, making the fleet more efficient to handle a growing volume of shipments.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear added that the expansion would bring new jobs to the region and also strengthen the state’s position as a logistics hub in the US.

DHL Express Americas chief executive, Andrew Williams, said: “By enhancing our operational capabilities, we are not only reducing delays and ensuring faster service but also expanding our capacity to meet the growing needs of our customers with even greater efficiency and reliability.”

Aer Lingus to launch Indianapolis flights

Chris Lewis

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October 22, 2024

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Aer Lingus to launch Indianapolis flights

Aer Lingus is will launch services between Dublin and Indianapolis on 3 May next year, operated by its new narrowbody Airbus A321XLR aircraft, of which it has six on order with the first two due to be delivered by the end of the year. The service will be the first between Europe and the US gateway since Delta Air Lines suspended its route to Paris Charles de Gaulle during the Covid pandemic in 2020. The Irish carrier is also due to launch four times a week flights to Nashville from April 12.

WFS to switch Paris ground fleet to biofuel

Chris Lewis

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October 21, 2024

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WFS to switch Paris ground fleet to biofuel

Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), a member of the SATS Group, is replacing conventional fuel with biodiesel in its ground support equipment at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport,, achieving an 80% reduction in carbon emissions.

Starting in October, biofuel will power equipment such as tow trucks, self-propelled aircraft stairs, ground power units, loaders, aircraft pushback vehicles, baggage belt loaders, cargo transporters, and air start units. These handle over 2,850 flights a year at the airport.

WFS will use over 400,000 litres of Biofuel HVO100 from supplier Campus (a member of Avia Group) to support 82% of its yearly GSE energy consumption. HVO 100 is made from waste and residues, including animal fat, industrial waste and waste water.

Laurent Bernard, WFS country manager, France, described biofuel as a ‘plug and play’ solution allowing the company to source a sustainable fuel without modifying its GSE fleet.

WFS started a trial of HVO biofuels in its airside transport fleet at London Heathrow in July in support of the airport’s goal for all airport vehicles to be zero-emission or using biofuels by 2030. Pending a successful outcome of the initial three-month period, HVO biofuel will be phased in across the entire WFS fleet of 77 airside vehicles at Heathrow.