Aviation X Lab, the ambitious aviation-specific incubator that brings some of the largest global pioneers under one umbrella, was unveiled at Area 2071 earlier in the week. Aviation X Lab establishes a long-term partnership between Emirates and Airbus, Collins Aerospace, GE Aviation, and Thales with an aim to enhance the travel experience. Telecom provider du has signed on as its Digital Innovation Partner.
In partnership with Dubai Future Foundation, Aviation X Lab aims to innovate and create the next era of aviation with its bold vision to positively impact the lives of one billion people.
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates Airline & Group said: “Aviation is a cornerstone of the UAE’s economy, supporting around 800,000 jobs and contributing to the economy $47.4 billion, which is set to increase nearly three-fold by 2037. Dubai is looking to mitigate the challenges in the aviation ecosystem, and we have a laser-sharp focus on the evolution of technology and innovations that impact the industry, communities, future generations and our planet.
“We want to look far beyond aviation as it exists today and embrace the innovations waiting to happen, the next set of Big Ideas in the aviation space. Aviation X Lab will identify, support, fund and make these innovations accessible globally. Our aim is to transform human mobility.”
Aviation X Lab announced its first-ever challenges with the deadline for submissions set in early 2020:
Challenge 1: carbon negative aviation industry. Although the aviation industry is responsible for just 2% of the world’s carbon emissions, the challenge is based on the premise that airlines produces 115gm of CO2 per passenger km, which is 859 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. The challenge is to reduce this by 100gm or 87% to 15gm of CO2 per passenger km by 2030.
Challenge 2: Airports to Airportals. While the travel industry is projected to double in the next 15 years, adding 3.4 billion new travellers, the current model of airports is a barrier to passenger growth. The challenge is to rethink the airports’ model to achieve metrics of 10 passengers per M2 of airport infrastructure with a 10-minute maximum transition time between landside and airside.
Aviation X Lab is inviting and reaching out to start-ups, innovators, academics, NGOs, activists and corporates globally to participate in the challenges. The incubator will select teams and bring them to Dubai to co-create, experiment and develop prototypes at their premises in Area 2071. In the next phase, up to four teams will be shortlisted, and invited to pitch to investors and venture capitalists for additional funding.
The opening event witnessed demos of three key products – one from Thales and two from Emirates.
Thales showcased how Solo, its virtual assistant powered by Thales TrUE AI (Transparent, Understandable, and Ethical AI), could help increase safety and support the pilot in every decisive moment during flight. In the demo, Solo leveraged every available data to permanently provide the crew with the most efficient trajectory to optimise flight efficiency and passenger comfort.
Emirates demonstrated two ground-breaking solutions incorporating AI technology. One supports an important sustainability goal – reducing food waste. The technology provides real-time predictions and recommendations that ensure customers get their first choice inflight, while minimizing quantities of unconsumed food. Bahja, an app created by a team of UAE Nationals, incorporates facial recognition technology to help measure employee happiness, and provides real-time feedback. The app encourages employees to share their motivations with the user community, contributing to a happier workplace, and therefore happier customers.
Aviation X Lab will work in cycles of 12 months with five key active phases: launching challenges; sourcing start-ups globally; validating concepts; exploring rapid feasibility, and sourcing funding. Through this journey, X Lab will offer hands-on logistics support, research, resources, peer feedback, mentorship, and close collaboration.
Aviation X Lab was founded in October 2017 with an MOU signed in the presence of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Passengers travelling through Dubai International Airport (DXB) will be given a taste of Expo 2020 Dubai, designed to whet their appetite into attending the six-month world showcase event.
Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Dubai Airports and Expo 2020 Dubai, DXB will be promoting the event every day, giving visitors plenty of reasons to return and see it in all its glory next year.
Jamal Al Hai, deputy CEO of Dubai Airports, said, “DXB is the world’s busiest airport with 89 million international passengers. More than half this number are transfer passengers whose only memory of Dubai is what they see and experience during their stay at the airport. In the run up to the event next year, we will make their time at the airport even more exciting and unforgettable by bringing the unique vibe of Dubai and glimpses and flavors of Expo 2020 to show them why it’s an event they simply cannot miss.”
Expo 2020 Dubai has set an ambitious target of 25 million visits throughout the duration of the event, starting on October 20, 2020. The target consists of around 15 million unique visitors, with around 70 percent – or about 11m – coming from overseas.
Najeeb Al Ali, executive director of Expo 2020 bureau, said “By signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) today, Expo has added an important feature to the image that we are all seeking to draw, which relates to the cooperation and synergy of all state institutions to make this national project a success.”
The Dubai Air Navigation Services (dans), the entity responsible for air traffic control at Dubai’s airports and the Northern Emirates, has extended its joint collaboration agreement with Serco of the UK for another two years.
Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Chairman of Dubai Airports and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group, and Phil Malem, CEO, Serco Middle East signed the agreement.
The renewed agreement by dans will contribute to continually upgrade and strengthen service level at both Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport, while also ensuring a superior operational efficiency and continuity of the service adopting the latest technologies and in accordance with international standards, thanks to the high expertise enjoyed by Serco.
Speaking about the extension of the agreement, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, said: “We are continuing our efforts to offer world-class services to our customers and stakeholders. Accordingly, the extension of the agreement with Serco with whom we have a long business relationship, serves our directions and plans to further enhance our human resources and technical capacities, and to also ensure the superiority of the services we provide to the aviation sector in Dubai and the UAE”.
“Our relationship with Serco is very old and the contract extension stems up from the confidence the company enjoys in the field of air navigation services and the achievements we made together in the past years. This further supports our directions to double our capacity in order to cope with the expected growth of passenger and cargo aircraft movements across the country’s airspace in the run-up to Expo 2020,” said Mohammed Abdullah Ahli, Director General of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and CEO of dans.
“The agreement extension is in line with dans strategies to achieve a significant growth for the aviation sector in Dubai, which is building exceptionally qualified human resources and possessing cutting-edge technologies and specialized systems in the field of air navigation services. This is exactly what our agreement extension with Serco will ensure,” Al Ahli added.
Phil Malem, CEO, Serco Middle East, said, “Serco is delighted to be part of the aviation growth story, supporting air traffic services for a period exceeding five decades in partnership with dans. We are delighted to have agreed this contract extension with dans, which allows us to continue our efforts of providing world-class air traffic services through our innovative and efficient practices to further support industry growth in Dubai and the UAE, which is expected to witness substantial growth in the months and years ahead.”
Serco provides management and operational services for airports and air traffic control globally. It is one of the world’s largest private air navigation services companies. In the Middle East it is building local capacity and national talent in the field of air traffic control with the aim to further supporting the growth of air traffic in partnership with its aviation industry customers.
Earlier the Dubai Air Navigation Services (dans) has announced the signing of a strategic new leasing agreement with the Dubai Aviation City Corporation (DACC). Under the terms of the agreement, dans will establish its first training facility within Al Maktoum International Airport (AMIA) (DWC). The agreement was signed by Mohammed A Ahli, Director General of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) and CEO of dans, and Khalifa Al Zaffin, Executive Chairman of DACC in the presence of Suzan Al Anani, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) and Ibrahim Ahli, Deputy CEO, dans.
Once fully established, the new dans’ Training Facility will offer a diverse portfolio of training courses that address all technical, operational and theoretical subject matters in the field of Air Traffic Management (ATM). The facility primarily focuses on creating a global training hub from within the Emirate of Dubai that has the capacity to train individuals who are already experienced in the ATM sector and are keen towards further enhancing and developing their operational aptitude and skills, in addition to individuals who are looking to start a career in ATM.
Mohammed A Ahli, Director General, DCAA and CEO, dans, said, “In line with the economic vision set for the Emirate of Dubai and in alignment with our dedication to support the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to ‘connecting minds to build a better future,’ and to support the leadership of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, dans Chairman, the launch of the new dans’ Training Facility will mark a very important and unparalleled milestone in the history of the UAE’s ATM sector. The signing of this strategic new leasing agreement, which identifies the location of the academy, is a crucial positive step in the right direction for the academy–whose name shall soon resonate across local, regional and international fronts for being the leading operational training provider synonymous for quality driven contemporary taught operational courses.
The global certification leader SGS has issued Saudia Cargo the certificate of European Union Good Distribution Practice (EU GDP) in the sector of pharmaceuticals. The certificate marks a new achievement for Saudia Cargo and a well-deserved recognition of its high-quality storing and transporting services of pharmaceuticals and medical cargoes. Saudia Cargo has fulfilled and met all international requirements for the certificate.
“This certificate recognizes that Saudia Cargo maintains and complies with the quality management standards throughout the supply chain and applies efficient procedures and policies for receiving and handling pharmaceuticals & medical products without any risks,” said Abdulrahman Al-Mubarak, Chief Commercial Officer, Saudia Cargo.
The company has enhanced the quality of medical products warehouses and equipped its main stations inside the Kingdom with state-of-the-art equipment and devices to control temperature, which is the most important factor in the logistics services related to medical products and pharmaceuticals. The company has also qualified its cadre to efficiently handle pharmaceutical loads.
Saudia Cargo announced earlier the launch of cold storage facilities for storing pharmaceuticals & medicines at numerous main stations. The facilities conform to the international standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use as well as the local standards of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority. The facilities also ensure different temperatures and accommodate pharmaceutical companies’ containers, which require advanced technology solutions.
As the largest international airline with the biggest fleet of A380s and Boeing 777s, Emirates naturally has a lot of emergency equipment in the skies. To solve the challenge of tracking these essential items on a massive scale and scope, Emirates turned to RFID* technology.
While other airlines have also been using similar technology, Emirates completes the largest number of RFID scans for inflight emergency equipment on a daily basis – that’s for over 250 aircraft and 133,000 life vests. Importantly, it has helped the engineering team maintain emergency equipment across the board with 100% data integrity and compliance, and provide accurate inventory forecasts with much greater efficiencies.
Ahmed Safa, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President Engineering said, “We are always on the look-out for technology and its applications that boost compliance, efficiencies, employee wellness and, ultimately, the bottom line. Rolling out RFIDs for emergency equipment tracking has made our teams extremely proud on three counts: it ties in with our stringent safety standards; it minimises the challenges presented by our massive operations and fleet; and it showcases our people’s passion and skillsets. Multiple teams have worked on making this project a stellar success.”
An aircraft typically has around 30 different emergency items, including life vests, baby survival cots, defibrillators, first aid kits, fire extinguishers, medical kits, oxygen bottles and generators and protective breathing equipment. When totalled, Emirates has around 180,000 emergency equipment in its fleet at any one time.
An Airbus A380 has 820 pieces of emergency equipment that used to take 350 minutes to manually inspect, and Emirates has 112 such aircraft in the fleet. Similarly, the airline has 144 Boeing 777 passenger aircraft, each with 540 pieces of emergency equipment that used to take 270 minutes to manually inspect.
Now thanks to the RFID application, Emirates Engineering can scan an A380 in just 11 minutes, a significant saving of 97% time-wise, and a Boeing 777 in just six minutes, or 98% less time.
RFID has significantly changed the employee role and interface, improved overall resource efficiencies, and has led to savings of millions annually. The airline has more than 1,800 mechanics trained to complete an aircraft scan.
Pre-RFID, to confirm the serviceability of the life vest, mechanics were required to individually access stowage under each of the passenger seats, which could range from 489 to 615 on an A380 and from 354 to 428 in a Boeing 777, and physically read the identification label. Now with all life vests and emergency equipment RFID tagged, a mechanic simply walks through the cabin with a handset that receives all the data, which is uploaded to the Cloud and is then available to the team on any device for future scans.
The system generates a full and updated list of serviceable life vests and their exact location. It highlights seats without life vests, or those that are reaching expiry dates, enabling quick replacements.
*RFID (radio frequency identification): digital data encoded in RFID tags are captured by a reader handset via radio waves.
Oman Aviation Group’s (OAG) ‘National Air Cargo Strategy’ aims to increase cargo tonnage to 780,000 tons by 2030.
Muscat International Airport’s cargo tonnage grew by 160,000 tons in 2016 and 203,000 in 2017.
In 2018, the airport achieved 215,000 tons, according to the Oman Aviation Group.
In a statement, Oman Aviation Group said, “We strive to make Oman a hub for logistics operations, which is why we have launched our National Air Cargo Strategy, connecting us with key businesses and linking Oman’s air cargo market with the rest of the world.”
The new Muscat International Air Cargo Terminal cargo facility features a 22,780 square-meter, air-conditioned warehouses with the capacity to handle 350,000 tons of cargo per annum – a substantially larger capacity than the previous cargo facility.
The new facility includes 367 pallet or 734 container configurations for Unit Load Device (ULD) storage over three levels, as well as 2,208 Skidded Pallet Positions – all serviced by Elevating Transfer Vehicles (ETV).
There are dedicated bays that can accommodate three ‘Code F Freighter’ Aircraft, along with twenty-five 40-foot truck parking bays (or fifty 20-foot truck bays), as well as 400 car parking bays and 34 truck docks.
The facility also features Bulk Cold Rooms (consisting of 3 chillers, 2 freezers, and 1 ambient room), and ULD Cold Rooms with 28 airline pallet positions in the chiller rooms, and 8 airline pallet positions in the freezer rooms.
In addition to this, there are Scissor Lift & ULD Bypass Lane facilities, as well as X-ray machines for joining and trans-shipment cargo screening.
The facility also includes a 2,500 square-meter Live Animal Centre, a 228 square-metre Dangerous Goods Room (DGR) with the capacity to handle 90 skids and loose cartons, and a Vulnerable Goods Cage with 264 pallet positions.
The Diplomatic Room, Human Remains Room, Radioactive Room and Strong Room make up the remainder of the facility’s handling units.
The entire facility is supported by 24-hour services for import and export cargo, and its automated cargo system for documentation and warehousing, export cargo acceptance, and imports cargo delivery.
CargoLogicAir has announced it will reduce its freighter fleet by half early next year as it continues to battle ‘challenging market conditions’.
The Stansted-hubbed airline said that in early 2020 it would reduce its B747 fleet to two aircraft from its current line-up of four – three B747-400Fs and one B747-8F.
The company did not specify which of the aircraft it would stop operating but said that it would continue to offer ACMI and charter services to “key partners and new clients”.
“It’s the aim to grow the business again in the future,” the airline added.
The move comes just days after the carrier announced that it would be reducing its scheduled services, along with partner airline AirBridgeCargo.
In financial figures released in October, CargoLogicAir revealed that its revenues almost double last year but losses deepened.
The B747 freighter operator, which was established in 2015, reported a 99% year-on-year increase in revenues for the 2018 calendar year to £213.7m, but its net loss reached £18m, compared with £2.5m in 2017, and its operating loss stood at £17.8m.
The increase in revenues was down to the expansion of its fleet – from three B747Fs by the end of 2017 to four B747Fs by the end of last year – and the resultant increase in flights and services.
Meanwhile, its partner airlines in the Volga Dnepr Group are also facing a tough time.
AirBridgeCargo cancelled seven services last week and has also announced a restructuring.
Reports have also circulated over recent weeks suggesting that the Volga-Dnepr is struggling and is the process of reducing staff numbers.
The FAIR@Link portal has gone live at Hamburg Airport Cargo Center after a six-month test phase.
With the platform, which was developed by Dakosy, forwarders can book time slots for deliveries meaning shorter waiting and handling times, greater transparency and improved documentation for handling agents.
The system can prepare export customs declarations and automatically submit the electronic forms to customs upon entry to the Hamburg Airport Customs Office geofence area.
Alexander Muller, head of cargo at Hamburg Airport says, “The new platform is an important step into the digital future for us. With FAIR@Link, we can significantly improve handling processes and manage the increasing volume of traffic on the ground more efficiently. At the same time, we increase sustainability and promote environmentally compatible growth for the location.”
Forwarders Cross Freight, Delta-Stallion, a.hartrodt and Sable participated in the pilot, along with handling agents LUG and Swissport, as well as the Hamburg Airport Customs Office and the Hamburg Forwarding Agents Association.
Ulrich Wrage, CEO of Dakosy is pleased to support digitalization in Hamburg, saying: “Through connectivity and intelligent process support, FAIR@Link can optimise the physical processes between companies and achieve significantly faster and more transparent processing. In addition, the platform promotes ecological concerns, as optimised traffic management and reduced check-in and waiting times lead to CO2 savings. And it saves paper, too.”
Singapore Airlines has successfully completed its most recent Cargo iQ audit by external auditing company SGS and retains its certification as an accredited member. All members are audited every three years to ensure they are aligned with Cargo iQ standards and specifications.
“Our audit is an essential part of being a Cargo iQ member and a useful tool to evaluate their quality management system,” said Ariaen Zimmerman, Executive Director, Cargo iQ.
“The audit is conducted in three-year cycles, and its standards are continuously evaluated to stay up-to-date and reflect the best practices in the air cargo industry, as well as provide full end-to-end transparency on the planning and progress of air cargo shipments.
“At Cargo iQ we are committed to continuous processes improvement in air cargo and the audits are a way to regularly review our members, as well as help us stay aligned with our latest quality standards, to ensure Cargo iQ delivers true value to its members and their air freight customers.”
SGS audited the Cargo division of Singapore Airlines, which is based in Singapore.
“Our successful completion of this recertification audit serves as an added affirmation that we are using the Cargo iQ quality standards and processes in an effective manner to serve our customers. Achieving a perfect score on the audit is also a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team,” said Chin Yau Seng, Senior Vice President Cargo, Singapore Airlines.
“Maintaining high standards and consistently delivering on commitments to our customers continue to be our top priorities. Cargo iQ is an important enabler that helps us to sharpen our focus on systematically achieving these objectives.”
Turkish Cargo, the fastest-growing brand of the global air cargo industry, updated its web portal; a functional and user-friendly interface on Internet facilitating monitoring of all actions and providing the agents with customized solutions and facilitation.
The renewed web portal ‘TK GO’ will ensure 7/24 uninterrupted service, with an innovative interface, making it easier for users to get involved in cargo processes, introducing the opportunity to perform a great number of transactions at any time and place.
TK GO will enable you to make your cargo bookings, request for spot fares, search for flight availability, access all accounting details, print out AWB barcodes, view all details of stations, inquire about product-based embargoes, and follow up the current status of your cargo.
Designed with previous user experiences in mind, TK GO is compatible with laptops and desktops, besides various mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and aims to carry the user experience level up to the top point in functionality.
Global air cargo brand Turkish Cargo continues to take important steps in digitization processes such as Augmented Reality Glasses, Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Unmanned Air Vehicles, Robotic Automation, e-Freight (electronic message exchange), CargoiQ and Blockchain.
Technology has made the world smaller and faster.Real time communication with people from all over the world at different time zones through phones and gadgets
