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Li-ion batteries banned on flights

UK airports bacK staying in EU

india a challEnging marKEt

air cargo to taKE cEntrE stagE in bErlin

dEbatE sEt to focUs on KEy issUEs

The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals

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8

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THE International Civil Aviation Organiza-tion (ICAO) Governing Council has banned shipments of lithium ion (li-ion) batteries on passenger aircraft.

The ban comes into force on 1 April and will continue until a new packaging per-formance standard is brought in, which is expected by 2018. This will cover li-ion batteries shipped as cargo on passenger aircraft and will not include those con-tained in personal electronic equipment of either passengers or crew.

The ban comes after reviews by the ICAO Air Navigation Commission, and the United Nation’s agency’s Dangerous Goods, Flight Operations, and Airworthi-ness panels.

ICAO council president, Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu says: “This interim pro-hibition will continue to be in force as separate work continues through ICAO on a new lithium battery packaging perfor-mance standard, currently expected by 2018.”

The Air Line Pilots Association backs the move as says shipments “poses a sig-nificant safety risk on passenger flights” but feels needs to be done to address bulk shipments of lithium-metal and li-ion batteries on cargo aircraft.

MASkargo is targeting expanding its network into India, according to the carrier’s chief exec-utive officer, Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi.

Speaking to Air Cargo Week at Air Cargo India in Mumbai last week, he says another freighter route is on the radar to add to its twice a week service to Chennai and Bangalore.

Azmi explains: “This year we are looking at expanding into Delhi or Mumbai with a freighter service. It is mainly for business opportunities to China and the huge movement of e-com-merce, as well as electronics especially mobile phones between China and India. We are trying to be a player in these market sectors.”

These routes would target cargo trade lanes from India to Malaysia and on to Australia and India via Malaysia to China.

As part of the rebranding of parent firm

Malaysian Airlines, MASkargo is run sepa-rately. It is also reorganising its fleet and will stop using Boeing 747 Freighters to concen-trate on operating the Airbus A330 Freighter, Azmi says: “With the 330 operations it put us within a seven to eight hour radius from Kuala

Lumpur, which makes India an important mar-ket for us. We will continue to be a key player in the Malaysian market, linking to key partners in India, China, Europe and Australia.”

Malaysia’s economy grew by five per cent in 2015, but Azmi says the economic climate is very much in tandem with the rest of the globe, and there has been a slight decline in exports, but he expects this to only be short-term: “The beauty is we are central in Asia so we can get trade into Indonesia, Vietnam, and other South East Asian countries. The plan is to target cargo within a seven to eight hours radius wherethere is a lot of goods moving.”

As for 2016, he says: “This year is about sur-viving. Overall the air cargo market will not be that interesting, but we believe by late 2017 and into 2018 the market will grow and expand.”

indian market set to continue surging on

India’s air cargo market is the second fastest growing in the world and the boom is set to continue for the next decade and a half as the government

sees it as a key driver for its ‘Make in India’ initiative.

In 2015/16 it is forecasted to surge by around 6.7 per cent with the domestic market rising by 6.3 per cent and the international sec-tor by 6.9 per cent.

The government has revealed details of a new air cargo policy to develop the industry, which includes developing cargo hubs, encouraging cargo villages, reduc-ing dwell times to 48 hours for imports, shifting to paperless cargo processes, introducing 24/7 customs for the processing and handling of freight, developing free trade zones and providing space on long-term leases to express cargo freighters.

Other plans would benefit firms co-located at airports, as the government is proposing giving them ‘infrastructure status’ and a 10-year tax break.

Speaking at Air Cargo India at

the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mum-bai last week, the government’s senior advisor for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Renu Singh Parmar says the potential of the airfreight industry is “huge” and labels it the “land of opportunity”.

Parmar says India’s cargo tonnage throughput was 2.58 million tonnes in 2014/15, but in 2020/21 it will be 4.2 million tonnes, before rising to 5.25 mil-ion tonnes in 2023/24 and 8.75 million in 2030/31.

She explains India’s market is being driven by the developing population, growing consumer demand and an expanding man-ufacturing industry, and comes Parmar says, despite exports declining, but expansion is being fuelled by imports.

Much of the market develop-ment, Parmar forecasts will come through e-commerce, which will reach $36 billion in India in 2016, up from $16 billion in 2014 and it will hit $100 billion by 2020.

Economic forecasters say India will be the largest economy in the world by 2030, and surpass China.

Gross domestic product growth was 7.5 per cent in 2015, which was above China’s 6.7 per cent – making India the fastest growing economy in the world.

International carriers are look-ing to set to add freighter routes into India or up frequencies such as MASkargo (see below), Sau-dia Cargo (see page three) and Lufthansa Cargo (see page three).

And India’s first domestic freighter service was launched earlier this month by Quikjet Air-lines from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport to Ben-

galuru, and will also connect to Chennai, and Hyderabad using a Boeing 737-400SF.

The carrier is 78 per cent owned by the ASL Aviation Group, and is looking at growing further over the next few years and is set to wel-come another freighter next year, as it looks to cover all major metro hubs such as Mumbai and Kolkata.

Quikjet is launching services for Mumbai-based Sovika Aviation and is targeting opportunities that exist in India’s growing express cargo, e-commerce and motor industries.

indian network expansion on the radar for maskargo

Volume: 19 Issue: 8 29 February 2016

aircargoweek.com

NEWSWEEK

2 ACW 29 february 2016

Air cargo tonnage at Spanish hubs climbing

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (HKIA) (pictured) has seen cargo volumes increase by 1.5 per cent in January to 361,000 tonnes.

The January figure follows growth at the end of 2015, which proved to be a volatile year, with some months seeing large year-on-year increases and others falling. In 2015 as a whole, volumes increased by 0.1 per cent to just under 4.4 million tonnes. In January, exports and transhipments increased by three per cent, and trade with Australasia and Europe saw strongest growth.

HKIA’s operator, Airport Authority Hong Kong executive director of airport operations, CK Ng says he is very happy with the steady growth across all operations. “Along with the continuous steady growth in monthly figures, we are delighted to report new daily record set since the beginning of the year.”

Hong Kong has been increasing services to Australia. Ng says: “HKIA’s extensive flight network also continued to expand with the addition of a new destination, Australia’s Gold Coast. Hong Kong Airlines’ new route to the Gold Coast and Cairns commenced operation in January, offering three direct flights to these Australian destinations each week.”

Upgrade in facilities at Bordeaux airport

Last year was a success for cargo hubs across Spain as the country’s economy picked up.

The AENA Group says there was an overall growth in tonnage of 4.6 per cent and 715,000 tonnes were handled the highest figure ever.

AENA explains this year it is seeing increases in air cargo and in January Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport saw a 9.3 per cent rise and Barcelona-El Prat Airport a whopping 18.8 per cent.

The airport operator says there has been growth in all cargo types, especially in express parcel and temperature-controlled products.

Pharmaceuticals are also a major market and represents 18.7 per cent of the exports and 11.28 per cent of imports, and is a fast growing market in Spain.

AENA is also working to gain the Inter-

national Air Transport Association CEIV Pharma certification at Barcelona and Madrid and it expects to have the valida-tion process finished soon, after “closing the gaps detected”.

“In 2015, in terms of value, in exports gar-ments reached 20.9 per cent and pharma products were 18.7 per cent. In imports, electrical and electronics products were 24.3 per cent, and pharma products were 11.3 per cent,” AENA says.

The most in-demand cargo trade lanes

were to Europe, the Americas and the Mid-dle East. Of the cargo, 16.4 per cent was domestic and 83.6 per cent was interna-tional traffic. The main corridors are with Germany (15.76 per cent of the interna-tional traffic), USA (10.73 per cent), United Arab Emirates (9.24 per dent) and Qatar (8.14 per cent).

In 2016, AENA expects a moderate, but steady, growth for this year and has plans to develop infrastructure especially at Madrid: “AENA is now working on the urbanisation of new plots in the first line of the airport with direct access to the apron, some of them are going to be ded-icated to cargo handlers and couriers. The plots have an area of about 120,000 square metres. The urbanisation will be finished by June of this year.”

AENA has been granted plots for new facilities at Zaragoza and Vitoria airports.”

BORDEAUX-MERIGNAC AIRPORT has upgraded its infrastructure so it can handle freight “of plant and animal origin” by opening areas for phytosanitary and veterinary inspections.

Bordeaux has for many years been an approved European Union Border Inspection Post for imports of plants and products of animal origin.

It says it wanted to renew and extend facilities for regulatory inspections on entry into the European area, to meet the needs of public authorities and importers in France.

The new facilities, located in the customs area on the runway side, comprise of about 300 square metres and includes two unloading areas, two veterinary testing laboratories, one phytosanitary testing laboratory, and four cold rooms.

In 2015, airfreight volumes at Bordeaux rose by 16.2 per cent or 9,770 tonnes. The total tonnage including postal traffic and overland airfreight was 24,037 tonnes.

Uplift of 1.5% in January for Hong Kong

aircargoweek.com

NEWSWEEK

3ACW 29 FEBRUARY 2016

S audia Cargo is looking to further increase freighter and bellyhold frequencies to India to tap into the grow-ing opportunities in India.

Speaking to Air Cargo Week at the Air Cargo India conference and exhibition in Mumbai last week, vice

president for commercial, Rainer Muller (pictured) says Saudia held meetings at the event and opportunities came to the fore, which the carrier will be following up.

Muller explains: “For us India is one of the strongest markets and one of the highest growth rates both in and out of India and compared to other markets like China and Europe and on top of it we are increasing our capacities - because of the strong ties between Saudi Arabia and India.

“There is plan to increase passenger (bellyhold) frequencies to India to five passenger flights and the airline side is looking into more options. There are negotiations ongoing at the government level over additional traffic rights.

“On the freighter side we could add frequencies to the existing programme we have with two freighters into Mumbai, which is option. Another option is to look into other destinations (such as Delhi).”

Muller says India is unique as it is not facing the difficulties like other developing markets and development is more stable and he feels this is partly due to the variety of commodities: “We see growth in pharmaceuticals, and perishables (meat) and the courier business, which is one of the reasons why the market is so strong.

“There is also balance (of exports and imports), and you don’t have that everywhere and in our case something adding to it is the courier business, shipments from workers from India living in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, sending packages back consumer goods to their family.”

Muller sees Asia as a whole developing fur-ther, but one challenge in the region for cargo carriers he says is falling rates, which are put-ting pressure on freighter operations, but Saudia balances this through specialised products and trade lanes.

Asia will remain a core market he says: “In Asia, Europe and the USA, the traffic flow between these three areas will be by far

the number one traffic areas, intra-Asia traffic is developing but when it comes to growth rate there is also Africa. In the mid-

term we will see good growth into and out of Africa.”Saudi Arabia continues to be a growing market, but a different one to the Middle East due to ori-

gin destination cargo, Muller says: “UAE, Qatar and Bahrain is one area with a certain growth rate, but when it comes to origin destination it is limited to a certain extent – the main growth is achieved through sixth traffic freedom rights transiting through hubs.

“In Saudi Arabia the growth is mainly based on origin and destination traffic, more and

more people travelling to Hajj etc - and a grow-ing population, which is why the passenger

network is growing.“For cargo we are concentrating more on certain

markets and not covering the globe like other carriers. We are concentrating on double-dose markets where we

are strong and can add value to our customers like India, Bangla-desh and Kenya.”

India - the land of opportunity for Saudia Cargo

LUFTHANSA CARGO is eyeing up adding a new freighter frequency into Delhi to reap the rewards of the growing mar-ket by adding to the once a week service it now operates.

Speaking at a media briefing at Air Cargo India in Mumbai last week, the German carrier’s board member for product and sales, Alexis von Hoensbroech, says it is only an option at this stage and not concrete.

Von Hoensbroech says Lufthansa Cargo still has two MD-11s parked up in the desert and adds: “Our flexibility to deploy additional freighters is fairly limited. We are looking at options and one destination is to add another frequency to Delhi.”

Other than Delhi, Lufthansa Cargo operates freighters to Hyderabad three times a week, Chennai twice a week, Bengaluru twice a week and Mumbai five times a week.

He explains the airline operates to Dhaka in Bangladesh, but it combines with Delhi and there could be an option to deploy a second weekly frequency, which would be a “natural extension”.

Last year, the carrier saw export tonnage from the Indian market rise by 5.9 per cent and imports were up 6.7 per cent. Much of the growth is from the India to North Ameri-ca trade lane, which Lufthansa Cargo connects through its European network.

Lufthansa Cargo is the fourth largest operator on the Eu-rope to India trade lane, but has fallen due to the expansion of Middle Eastern airlines in India, who von Hoensbroech says are flooding the market with capacity.

As for Lufthansa Cargo’s infrastructure plans, he explains that the planned new state-of-the-art Lufthansa Cargo Cen-tre (LCCneo) at Frankfurt Airport will be discussed again by board members.

The project was put on hold for two years in April 2015 due to financial constraints for the Lufthansa Group, but the option of building another centre is still firmly on the table.

However, another option von Hoensbroech says is to upgrade and refurbish the existing centre, which it is con-stanly doing anyway.

He adds the LCCneo project would improve optimisation and efficiency and is the most desirable option.

aircargoweek.com

Lufthansalooking good in India

NEWSWEEK

4 ACW 29 february 2016

The chief executives of Heathrow Airport and Manchester Airports Group (MAG) have added their support to the UK staying in the European Union (eU).

The UK is to hold a referendum on whether it wants to leave the eU on 23 June. heath-row Airport chief executive officer (CeO), John holland-Kaye (pictured), and MAG, which operates Manchester Airport, Stansted Air-port, East Midlands Airport (pictured below) and Bournemouth Airport, chief executive, Charlie Cornish, where among the business leaders to sign the letter published in The Times newspaper expressing support for re-maining in a reformed eU.

Cornish says: “The eU has benefitted UK consumers and businesses enormously over the last 25 years by opening up the european aviation market to provide greater compe-tition and choice. UK airlines now compete successfully on routes right across europe, taking full advantage of the ‘open skies’ cre-ated by the eU.”

holland-Kaye says: “heathrow believes that the UK will be better off remaining in a reformed eU.”

“We are the UK’s only hub airport, connect-ing Britain to over 80 long haul destinations, and handling over a quarter of UK exports – but we also recognise that for business to thrive we also need to be part of the single european market.”

heathrow Airport made a profit of £664 million ($936 million) in 2015 compared to a loss of £98 million in 2014, as it continues its campaign for a third runway.

The London hub says de-mand has outstripped capacity, with Vietnam Air-lines moving services to ho Chi Minh City and hanoi from Gatwick Airport, for improved transfers for pas-sengers and cargo. British Airways started a new service to Kuala Lumpur and Garuda Air-lines is moving from Gatwick to heathrow for Jakarta flights on 31 March.

In July 2015, the UK government appoint-ed Airports Commission released its report on expanding capacity in the South east of england, concluding heathrow was the best option. The government said it would not for-mally respond until the end of 2015, before postponing the decision until the middle of this year to carry out further environmental impact analysis.

The airport says a third runway could pro-vide up to 40 new long haul destinations to emerging growth markets, bringing econom-ic benefits of £211 billion and 180,000 new jobs for the UK as a whole.

holland-Kaye says: “I’m confident that this summer the government will agree with its Airports Commission that expanding heathrow is the only way to secure Britain’s long-term economic future and meet environ-mental demands. We stand ready to deliver.”

Cargo volumes at heathrow rose to 1.5 million tonnes, helped by Asian growth, par-ticularly to hong Kong and China, as well as Vietnam.

Airbus is to increase production of the A330 Family from six aircraft to seven per month from January 2017.

The manufacturer says the increase will be approved mid-2016 when component production reaches the required level.

Head of A330 Family Programme, Eric Zanin

says: “The A330 has enjoyed additional com-mercial success in China, Saudi Arabia and South Africa among other countries. Add to that healthy demand for the MRTT [multi-role tanker transport] military derivative and you have an order book that can easily absorb an increase of one aircraft per month.”

The A330 Family consists of the A330-200 and A330-300, the A330-200 Freighter, ACJ330 corporate jet and A330 MRTT.

It is also developing the A330 New Engine Option (neo) versions, the A330-800neo and A330-900neo (pictured).

Airbus will start delivering neos from the fourth quarter of 2017, and it will increase range by 400 nautical miles.

BoEinG has launched its 737-800 Next Generation Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF), with the first deliveries expected in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The manufacturer has 30 firm orders and 25 commitments for the 737-800BCF. It has secured firm orders from YTo Airlines, China Postal Airlines, GE Capital Aviation and an unnamed customer. Boeing has also received 13 commitments from SF Airlines, Cargo Air and an unnamed customer.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes senior vice president Commer-cial Aviation Services, Stan Deal says: “Over the next 20 years, Boeing forecast customers will need more than 1,000 convert-ed freighters the size of the 737, with China’s domestic air freight

carriers accounting for nearly one-third of the total market.”

The 737-800BCF has a capacity of 23.9 tonnes and a range of 2,000 nautical miles. The aircraft has 12 pallet positions, 11 are standard with one half, providing 5,000 cubic feet of cargo space.

Dennis Muilenburg (pictured) has been elected chairman of Boeing, effective from 1 March, succeeding Jim McNerney, who is retiring.

Muilenburg succeeded McNerney as Boeing’s chief executive and

joined the board in July 2015. he was president and chief op-erating officer between 2013 and 2015, having served as president and CeO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

Airbus to increase A330 production

Boeing launch 737-800BCF NG UK Airports back staying in EU

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ACW 29 february 2016 6

Q uikjet Airlines has launched freighter services connecting the Indian cit-ies of Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

It is using a Boeing 737-400SF with 21.2 tonnes of capacity and 11 pallet positions. It is offering overnight services to serve the express, e-commerce and motor industries. In the first phase, it will offer four daily flights, operating overnight linking Delhi with Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The second phase will connect Mumbai and Kolkata at an undefined time in the future.

The airline is providing services for Mumbai based Sovika Aviation, which operates in the aircraft leasing, ground handling, air charter, flight operations and airline representation ser-vice businesses. Bengaluru based Quikjet is a joint venture with ASL Aviation Group.

Quikjet Airlines chief executive, captain

Preetham Phillip says: “We are significantly improving air cargo capacity and we now offer customers a far more premium service keeping in mind the time sensitive nature of the air cargo business. Our newly introduced connectivity with Sovika will provide a key advantage to the booming e-commerce industry.”

Sovika Aviation chief executive officer, Sahil Mehta says: “This freighter is the perfect extension of our existing business model and complements well with our vision of connect-ing maximum airports across the country with effective air cargo services. The partnership with Quikjet will go a long way in fulfilling this vision.”

ASL Aviation Group chief executive, Hugh Flynn says: “Quikjet will now offer a neutral cargo service and as it grows it aims to serve multiple customers, airlines, business and industry to help enable growth, competitiveness

and customer service.”“In turn this will benefit the economy in India

and this benefit will be felt more and more as Quikjet expands its operations in the months and years ahead.”

India’s passenger fleet has grown consid-erably in recent years but there are just seven freighters serving the country.

Phillip says this provides Quikjet a great opportunity.

“In some cases belly space is unsuitable for large-sized shipments or certain categories of goods that cannot be shipped on passenger air-lines for regulatory reasons. Our expertise and focus lies in providing much needed airport to airport air cargo connectivity.”

Quikjet Airlines’ new operations cleared for take-offINDIA

IndIa is a challenging market, with a lot of competition, particularly from Middle Eastern carriers, Swiss WorldCargo’s head of cargo afri-ca, Middle East & India, Shankar Iyer (pictured) tells air Cargo Week (aCW).

Iyer tells aCW: “India is a highly price conscious market, which de-mands high service with low costs. One of the main challenges is the com-petition of Middle Eastern carriers, which offer excellent connectivity and services in India.”

“We expect a subdued business environ-ment especially westbound trade, barring the fact that speed of certain transactions can be a challenge which coupled with crippling infrastructure leads to scalability issues.”

Iyer is expecting a challenging year in 2016, having experienced a minor dip in exports in 2015. “Indian exports did shrink marginally by value terms in 2015 due to reduced global demand especially from

Europe and the USa. The first two months of the year [2016] busi-ness was rather stable.”

For 2016, Iyer says: “all in all, we expect a price driven, tough, challenging year. We foresee the demand to reach its peak in the

months of March and april.”The Indian government has been

working on improving the operating environment for the airfreight industry,

something which Iyer is happy about. “We believe that the recent government efforts to clear fast track projects, e-processing in most areas of business and the ambitious ‘Make in India’ campaign will help boost ex-ports in Q4 of 2016.”

Over the past decade, Indian exports have changed significantly. Iyer says: “Over the last decade, export commodities have migrated from garments, leather goods and handicrafts to engineering goods, auto parts, spares, chemicals, pharmaceutical, aerospace etc. Goods are constantly catch-ing up on value chain.”

India a challenging market for Swiss

aircargoweek.com

T he domestic e-commerce market in India is booming and offers great opportunities, Jet Airways senior vice president for cargo, Pradeep Kumar (pictured) tells Air Cargo Week (ACW).

Jet, along with the wider industry, has seen flat condi-tions since 2014 but Kumar expects improvements in the second half of 2016. The weakness of the Indian rupee is helping exports, particularly pharmaceuticals to Europe and the USA.

Kumar tells ACW: “As has been the growth trends in the global airfreight market, Jet Airways cargo has also witnessed flat mar-ket conditions and growth since 2014.”

Kumar says there are reasons to be optimistic despite the industry’s struggles: “Whilst the markets remain less optimistic particularly on account of the world economic down-turn, Jet Airways expects market recovery by the second half of 2016.”

“This is attributed to depreciation of the Indian rupee stimu-lating exports and continued momentum on pharmaceuticals to Europe and USA and the explosive growth in domestic e-tail business.”

He says Jet continues to do the most business with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Europe, Hong Kong and South East Asia. Kumar tells ACW that Jet will expand further with more details to be announced soon.

“Imports booked on Jet Airways cargo are classified under mobile phones, electronics and communication equipment, branded fashion goods and heavy machinery. On the export side, major commodities are fresh produce, pharmaceuticals, gar-ments, industrial and manufactured goods, fresh flowers and marine products.”

Infrastructure remains a challenge in India, but e-commerce is the biggest opportunity.

Kumar says: “Challenges are on account of limited infrastructural development at cargo terminals located at major airports in metro cities. The e-commerce segment is expected to grow manifold which will create opportunities for many.”

Domestic e-commerce offers great opportunities

7ACW 29 FEBRUARY 2016

INDIA

IndIa plays a pivotal role in the IAG Cargo network, with the growing pharmaceutical business offering valuable business opportunities, regional commercial manager asia Pacific, John Cheetham (pictured) tells Air Cargo Week.

as part of the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme, India hopes to be the third largest pharmaceutical market by 2020, making up 20 per cent of global exports in generics and 49 per cent of drug master filings registered in the US. IaG Cargo has upgraded services to India to help accommodate this, including daily flights to five Indian cities, and twice a day in the cases of delhi and Mumbai. It is using a Boeing 787-9 on delhi services, an aircraft designed to carry large quanti-ties of temperature sensitive produce.

Deloitte predicts the Indian pharmaceutical business will reach $27 billion in sales by the end of 2016, something Cheetham says IaG is well placed to take advantage of. “as a carrier we are exceptionally well placed to service the transportation of this growing sector, offering our customers access to our temperature sensitive, industry-leading Con-stant Climate products as well as unrivalled global network of over 350 destinations.”

Cheetham says: “Constant Climate provides shippers and forwarders a solution that helps them comply with the strin-gent quality and regulatory needs associated with this product as well as access to 110 Constant Climate approved destina-tions across the world.”

He says Indian pharmaceutical exports have grown 45 per cent in a year, helped by greater emphasis on compliance and supply chain management including Good distribution Practice (GdP). Cheetham says: “In this important quali-ty differentiator IaG Cargo has led the initiative by teaming up with Exelsius, the international Cold Chain Management Consultancy, and conducting GdP workshops in London and Hyderabad in 2015.”

India is not without its challenges though, it lacks tranship-ment hubs and customs needs to be simplified. Cheetham says: “Enabling our airports to handle transhipment effectively will add to the existing opportunity in the airfreight market.”

“This will need to be aligned with a simplified customs pro-cess and documentation through full adoption of EdI doing away with physical paperwork. In line with our global e-com-mitment, our operation in India has succeeded in closing 2015 with 85 per cent e-aWB [electronic air waybill] penetration.”

Overall, despite the challenges, Cheetham believes India has great potential for IaG Cargo. “Overall, we are very optimistic about the current and future potential of the Indian market and will keenly support devel-opments which benefit the industry.“

India pivotal for IAG Cargo

aircargoweek.com

ACW 29 february 2016 8

T he air cargo industry is going through challenging times as weak interna-tional trade continues to have an impact, but there is still optimism.

The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) 10th World Cargo Sympo-sium (WCS) in Berlin from 15-17 March at the Intercontinental Hotel will cover the full spec-trum of issues, challenges and opportunities facing operators across the supply chain, bring-ing together key stakeholders.

WCS 2016 will feature plenary sessions, specialised tracks, workshops and executive summits and tackle aspects related to technol-ogy and innovation, security and customs, cargo operations, sustainability during presentations, panel discussions and debates.

There has never been so much to talk about in the industry from the issues around carrying lithium batteries, new security legislation soon

to come into play, over-capacity challenges due to increasing bellyhold space, the adoption of technology such as the electronic air waybill (e-AWB) and a raft of other pertinent topics.

In 2015, IATA says industry growth slowed to 2.2 per cent, but there are positive signs and opportunities are plentiful in e-commerce, phar-maceuticals, and other niche cargo markets.

Day one of WCS will be devoted entirely to the ‘Opening Plenary: The Value of Air Cargo’ on Tuesday, 15 March, which will see top IATA executives give a variety of presentations about different aspects of the industry.

IATA’s head of cargo and WCS chairman, Glyn Hughes (pictured) will make some opening remarks before a keynote address is given by the International Civil Aviation Organiza-tion’s, Dr. Fang Liu and a state of the industry talk is then given for the final time by outgoing IATA director general and chief executive officer

(CEO), Tony Tyler who will retire in June.Hughes will then review the first 10 years

that WCS has been held, reviewing challenges and successes before moving on to the industry priorities for the coming 12 months.

An economic outlook will then be given IATA’s senior economist, George Anjaparidze ask-ing ‘When will growth return?’ He will give an update on the prevailing economic climate and its implications for the industry and also look back at the last 12 months for aviation in gen-eral and air cargo.

Taking to the stage after that will be Lufthansa Cargo CEO, Peter Gerber who gives an insight to delegates what a day in the life is like as the chief of one of the globe’s biggest air cargo carriers.

Gerber will talk about the impact on busi-ness of strikes, night curfews, infrastructure challenges, fuel price fluctuations, and capacity demands, and give his vision for the future of the German carrier and how he balances that against daily challenges.

The next plenary session is entitled ‘The Value of Air Cargo speed, transparency and quality’, which will be moderated by IATA’s senior vice president for airport passenger and cargo secu-rity division, Nick Careen.

Following this will be sessions on air cargo humanitarian relief, and IATA’s assistant direc-tor for corporate communications for Europe, Middle East & Africa, Chris Goater will moder-ate a discussion focusing on where will growth come from and what are the commodities to drive industry volumes.

Hughes will then finish the day with some closing remarks, looking at the plenary’s main talking points.

On the morning of day two delegates will be able to choose from five tracks - ‘Air Cargo Europe’; ‘Supply Chain: Changing Mindsets’; ‘ULD: in the frontline of flight safety’; ‘Per-ishables: Flying it fresh!’; and ‘Technology: Harnessing the full power of data in air cargo’.

Air Cargo Europe will focus on challenges and opportunities and bring the European mar-ket under the spotlight. Discussions will centre

on shocks, boosts and underlying demand and ask what has been the impact on the air cargo industry, while also discussing e-commerce.

The track will finish will a panel debate enti-tled ‘Policies that constrain’ where panelists will ask whether European cargo operators are being silenced.

The supply chain track will debate whether the industry needs a ‘disruptive’ mindset to improve the supply chain experience.

It will explore why is it so complicated to copy or even outdo ‘disruptors’ such as Uber, Ama-zon, Alibaba, AirBnB, and iTunes to improve supply chain sustainability, raise standards and ultimately improve the customer’s experience.

The perishables track ‘Flying it fresh’ fits in with the theme of WCS ‘The Value of Air Cargo’ as the transport by air of fresh goods offers unmatched value with other modes as custom-ers are brought fruit, vegetables, flowers and others products from all corners of the globe.

Insights into the market, any technological trends and future developments in the perish-ables sector will be given by Cargolux Airlines International global logistics services direc-tor, Franco Nanna, and Kuehne + Nagel’s global business development manager, Natasha Solano.

The technology track ‘Harnessing the full power of data in air cargo’ will look at how digi-tisation is transforming the air cargo shipment journey and creating a new experience for both stakeholders and customers in the supply chain.

Qatar Airways senior manager for cargo business performance and automation, Kunal Bhatt and Descartes vice president of network integration strategy, Jos Nuijten will both share their differ-ing experiences facilitating e-cargo transformation at an airline and technology firm.

A panel will then dis-cuss and review challenges and possible next steps in e-cargo for firms.

IATA WCS 2016 PREVIEW

The value of air cargo

All about fresh

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Air cargo industry to take centre stage in Berlin

T he International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Berlin from 14-17 March will cover pertinent issues and debates taking place in the air cargo industry.

Among the tracks taking place on the afternoon of day two on Wednesday, 16 March is ‘Sustaining our value in the future’ which will focus on sustainability and how business performance depends on the ability to find, attract, develop and retain high quality resources available.

The track will see a debate on what sustainability means in the air cargo industry and will feature a welcome address by Air Canada’s vice president for cargo, Lise-Marie Turpin, who will give her take from the Canadian carrier’s perspective.

One track sure to attract delegates in high numbers is ‘Air mail and consumer e-commerce: Is air cargo ready?’ as e-commerce is an area where business opportunities exist and demand is growing.

Over the last decade volumes from the e-commerce have gone through the roof - as letters and postcards decline, small parcels and packages continue to grow.

Postal airlines in every country of the globe and airlines have had to change their models in order to cope with a new a new set of operational and regulatory rules.

The track will discuss what exactly e-commerce is, what customers wants, what hurdles need to be overcome for the industry and what are the next steps going to look like.

The first discussion will ask ‘Are you shopping online?’ and will see a welcome address and opening remarks by DeutschePost DHL’s vice president for routing and distribution, Gerhard Gompf.

There will also be a focus on how e-commerce and online retail sales have moved on in the last 12 months since WCS 2015 (pictured right and below) in Shanghai, looking at how the airmail sector has grown and the new aspects coming into the marketplace.

The International Post Corporation’s head of supply chain integration, Jorgen Van Mook will give a talk about how the industry has reacted since last year’s WCS, and where the focus is for shared benefits and collaboration between airlines and postal operators.

Other sessions in the track will ask what the future of e-com-merce will look like, the opportunities and threats it presents, and how airfreight operators can adapt their business models to reap the rewards on offer.

The final day of WCS 2016 on Thursday, 17 March will see four different tracks taking place and a closing plenary.

These will include ‘Airfreight Germany – overcoming the chal-lenges’ looking at the German airfreight market and how it has been performing.

Germany has a high global industry market share and the demand for cargo is growing – but the air cargo powerhouse is facing competition and many challenges.

The track will look at what is being done to optimise efficiency and explore the right strategic plan to ensure Germany maintains its competitive position.

The opening remarks will be given by Aircargo Club Germany president, Winfried Hartmann, and a welcome address will be given by Lufthansa Cargo’s chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), Peter Gerber (pictured above).

Another track ‘Cargo operations: leading change’ which will bring under the spotlight how the chal-lenges imposed on the handling of cargo are continuously changing and becoming more complex, but ask does the industry know how to handled the changes.

The operations and handling track will discuss tools to promote trans-parent and efficient operations and techniques for the industry on how to implement them into their daily operations.

A welcome address will be given by Flughafen Berlin Brandenberg Air-port CEO, Karsten Muehlenfeld, while Heathrow Airport’s head of cargo, Nick Platts also features in a panel.

A track entitled ‘Drones for tomorrow’s air cargo’ will round off the day and will explore the opportunities and challenges of the usage of drones for air cargo, from microdrones to unmanned

ultra-large cargo aircraft. A closing plenary will wrap up the four-days of discussions, which are sure to generate much debate, and insight into where the air cargo industry is at and its future.

Also being run alongside the conference is an exhibition, where air cargo operators will showcase what they are up to and details to delegates their future plans.

air cargo Germany

Debate set to focus on air cargo industry’s key issues

9ACW 29 february 2016

IATA WCS 2016 PREVIEW

aircargoweek.com

After a successful cooperation between Cargolux and Oman Air for cargo flights to Chennai (India) as part of an agreement signed last year, the carriers have added an additional destination in India with two weekly flights to Mumbai, beginning on 8 March

2016.Cargolux and Oman Air says the move underlines their posi-

tions as providers of high-quality air cargo service into India, offering fast and reliable connections to an ever-growing mar-ket that has witnessed increasing demand for import and export cargo capacity.

Oman Air chief operating officer, Abdulrahman Al Busaidy says: “Our product advantages include the carriage of project cargo, livestock, cargo aircraft-only freight, odd size cargo, vehicles and aircraft engines.

“And, importantly, the new service will make an even greater contribution to the development of Oman as a global cargo hub. The Sultanate’s geographical location and superb infrastructure, together with the partnership between Oman Air and Cargolux, ensure that it is rapidly becoming the first choice for transporta-tion of cargo between India, the Middle East and Europe.”

Cargolux executive vice president of sales and marketing, Niek van der Weide says: “Customers in Europe, as well as in Oman, have welcomed our service to India and can now enjoy our proven reliability and dedication to excellence in an even wider market. With India’s growing importance as a manufacturing

nation, we see a lot of future potential and possibilities for both our companies.”

Oman offers an good geographical location for Cargolux with established airports, increased cargo handling facilities and newly constructed seaports.

The agreement provides Cargolux with access to the belly capacity of Oman Air’s passenger fleet, which operates to 11 des-tinations in India, as well as to destinations in East Africa. This gives the Luxembourg airline opportunities to feed consolidated freight to Oman from a number of larger markets.

In addition, it enables both carriers to further expand their common cargo operation and build on the range of cargo initia-tives and innovations they have introduced over recent years.

Flight CV6102 leaves Luxembourg on Tuesdays at 12.25h and is routed via Bahrain where it arrives at 20.05h (all times local times).

Leaving Bahrain at 22.05h, the flight’s arrival in Mumbai is scheduled for 04.05h on Wednesdays. The return flight, CV6113 leaves Mumbai on Wednesday mornings at 06.05h and arrived in Muscat at 07.00h before continuing to Luxembourg where it arrives at 12.40h.

The second service, CV6105 leaves Luxembourg on Fridays at 14.15h and is routed via Kuwait where it arrives at 22.00h Leaving at 23.30h, It arrives in Mumbai on Saturday mornings at 05.40h. and goes on to Muscat at 08.00h as CV6116. Arrival in Muscat is set for 08.55h and the flight arrives back in Luxem-bourg on Saturdays at 14.35h.

ACW 29 february 2016 10

Oman Air and Cargolux expand cargo cooperation in India

MIDDLE EAST

AIRFREIGHT traffic at Dubai’s second airport, Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) (pictured) rose 7.7 per cent during 2015 according to the year-end traffic report issued by operator, Dubai Airports.

Cargo volumes for the year reached 888,714 tonnes, a rise on the 824,933 tonnes recorded during 2014.

Year on year cargo volumes increased despite a dip in fourth quarter (Q4) traffic when DWC handled 228,770 tonnes of freight down 9.9 per cent from 253,932 tonnes recorded during same quarter in 2014.

Dubai Airports says that both cargo and passenger num-bers in 2014 were inflated by additional services operated into DWC while Dubai International Airport (DXB) was re-duced to a single runway airport as a result of the runway refurbishment project.

Aircraft movements in Q4 rose 3.1 per cent to 12,052 compared to 11,687 movements during the same period last year. Full year aircraft movements reached 42,055 down 11.8 per cent from 47,655 movements recorded in 2014 again due to the one-off spike in activity created by the runway project at DXB.

Dubai Airports chief executive officer, Paul Griffiths says: “DWC is entering an exciting new phase of its development as we expand the facility to prepare for additional opera-tions from flydubai.

“Just five years after its opening, DWC has risen up the ranks to take the 18th position in terms of international cargo volumes. As passenger services continue to ramp up DWC, it will similarly elevate its status as an attractive op-tion to DXB for passengers.”

Last year, DXB saw cargo volumes increase by 3.4 per cent to 2.5 million tonnes despite pure cargo operators moving to DWC, which was due to its welcoming new air-lines like Air Canada to Toronto, Eurowings to Cologne, and China Southern to Wuhan.

DWCnow 18th busiestcargo hub

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