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Saudia Cargo tosponsor two awards

qatar to continueexpanding

emiratessees healthygrowth

growing timesat aia but it aims to expand

kales to open officesin 2016

The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals

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SAUDIA AIRLINES CARGO is the latest air cargo operator to sponsor awards for the Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards 2016.

The Saudi Arabian carrier will sponsor the Air Cargo Charter Broker of the Year and the Air Cargo General Sales Agent of the Year categories.

The glittering awards night will be held at the Kerry Hotel in Shanghai (China) on Wednesday 15 June 2016.

Other category sponsors confirmed are Brussels Airport for Air Cargo Industry Customer Care of the Year, Etihad Cargo for Air Cargo Handling Agent of the Year and Air Asia for Information Technology for the Air Cargo Industry.

Voting for the Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards 2016 started on 4 January and will run until 29 April.

There are nine categories and each award is voted by members of the air cargo community.

Presentation of the awards will take place at the Kerry Hotel and the evening will also feature a champagne reception, followed by an opulent Chinese banquet with fine wines, live music and entertain-ment acts.

Amazon operated flights carrying packages in and out of the UK from mid-November until just before Christmas, according to reports which claim they are part of a trial to set up its own freight business in Europe.

The online retail giant reportedly chartered a Boeing 737 from DB Schenker to fly between Poland, the UK and Germany, making five trips a week flying from Katowice (Poland) to Lon-don Luton Airport, East Midlands Airport or Doncaster Airport, and then back to Poland via Kassel in Germany.

The round-trip reportedly linked several of Amazon’s biggest fulfilment centres in Europe with Katowice near two of its large warehouses, while Kassel is near another in Bad Hersfeld and the UK gateways are also close to ware-

houses such as one in Milton Keynes.Amazon tells Air Cargo Week about the air-

craft charter in Europe: “Within our European fulfilment network, we use various carriers with a range of transport methods for distrib-uting and delivering items. This includes air.”

The move in Europe mirrors Amazon’s strategy in the US where reports claim it is

negotiating to lease 20 Boeing 767 Freighter aircraft to use as part of a US domestic air deliv-ery service.

Media outlets claim Amazon wants to build its own cargo operations to avoid delays from other carriers, which it feels have struggled to keep up with the growth of e-commerce. Reports in the US say this has led Amazon to consider handling more of its delivery and the retailer has already approached several cargo aircraft lessors about the aircraft.

Amazon has also reportedly already run tri-als out of Wilmington, in Ohio. US reports claim a decision to go beyond the trial run and start a larger air cargo operation wil be made by the end of January and Amazon is negotiating to operate out of Wilmington.

asia Pacific carriers’ cargo volumes continue to slide

The slowdown in Asia Pacific continues as air-lines in the region saw cargo volumes fall by 2.4 per cent in November due

to slow international trade hitting manufacturing economies, accord-ing to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

This comes after the Interna-tional Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasted in December that carriers in Asia Pacific will take a hit on the freight side of business in 2016. IATA said the region is “in the front line for the impact of con-tinued weakness in cargo revenues”.

AAPA says demand in freight tonne kilometres (FTK) fell from 5.9 billion in November 2014 to just under 5.8 billion in the same month of this year. Capacity in available

freight tonne kilo-metres (AFTK)

increased by 1.8 per cent to 8.8 bil-lion. The load factor fell by 2.9

p e r c e n t -age points to

65.7 per cent.

Between January and November this year, cargo volumes are still up by 1.8 per cent to 59.3 billion due to the US West coast seaport strike giving the start of 2015 an artificial boost.

So far this year AFTK has increased by 3.7 per cent to 93.1 bil-lion while the load factor has fallen by 1.2 percentage points to 63.7 per cent.

AAPA director general, Andrew Herdman (pictured) says: “Growth in air cargo demand narrowed to a 1.8 per cent increase for the first 11 months of the year, dampened by the general slowdown in global trade.”

He says despite passenger ser-

vices benefitting from strong demand due to low oil prices, cargo is not seeing these benefits. “The air cargo business is suffering from the effects of market weakness in major trading economies, signs of inven-tory overhang and excess capacity.”

“Overall, the region’s airlines are focused on responding appropri-ately to evolving patterns of market demand, whilst making efforts to increase operational efficiency and boost profitability,” Herdman adds.

The region had a strong start to the year but has declined in every month since June. In the first two months of 2015, volumes were up by 12.8 per cent to 9.9 billion, with

FTKs increasing by 20.5 per cent to 4.8 billion in February, helped by strong demand for Asian exports, particularly to North America due to the US West coast seaport strike.

In March, April and May, the region saw year-on-year growth in each month, peaking at a 3.7 per cent increase in April to 5.3 billion. June was the first month to see a fall, down by 0.5 per cent to 5.3 billion.

This was followed by a bigger fall in July by 2.2 per cent because of slowing growth in China. The declines were slower in the fol-lowing months, with September maintaining the 2014 level of 5.3 billion FTK.

amazon could be set to operate own freight services

Volume: 19 Issue: 1 11 January 2016

aircargoweek.com

NEWSWEEK

F reight forwarders will continue to face big challenges in 2016, accord-ing to the British International Freight Association (BIFA).

The trade association for UK forward-ers, says 2016 will see its members continuing to face numerous challenges, with some the result of legislative changes and government policy, rather than eco-nomic issues.

BIFA director general, Robert Keen says: “From a legislative perspective, two major impacts on the freight forward-ing landscape in 2016 will result from the implementation of the Union Cus-toms Code and the amendment to SOLAS requiring the verification of gross mass of containers prior to loading.

“There is still significant confusion about the implications of both legislative changes and BIFA will continue to hold

events to brief members and others to help them manage the change in processes.”

The association says 2015 was domi-nated by “dreadful events” at the Channel Tunnel, which had a significant impact on freight forwarders using the cross-ing for their European overland haulage operations.

BIFA says the situation is looking likely to continue into 2016. Keen adds: “BIFA has repeatedly called for government action to address the problems being

caused by the would-be illegal immigrants attempting to stowaway on trucks. We will continue to press the authorities in France and the UK to step up their protection of the routes across the Channel and fulfil their obligations to let trade move unhin-dered on this strategic freight route.

Keen continues: “In 2015, BIFA said that it felt that there is some evidence that the UK Government is listening to the advice it is getting from the UK’s logistics sector and we welcomed the freeze in fuel duty and planned investment in the UK’s road infrastructure, as being positive signs.”

He adds this month BIFA expressed dis-may at the ongoing delay in a decision on the expansion of airport capacity in the South East and hopes the government will not let party political issues continue to stop progress on this “crucial issue, in 2016”.

2 ACW 11 january 2016

BIFA warns of challenges for freight forwarders

EMIRATES SKYCARGO moved heavy machinery and steel parts for a new bridge being constructed across the Nile River in Uganda.

The carrier was awarded the charter by a Japanese construction company to carry the heavy equipment from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport to Entebbe on 26 December, via the cargo carrier’s hub in Dubai.

The cargo, weighing about 84 tonnes, consisted of machinery, including a winch, down-the-hole hammer, and steel parts for the bridge. Emirates used a Boeing 777 Freighter to move the load.

The cable-stayed bridge, is one of the biggest bridge developments in central and East Africa, and is a project by the government of Uganda with support from the government of Japan. It is located at Jinja near the source of the Nile. Once completed the bridge is expected to improve transport flows on the Northern Corridor route which links Uganda and neighbours Burundi, Rwanda and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya.

Emirates vice president for cargo commercial in the Far East and Australasia, Ravishan-kar Mirle says: “This was a very high profile charter for what clearly is a very important project in Uganda. We were delighted to be entrusted to move this load.”

QATAR AIRWAYS CARGO has increased its fleet, having taken delivery of its seventh Airbus A330 Freighter and its first Boeing 747 Freighter.

The new aircraft will be used on routes to the Indian cities of Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai, as well as Bahrain, Brussels and London’s Stansted Airport. Qatar now has 16 freighters in its fleet, of which seven are A330s, eight are Boeing 777 Freighters, and one B747F. It plans to have 21 freighters by 2017.

Qatar Airways chief officer cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann says: “The arrival of this new aircraft brings our total fleet up to 16 freighters and is an important addition to the airline at a time when we are experiencing unprecedented growth.“Increasing our capacity in tandem with increasing our network reach is an essential part of our strategy for the coming years and we expect to have 21 freighters by 2017.”

More freighter aircraft for Qatar Airways

Emirates helps Nile River bridge construction

aircargoweek.com

NEWSWEEK

3ACW 11 JANUARY 2016

C onsolidated Aviation Services (CAS) says throughput at its Miami Inter-national Airport perishable handling centre has increased by 400 per cent to

70,000 tonnes in the first nine months of 2015.It spent $2.5 million on doubling the size of

the facility with an 18,000 square foot cooler in 2014 to add to its 12,000 square foot perishable building CAS opened in 2009.

The new building can handle up to 90 unit load devices, 16-foot wide airside doors to expe-dite shipment handling, and has a refrigerated dock to handle trucks within a temperature con-trolled environment.

It also includes an agriculture inspection facil-ity and walk-in freezer as well as multiple cool chambers for fish, flowers and other produce requiring specific temperature conditions.

CAS senior vice president for sales and mar-keting, Ray Jetha says: “Miami is a major airport for CAS and one where we have been investing for a number of years to keep pace with the

growth of our longstanding customers as well as new airlines that recognise Miami’s strong position in the US market and as a gateway to Latin America.”

“The improvements to our perishables handling centre have helped us manage the increased demand for our services and we will invest again in the future when we see the need to do so to support our customers and maintain

our strong position in the region.”

The company says the facility includes its Cool Time Arrivals service specifically for fresh fish and other commodi-ties requiring bespoke handling.

CAS says the cooler handles cargo include fresh cut flowers from Colombia and Ecuador, fresh salmon and trout

from Chile, asparagus from Peru and other fruits and vegetables from across Latin America and the Caribbean.

In other news at Miami, LAN Cargo has achieved International Organization of Stan-dardization (ISO) 14001:2004 certification for its cargo operations and facilities at the airport - the first airline to do so.

Perishables tonnage growth at Miami for CAS

HONG KONG AIR CARGO TERMINALS (Hactl) says it has broken two records, one for the most freighters handled in a month, and in a single day.

Hactl says it handled 2,242 freighters in November, beat-ing the previous record of 2,232 in November 2014. On 2 December, Hactl set its daily record of handling 95 freight-ers, beating the previous best of 92 set on 19 November 2014.

The cargo handler says the increase came from its pre-Christmas scheduled and charter flights, and ad hoc project freighter movements.

Hactl executive director, Simon Fu says: “Our steady growth has been driven by our airline customers seeking a single provider for terminal and ramp operations.”

Hactl has streamlined its ramp operations with the in-troduction of numerous improvements, including a suite of mobile apps that enable staff to upload data instantly to the company’s COSAC-Plus management system from under the aircraft. The on-going improvements have in-creased productivity, reduced the amount of airside towing, and improved handling times.

WorldNewSABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT saw volumes plunge in both October and November last year. In October it handled 69,005 tonnes, a 4.4 per cent fall on the 72,170 tonnes in the same month in 2014. Abu Dhabi saw a 7.2 per cent fall in tonnage to 70,276 in November last year. The year-to-date figure at Abu Dhabi after 11 months of 2015 was up 4.6 per cent on the same period in 2014, reaching 760,472 tonnes.

AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL handled 1.6 million tonnes of cargo in 2015, a 0.9 per cent decline in tonnage compared to 2014.The gateway says it served 27 cargo-only destinations last year, up from 21 the year before, and total number of 322, with 295 bellyhold destinations.

TIACA appoints new board memberINCHEON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’s vice president for marketing, Kwang-Soo Lee has joined The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) board of directors.

Lee joined Incheon in 1998 having worked in aviation at Northwest Airlines since 1990. Before this he worked at the electronics company, Samsung.

He graduated from the Korea Aerospace University in 1984 and has a Master’s degree in business administration from Yonsei University School of Business.

He says: “I am looking forward to helping TIACA expand its membership in North East Asia building on the success of its Air Cargo Forum here [in Seoul] in 2014.”

“I am also eager to help with the march towards e-freight by working closely together with my industry colleagues and promoting a greater understanding of the issues and ben-efits of going paperless across the air cargo supply chain.”

TIACA secretary general, Doug Brittin says: “TIACA rep-resents all sections of the air cargo industry globally and we are delighted to welcome a representative from the airport community and a new representative from Asia.”

records broken by Hactl

aircargoweek.com

NEWSWEEK

SEKO Logistics has appointed Olya Leb-edyeva as vice president of business development to lead growth into new markets through recruitment of more

strategic partners in the US.The firm says partners can be existing inde-

pendent companies that open a new SEKO location in their market, utilising SEKO technol-ogy, brand and operational standards to serve global customers.

Based in Chicago, she will also work closely with SEKO’S current strategic partners to

strengthen communications, sales and market development.

SEKO chief executive officer, William Wascher says: “This is an extremely important position within our organisation because SEKO’s strate-gic partners have played, and continue to play, such a vital role in accelerating our growth and building our brand as a first class logistics and technology provider. We want to do more with our existing partners and bring onboard new ones that extend our reach and add value to the total SEKO offering.”

4 ACW 11 january 2016

RYUKYU AIR COMMUTER (RAC) has taken delivery of its first Bombardier Q400 car-go-combi aircraft.

The carrier, part of the Japan Airlines Group, has ordered a total of five Q400 cargo-com-bis, which was unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2014. The aircraft has a cargo capacity of four tonnes and Bombardier says fuel burn is 30 per cent lower than jets it replaces.

RAC president, Takashi Irei says: “We al-ways aim to offer the highest level of comfort and convenience for our customers and the Q400 cargo-combi aircraft offers the ideal platform for the evolution of our service.”

“Increasing efficient air travel options

around Japan’s Okinawa Islands will provide strong economic and leisure advantages.”

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft president, Fred Cromer says: “By operating on routes with high cargo demand and medium to low passenger loads, RAC will benefit from the unique economic potential of the Q400 car-go-combi aircraft.”

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft vice presi-dent sales, China and North Asia, Andy Solem notes: “Adding the Q400 cargo-combi aircraft to its growing fleet allows the airline to en-rich its intra-Japan network and increase the frequency to remote Southern islands where increased cargo capacity and payload is a necessity.”

Key strategy appointment made by SEKO

AIR CHARTER SERVICE (ACS) says its US West Coast office is set for a record break-ing year in 2015.

ACS says it has arranged as many char-ters as it did in 2014 with two months of the financial year left, which finishes on 31 January. The year started strong-ly because of the US West Coast port strike at the end of 2014, extending into 2015.

Los Angeles operation pres-ident, Thomas Howe (pictured) says: “Our revenue is 12 per cent up year on year and we have chartered more flights than last year already.”

“Since the start of our financial year (1 February) we have added five new staff to the office – we now have the perfect mix of experienced account managers who have come in from other ACS offices, mixed with a great local team.”

The charter company says its Dubai of-

fice is also expecting a record breaking year. ACS says it has arranged more char-ters so far in 2015 than any of its previous 10 years in the Middle East while revenue across the region is already up 15 per cent

year on year.ACS Middle East managing direc-tor, Andrew Summers says: “We have increased the staff num-bers by almost 30 per cent this year and now have a great team here – it is a good mix of experi-

enced locals and expats from our global offices, all pulling together

in the same direction.”Summers adds: “The market in the region

has changed with the huge scaling back of military operations into Iraq and Afghani-stan over the past few years.”

“We simply never relied on this area of the market, so our business has not been impacted in the same way as some other aviation companies based here.”

First Bombardier cargo-combi for RyukyuDubai and US looking good for ACS

aircargoweek.com

NEWSWEEK

5ACW 11 JANUARY 2016

K uehne + Nagel (K+N) has unveiled a state-of-the-art 50,000 square metre Singapore Logistics Hub, to serve high tech, industrial, pharmaceutical and healthcare customers across the

booming region.The South East Asian hub is located in the

West of Singapore, near pharma and healthcare facilities, and is in close proximity to major man-ufacturers and ports.

The facility spans 46,000 square metres of warehousing space, and more than 40 per cent of the hub has advanced chilled storage, redressing and postponement facilities to sup-port pharmaceutical and healthcare companies operating in Asia.

K + N says that the hub will include K+N’s first centre of excellence for logistics innovation in the region. It will also use KN PharmaCh-ain, K+N’s product for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

K+N Group chief executive officer, Dr Detlef Trefzger explains: “The centre of excellence for logistics innovation is an integral element of Kuehne + Nagel’s strategy to foster contin-ual and operations-related logistics innovation through stronger collaboration with customers, partners and employees.”

“Global companies are realising that efficient supply chain management can be the differen-

tiator in today’s dynamic business landscape. The centre of excellence will allow us to work alongside our customers and partners in developing technologies and business strategies that are pragmatic and enhance supply chain efficiencies,” Trefzger adds.

Singapore Economic Development Board chair-

man, Dr Beh Swan Gin explains: “Asia presents many opportunities for companies to create new businesses and further differentiate exist-ing ones.”

He adds: “Innovation is therefore critical for the continued transformation of Singapore’s logistics industry and the strengthening of Sin-gapore’s position as a world-leading logistics hub.”

Singapore logistics hub opened by K+N

KERRY LOGISTICS opened its first IT Development Centre in Penang, Malaysia to harness internet technology in sup-port of its rapidly growing international operations.

The opening is in tandem with its business expansion in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and to meet rising demand for IT application system and support.

As part of its overall IT development strategy, Kerry Logis-tics will use the new centre as an offshore support centre to share resource amongst different offices globally, in a bid to increase operational efficiency at lower costs.

Penang’s economy has been developing at a fast rate for the past 10 years, making it one of the fastest growing states in Malaysia. Over the years, Penang has attracted investments from multinational corporations and has built up its reputation as the ‘Silicon Valley of the East’.

Kerry Logistics chairman, George Yeo says: “Establishing our IT Development Centre in this dynamic city will provide us readily available local IT resources, a strong pool of mul-tilingual talents, and good infrastructure support.”Kerry Logistics says it aspires to lead the next wave of Internet Plus oriented services by combining IT, big data technology with strong business and operational knowl-edge to help clients boost supply chain efficiency.

IT centre for Kerry in Penang

WorldNewsAIR CHINA started a three-times a week service to Cuba on 27 December – the first route from China.The carrier now operates services on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays from Beijing Capital International Airport to Havana, via Montreal (Canada).Air China vice chairman, Wang Yinx-iang says trade ties between China and Cuba have risen over the last few years.

EMIRATES will launch a daily bellyhold service from Dubai to Cebu and Clark in the Philippines from 30 March 2016. The carrier will use a Boeing 777-300 Extended Range on the route. Emirates will offer up to 14 tonnes of cargo ca-pacity. Popular Filipino exports are set to be perishables (dairy products and seafood) and electronic equipment.

New CEo for AVI-Ad logisticsISRAELI freight forwarder AVI-AD Logistics Services has appointed Rami Marom as chief executive officer (CEO) which became effective from 1 January this year.

Marom has a wide range of global management experi-ence and replaces Avi Cohen, who has become an active chairman of the board.

He has served until recently as the chief operating officer at CAL Cargo Airlines and as a director and board member at Swissport Israel and also at Liege Air Cargo Handling Services (LACHS).

AVI-AD Logistics Services chairman, Avi Cohen says: “I welcome Rami to his new adventure as CEO of AVI-AD. Rami has an impressive track record and rich management expe-rience, and I am certain that he will bring with him a new spirit and momentum that will push the company forward.”

Cohen adds Marom joining the company is an important reinforcement as he has the experience needed.

aircargoweek.com

ACW 11 january 2016 6

Q atar Airways Cargo saw double digit growth in 2015 and is expecting more for this year, with new routes and additional aircraft.

Chief officer for cargo, Ulrich Ogi-ermann tells Air Cargo Week (ACW) that between January and October 2015, Qatar Airways Cargo saw freight tonne kilometres (FTK) increase by 27 per cent and the airline will continue to grow into 2016. In December 2015 it added an Air-bus A330 Freighter and a Boeing 747 Freighter to its fleet and it will have one more A330F and an additional three Boeing 777 Freighters in its fleet by the end of 2016.

He says: “Despite the challenging circum-stances in 2015 for the air cargo industry as a whole, our combination of qualified staff, a flex-ible freighter fleet, a well-planned network and visionary management meant that we increased our FTK by 27 per cent January to October com-

pared to 2014.”Qatar will also increase bellyhold capac-

ity as it takes delivery of more Airbus A350s. Ogiermann is very happy with the A350, and says it has significantly increased capacity to Singapore, on German routes to Frankfurt and Munich, and Philadelphia (US). New York (US) services will receive an A350 from April. Ogier-mann tells ACW: “We are celebrating our first anniversary of A350 operations, and this new generation aircraft has been a great addition to Qatar Airways from both a passenger and a cargo perspective.”

“We now have a total of seven A350 aircraft in the fleet and this is set to grow even further in 2016.”

In January, Qatar will be increasing services to the US, having started the year off with Boeing 777 flights to Los Angeles providing 80 tonnes of capacity on 1 January. It will be increasing

freighter services to Los Angeles from three to four a week from 19 January, adding 102 tonnes of capacity a week. On 19 January, Qatar will start freighter services to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, supplementing the daily passenger flights with bellyhold capacity.

Ogiermann says this follows additional routes added during 2015. He tells ACW: “The new routes added to our network in 2015 are meet-ing and even exceeding expectations in some cases.”

“Los Angeles is a good example of a new freighter route that has been so successful since its launch in April 2015 that we are adding a new freighter to the city, taking it up to four time weekly, from 19 January.”

Fresh products continue to remain an import-ant import and export. Ogiermann says: “Our import market for fresh produce into the region is also steadily growing as the population of Qatar and other GCC countries increases, driv-ing the need for fresh food and produce to supply the busy supermarkets.”

Pharmaceuticals are increasing, helped by the Pharma Express and QR Pharma product. Ogiermann says the Brussels – Basel – Doha Pharma Express has been so successful it has replicated it in India on Mumbai – Ahmedabad – Doha and Hyderabad – Doha routes.

Ogiermann says: “One of the greatest chal-lenges that we can confidently say we have solved is the perception of customers regard-ing temperature control. Our quick transfer solution and temperature-controlled vehicles, which meet the aircraft on arrival at the hub, prevent heat exposure from the moment ship-ments arrive on the tarmac.”

He says Qatar’s pharma facilities at Hamad International Airport (HIA) include tem-perature controlled handling and storage, 64 temperature cells, a Quick Ramp Transfer, which Ogiermann claims is the fastest in Doha, as well as a dedicated climate control team.

Africa is a land of opportunity for Qatar Airways. He says: “Africa represents a huge potential with several opportunities mainly in the oil and gas, mining, telecommunications

and perishables industries. We carry bellyhold cargo to 22 destinations in Africa and operate freighters to seven destinations.”

“Freighters were launched to Accra and Dji-bouti last year and these routes are performing very well. Both Accra and Djibouti are import-ant markets for Qatar Airways Cargo and for the Middle East, and provide our customers with further gateways into Africa.”

There will be further expansion throughout 2016, including another European freighter destination and passenger services with bel-lyhold capacity to locations including Sydney and Adelaide (both Australia), Ras Al Khaimah (UAE), Atlanta and Boston (US) and Birming-ham (UK).

The airline has also launched QR Equine to manage increasing demand for horse ship-ments. Ogiermann says: “Qatar Airways Cargo prides itself on giving our equine guest a five-star experience on board and on the ground at Hamad International Airport’s state-of-the-art AVI centre in Doha.”

It has also expanded its charter product, QR Charter, and added a 747F to its fleet to cater for increased demand from the oil and gas, con-struction, airline and entertainment industries. Ogerimann says: “This sector of the market will continue to grow for us in 2016.”

Ogiermann says Qatar Airways has doubled the tonnage it handles since 2010 and it will continue to grow. “We will continue to grow by matching the quantity of our capacity with the quality of our product, with particular focus on a successive launch of exciting new products, backed up by state-of-the-art ground infrastruc-ture and a team composed of the best talent in the industry.”

Qatar Airways is constructing a second cargo terminal at HIA, which is scheduled for comple-tion in 2018. It will provide an additional 100,000 square metres of space and three million tonnes of capacity. Capac-ity at Hamad will be increased to seven million tonnes after the current expansion plans are completed.

Qatar to continue expanding beyond 2016middle east

Fresh products

aircargoweek.com

Oman is hoping to use its favourable location in the Middle East to its advan-tage as it expands its airports.

Oman Airports Management Com-pany (OAMC), the government company which manages and operates Muscat International Airport (pictured), Salalah Airport and future projects, is expanding the airports in phases to cater for future growth. Between January and November 2015, Oman Airports saw cargo and mail volumes increase by nine per cent to 111,554 tonnes.

OAMC airlines coordinator, Salsabeel Al Busaidi tells Air Cargo Week (ACW): “The con-struction in Muscat International Airport is still in progress. Muscat International Airport will be completed in the coming two years, and are looking very much forward to the inauguration of Muscat International Airport.”

“There will be a tremendous impact on the New Salalah Airport as it has commenced the new operations in the new terminal on 15 June 2015.”

As well as passenger facilities including 10 boarding bridges, it will be able to handle about

100,000 tonnes of cargo a year and a hanger for maintaining wide-body aircraft.

Busaidi says 2015 was a very successful year and more growth is expected for 2016. “The expectations are very high as well as many pos-itive changes is happening in 2016 that cannot be disclosed yet, however, we are excited for the upcoming year and are looking forward to new business opportunities coming ahead.”

He tells ACW that he is expecting volumes to rise as Oman negotiates trade deals with other countries. “Oman is undertaking negotiations with many countries to improve and increase imports and exports to the country significantly.”

The Middle East as a whole has seen large growth in recent years, both for airports and airlines. Busaidi says this is proving a challenge due to airspace congestion.

“This creates a huge concern in the airspace, as increasing high number of aircraft are flying over the Gulf region nonstop; resulting [in] a hold up of traffic not only in the airspace, but in airports on the ground – patiently waiting for a slot to free up to land or take off,” Busaidi explains.

middle east

7ACW 11 january 2016

EmiratEs skyCargo has seen strong growth within the Middle East, Africa and North America, while China is expected to recover in 2016.

Emirates SkyCargo senior vice president, Nabil Sultan (pictured) tells Air Cargo Week that the airline has had a strong year in 2015, with tonnage increasing 10 per cent to 1.2 million tonnes in the first half of the 2015/2016 financial year.

Sultan says: “We expect to see healthy growth in all our key markets in the com-ing years, especially in regions like Africa, the Middle East and North America. Traffic did slow some in Asia, particularly in China over the past year, but we are seeing signs of improvements there and believe that will continue in 2016 and beyond.”

In 2015, Emirates launched a number of new routes, including

Bali (Indonesia) and Multan (Pakistan). New freighter des-tinations included O u a g a d o u g o u in Burkina Faso,

Columbus in the

US, and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. Sul-tan says: “Many of these markets are still relatively new for us, but indications are positive.”

More is to come in 2016, with Chinese services to Yinchuan and Zhengzhou, Clark and Cebu in the Philippines, and Panama. There will also be new aircraft and expan-sion at Dubai international airport.

In May 2014, Emirates SkyCentral (pic-tured), its freighter hub at al maktoum international at Dubai World Central became operational, and was officially inau-gurated in November 2015. He says: “Our operations at Emirates SkyCentral is now firmly embedded into our daily business and processes, and we are very pleased that it has been a largely seamless transition from a single airport to a dual hub.”

Sultan says the Middle East offers many opportunities, as Dubai and its neighbours invest in infrastructure. “In the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council], infrastructure de-velopments continue to drive the need for materials and supporting logistics, this is particularly noticeable in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

aircargoweek.com

Oman upgrades infrastructure emirates sees healthy growth

ACW 11 january 2016 8

L ast year at Airbridge International Agencies (AIA) was well above expec-tations, according to general manager for Europe, Mark Andrew (pictured).

He explains the general sales agent (GSA) won some industry awards, which shows how well it is performing in the marketplace.

Andrew adds: “We also opened up our own office in Ireland last year rather than outsourc-ing to a local GSA firm and this has proven to be a popular decision with plenty of new business for all our airlines coming through our door.”

He notes year-to-date (YTD) tonnage was up 14 per cent as of the middle of December while turnover was up eight per cent YTD. “2015 has been clearly above expectations yet we should say AIA is structured to cope with any downturn of business as we have made sure our model is not just reliant on cargo GSA business.”

Andrew says various departments such as

AIA Pets and AIA Mail have seen good growth.Last year, AIA saw contrasting performance in

different regions and interestingly, the GSA saw growth with Aeroflot in the UK of six per cent: “Giving the current relationships between UK and Russia a lot of people would expect us to be down but we have managed to increase output.

We continued to grow into Australasia with new e-commerce business leading the way, plus our Austria team saw growth in certain markets on the Nikki/Air Berlin flights.”

The most challenging markets last year were the US and South America, but Andrew says he hopes with proactive thinking from sales and marketing teams clients were happy with the outcome into these regions. In 2016, he says AIA is focusing on consolidation in the UK and growth in countries like Austria, Ireland and France.

He continues: “We are also looking to upgrade our IT systems to Cargospot given the growth of AIA our current system is falling down in cer-tain areas and we pride ourselves on providing a high level of customer service so the cargo res-ervation system is a major part of that service.

“We recently updated the AIA Cargo website and will roll out the new AIA Pets website at the beginning of 2016 to help provide quicker quo-tations and service. We are looking for further expansion of AIA Pets into more countries as the need for this product grows.”

Andrew expects challenges for GSAs with the biggest being yields, which are being driven down and drops the GSA commission. He says as airlines add more capacity into the market by adding new routes or upgrading aircraft, AIA needs to be careful about over-capacity, and a prime example next year is Canada. “Our Air Transat programme is a strong year round capacity into areas like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver but in 2016 we see new airlines like Westjet plus new routes from Air Canada Rouge giving additional capacity then add on the major offline US carriers you have so much capacity added to a market in the UK down on 2014 export figures.”

Andrew expects developments in the GSA world with partnerships, franchises, joint ven-tures and purchases by equity firms. “We need airlines to see they need GSA’s and that it’s not potentially better for them to open up their own cargo department. Competition is good and healthy for all.”

Growing times at AIA but it aims to expandGLOBAL GSAs

IT upgrades

THE Kales Group is planning on setting up new general sales agent (GSA) offices in Tel Aviv and in the Middle East next year.

The firm’s chief executive officer, Peter Kales (pictured) tells Air Cargo Week that these locations and continued growth in the US and Canada are its targets for 2016.

He says in 2015 Kales performed well in terms of volumes and saw a four per cent increase compared to last year. “Our big-gest growth this year has been in Italy, but also the Nordics has improved substantial-ly again after two slow years,” Kales says.

Kales says the GSA found all markets difficult last year, especially the first six months, but in the second half of the year it saw a recovery.

The GSA is already tendering on a few new contracts and expects this to mate-rialise in Europe mainly, but also across

North America, both in the US and Canada.

It faces chal-lenges though Kales explains: “Challenges are the usual ones - additional new capacity and low

price policies, but we expect the overall drop of fuel prices will increase buying power, and consequently demand for air-freight volumes, especially in e-commerce, which is growing month by month with large volumes.”

Kales does not expect further GSA con-solidation in Europe, but says in the Far East this is just starting.

He feels that the industry will continue to grow long term along with the contin-ued growth of the Kales Group, which he explains will try to increase its market po-sition where possible.

In October last year, Saudia Cargo ap-pointed Kales as its GSA in Canada, which became effective from 1 November 2015.

Saudia operates three weekly Boeing 777 bellyhold flights from Toronto to Jed-dah and Riyadh and several widebody and freighter connections in Middle East, Afri-ca and Asia. Saudi also have the option to connect to a weekly Boeing 747 Freighter from New York.

In August last year, Kales also won business in China when Xiamen Airlines appointed it as its GSA, to represent the carrier on three weekly direct services from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to Xiamen with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Kales to open offices in 2016

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The end of last year was busy for the HAE Group as it acquired South African neu-tral consolidator Groupair and became the general sales agent (GSA) in Ireland

for Blue Air (above).The firm’s director, Neville Karai (pictured)

says it saw growth in 2015 despite changes to contracts and saw some wins and losses and development in opening new offices.

“We have grown in the UK based on upgrades to existing carrier capacity. We have grown in the US having secured three new carrier rela-tionships. Our Middle East charter activity has increased as well as our traditional GSA busi-ness. Our focus into Africa has meant volumes to this market has also increased including ‘off-set’ type activity of charters, part-charters and diversions for the freighter operators we work with,” Karai explains.

There have been challenges, such as Asia where intra-Asia capacity con-tinues to grow and the East and West bound transatlantic lane, which Karai says is suffering a “massive” over-capacity especially with freighters to and from main-land Europe and not enough freighter options from the UK to US. “In that

market we are forced to support our carriers by offering solutions to our customers over main-land Europe,” Karai notes.

Karai says the challenge for GSAs is to show it can be a competitively priced outsourcing solu-tion that works as a partner with an airline and not just a vendor.

As for 2016, Karia says HAE wants to grow its carrier base by trying to make sure it has a non-competing carrier policy, where possible. “Price, aircraft type and frequency are often key differentiators in this strategy. We would like to continue to open offices, grow our busi-ness to Africa and build solutions to support our current airlines by offering our forwarding customers more reasons to use these airlines through value added services.”

“We are also investing heavily in our IT to bridge the shortfalls between forwarders, han-dling agents, airlines and GSAs so we are an enabler,” Karai adds. South East Asia is import-ant moving forward as well as China while South America is a core part of the strategy.

He sees further consolidation of GSAs: “I think the few ‘corporate’ GSAs will continue to grow and acquire what they can, but carriers under-stand its the local and regional team who do the

business, service their customers.”Karai says GSAs need to inno-vate to add value to carriers and

give customers more options: “It is a highly competitive indus-try. We need to understand the new freight businesses, such as

e-commerce and integrate this into the air cargo industry and

help players build their networks.”

GLOBAL GSAsHAE positive about 2016

9ACW 11 january 2016

A drop in cargo yields and lower fuel sur-charges have had an impact on most players in the general sales agent (GSA) marketplace.

These have both affected ATC Aviation but its chief executive officer, Ingo Zimmer says in terms of tonnages the GSA reached its targets in 2015, but experienced a drop in yields due to sinking market tonnages, which had an impact on the market rates. “The lower fuel surcharges reduced the all in rates as well. But overall we have done much better than the market and better than in 2014,” Zimmer explains.

Zimmer tells Air Cargo Week that 2015 s t a r t e d strong but in August and Sep-

tember the market was very weak.

He explains that the market recovered to-ward the end of the year “which leaves us opti-

mistic for 2016,” he adds.

Zimmer says last year ATC did well in Eu-rope especially in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands where it gained new contracts and capacities.

However, he says that it was a different story in South Africa and explains that the situation is difficult as the recession is re-flected in the lower tonnages.

In the future, ATC is hoping for big things from its network in South America: “There is demand for a professional global GSSA there and the proof are the good online contracts we gained in 2016. In summer we got the Royal Air Morac (pictured) con-tract for Argentina and Brazil and most recently GOL for the sales of the interna-tional freight excluding Brazil. Earlier last year we started the sales for GOL in Argen-tina, Paraguay and Uruguay.”

Zimmer says ATC has grown in the US and USA DHL Aviation chose the company as its GSA in 2015 and monthly tonnages are already performing well.

“For 2016 our focus will be to expand our network in South America and Asia,” he concludes.

Yields and fuel hitting rates

aircargoweek.com

ACW 11 january 2016 10

Y usen Logistics and va-Q-tec have opened a va-Q-tec Network Station in Mumbai, which they say allows cus-tomers reliable temperature-controlled pharmaceutical shipments to and from India.

Since October last year, va-Q-tec customers have been able to return containers to the local station, as well as receive precon-ditioned, ready to load and go va-Q-tainer containers from local service partner Yusen Logistics.

The facility has been qualified by va-Q-tec’s Quality Assurance Department and local operators have been

trained and certified for container release, receipt, quality-check and

pre-conditioning processes.Both va-Q-tec and Yusen Logis-

tics see great potential in this expansion and services are also set to start soon in Ahmedabad, Hyder-

abad and at other stations in India.Yusen Logistics senior general

manager, Siddarth Kasturia says:

“Healthcare is one of our chosen industry verticals wherein, we as a company, are investing our efforts into. Knowing that India is poised to be the ‘Pharma Factory of the world’ in the next 5–10 years, Yusen Logistics India is very happy to engage with va-Q-tec as an approved Network Station (at Mumbai). We are excited to bring this state-of-the-art, patented and green technology, at an economical cost, into India, which will strongly support the temperature controlled international transportation for the Indian healthcare industry.”

va-Q-tec managing director, Dominic Hyde (pictured) says his firm is delighted to grow the partnership. He explains: “The newly opened Network Station in Mumbai enables our customers to remove the containers from the airport and transport them freely within India ensuring an unbroken cool chain for the entire duration of the shipment from origin to destination.

“We are convinced an unbroken cool chain together with a high-performing packaging solution such as the va-Q-tainer are key to ensure the deviation free transportation of high-value pharmaceutical products.”

Yusen and va-Q-tec team upPHARMA NEWS ROUND-UP

IAG CARGO will increase its Latin American services in April and May 2016 with flights from London and Madrid to Costa Rica, Peru and Puerto Rico to tap into the region’s growing pharmaceutical market.

IAG will start twice weekly British Airways services from London’s Gatwick Airport to Juan Santamaria Internation-al Airport in Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. British Airways will also be operating three times a week Gatwick to Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport from 4 May using a Boe-ing 777-200 Extended Range. Iberia will be flying Airbus A330-200s three times a week from Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas Airport to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Puetro Rico’s capital, San Juan from 15 May.

IAG Cargo regional commercial manager for Latin Amer-ica, Rodrigo Casal says: “In May 2016, IAG Cargo will now offer customers a weekly lift of up to 2,700 tonnes into Latin America.”

“There has been no direct air link between the UK and Lima since 1982 and with our ability to offer direct flights from our two European hubs, we now offer unrivalled flexibil-ity for businesses looking to connect with Peru, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico,” Casal adds.

IAG Cargo says Peru’s pharmaceutical market will by worth $3 billion by 2024 while Costa Rica’s will increase from $800 million in 2014 to $2.3 billion by 2024. The airline says it can support manufacturers through its Constant Cli-mate product.

IAG targets LATAM pharma

AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL’s cargo department, Schiphol Cargo, has released an e-book to help pharma lo-gistics managers succeed at business.

The e-book, titled “Vision Pharma Logistics 2020: Insights and practical advice” is the result of interviews with seven pharma and logistics experts. The interviewees talk about the opportunities and pitfalls of pharma transportation, as well as giving advice on supply chains up to 2020.

Schiphol Cargo business development director, Bart Pouwels says: “Today’s pharma logistics professionals face a market in the midst of major change and innovation. Pharma supply chains have grown highly complex due to multiple factors, including market expansion on both the supply and demand sides, and more stringent product quality requirements.”

Experts interviewed were uniQure supply chain manager, Rinus Govers; Konica Minolta Medical supply chain manag-er Europe, Middle East and Africa, Judith Schut; Dyzle chief executive officer, Rene Tjong Tjin Tai; DHL Global Forward-ing global head of network and quality, Nina Heinz; Watson Pharma vice president supply chain and procurement, Ryan Viegas; Air France KLM Martinair director product market group pharmaceutical logistics, Renate de Walle; and SGS Netherlands lead auditor, Antoinette van Kempen.

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Pharma e-book

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NEWSWEEK

Air cargo volumes fell for the first time over a monthly period in November 2015 since June 2013, according to market data published by WorldACD.

The industry analyst says there was 0.9 per cent year-on-year (YOY) fall in the month, but US dollar yields did improve for the third month in a row, albeit by only one per cent, which was smaller than the usual yield improvement from October to November.

WorldACD explains: “Going by the bare world-wide monthly figures, November 2015 was not a good month for air cargo,” but it adds there are “some glimmers of hope.”

It says the month-on-month yield increase was in line with last year’s when taking into account the major exchange rate effects.

WorldACD feels it is not all bad news, largely due to China and Hong Kong: “Together, these usual growth engines account for almost 30 per cent of worldwide revenues. Their exports by air to Europe had been below previous year’s vol-umes for a good part of 2015, but over the past months this negative pattern was reversed.”

WorldACD says North America had performed well since the beginning of 2015 and continued that trend towards the year’s end and the yield developments were even more encouraging.

The market analyst says contrary to figures from other sources, it observes rather posi-tive yield patterns for Asia Pacific. Between August and November, yields rose by 17 per cent to Europe, and by 10 per cent to North America.

However, it says intra-Asia Pacific air cargo suffered and YOY volumes were down by four per cent in November, and by 1.3 per cent for the last three months. And coupled with that, the average US dollar yield in the area has fallen by four per cent since August 2015.

Since August, WorldACD says volumes from Africa, Europe and the Middle East & South Asia (MESA) grew more than average (by four, four and two per cent respectively), while vol-umes from the Americas contracted compared to 2014. But in Central & South America, com-pensation was found in strongly growing yields between August and November (+13 per cent).

Perishables and pharmaceuticals remain positive over the past three months, with YOY volume growth of five per cent and 10.5 per cent respectively. Perishables shared in the small yield upswing since last August, but pharma did not and their rapid growth is accompanied by a US dollar yield drop of five per cent since September.

Noise lab launched by Gatwick

GATWICK AIRPORT has launched the UK’s first community noise lab – an interactive online tool designed to help local people more accurately monitor aircraft noise.

The gateway says the noise lab is modelled on a similar tool introduced by Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – the first of its kind in the world – and provides members of the public with better overflight information.

Gatwick hopes it will provide a clearer picture of emerging trends and help with development of longer-term noise mitiga-tion measures. The new tool was developed with input from local council environmental

health officers and GATCOM – Gatwick’s Consultative Committee. It uses live data from a network of on-the-ground noise mon-itors to produce community noise reports.

The innovative tool was developed by Casper, an IT company specialising in the development of real-time location-based monitoring and analysis tools.

Gatwick’s head of corporate responsibili-ty, Tom Denton says: “This noise lab provides up-to-date flight tracking information which will help us to more accurately monitor concerns and, in time, consider options for further noise mitigation measures.”

IAG firms up options on 15 Airbus A320sTHE International Airlines Group (IAG) has firmed up options for a further 15 Airbus A320neo aircraft.

Airbus chief operating officer for custom-ers, John Leahy says IAG and its airlines are one of Airbus’ most prestigious and loyal customers with fleets and orders covering the full range of its products.

Leahy explains: “IAG is one of the biggest customers for Airbus single aisle aircraft and demonstrates the preference of our prod-ucts amongst the world’s leading airlines. We are delighted with IAG’s further vote of confidence in Airbus’ products.”

Airbus says the A320neo Family incorpo-rate new engines and the latest technologies, and will bring a reduction in fuel consump-tion of over 15 per cent from day one and 20 per cent by 2020.

Meanwhile, a new chief executive started at IAG Cargo from this month when former British Airways chief commercial officer (CCO), Andrew Crawley took on the role. Crawley took over from Steve Gunning, who became British Airways’ chief financial offi-cer. British Airways’ head of global revenue, Adam Daniels has taken over from Crawley as acting CCO.

November not a good month for air cargo

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