Silk Way Airlines, a member of the Silk Way Group and a leading cargo carrier serving a network of charter destinations worldwide, celebrates its 20th anniversary.
From the beginning, the company contributed to the economic independence and regional leadership of Azerbaijan. It was this passion that deeply connected the airline to its purpose.
During these years, Silk Way Airlines’ route network has covered over 130 countries across the globe, while its aircraft have flown 70 million nautical miles (ca. 129,640,000 km), transporting 600k tons of freight.
Founded in 2001, the company staff currently consists over 440 professionals with a high level of expertise backed by internationally recognized qualifications. The air cargo airline initially was established on the basis of a passenger aviation flight detachment. Before the company’s foundation, three crews that had successfully undergone simulator training at the Ukrainian Uzin airfield in 1996 were retrained at the Zhuliany training and technical center near Kiev. Subsequently, they formed the first Silk Way Airlines flight crew.
Silk Way Airlines currently operates five Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft. In many cases, the crew carry out delivery of special and critical freight to regions completely cut off from the road network, to airfields with poor or virtually nonexistent infrastructure, without ground support or equipment for loading and unloading operations. Thanks to their cargo compartment equipment, Ilyushin cargo planes are the optimal solution for transportation of bulky, high-value or dangerous goods, as well as oil and gas equipment, self-propelled equipment and outsize cargo.
The first international Silk Way Airlines cargo flight was operated by an Ilyushin IL-76 (registration number 4K-AZ19) on the Baku-Le Bourget-Bagram route in October 2001. This was the first civilian flight to Afghanistan since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Today, Silk Way Airlines provides cost-effective solutions to a range of cargo transportation needs, with extensive experience in areas not accessible by scheduled flights.
‘Our most important achievements over the last two decades have been the extensive experience we have gained, as well as overcoming a range of challenges along the way. Thanks to this, today, Silk Way Airlines provides its services not only in the Caspian region but also far beyond. There has undoubtedly always been a strong team of professionals behind this twenty-year success story”, said Silk Way Airlines Director Mr. Rahim Islamov.
DSV has added Shanghai Pudong to its B747F Globetrotter air cargo charter service after initially avoiding the airport because of congestion at the facility.
The forwarder announced recently that it would operate a flight once a week between Istanbul, which connects with Liege, and the Chinese airport.
“We have added an additional stop to the route in PVG as the airport’s ground handling operations are improving after recent Covid-19 outbreaks,” DSV said.
“This means that we are changing our schedule according to the initial plan.”
In a recent interview, DSV vice president and head of global airfreight procurement Mads Ravn said that the initial plan had been to operate the service to PVG.
However, the recent Covid outbreak at the world’s third busiest cargo hub resulted in the service switching to Zhengzhou (CGO).
The service will also continue to call at CGO, while offering links across the Atlantic to Chicago Rockford and Viracopos.
DSV has run a temporary charter operation in the past, but the Globetrotter service is by Turkey-based ACT Airlines under a year-long contract.
Ravn said that the company decided to launch the new network in anticipation of a busy peak season, ongoing capacity constraints and uncertainty in the market.
Beijing-headquartered logistics provider Hongyuan Group and Brussels Airport have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the European gateway’s ties with China and support growth in the e-commerce market.
As part of the partnership, Hongyuan Group has upscaled its presence at Brussels Airport by opening a new 8,000 sq m facility, as well as selecting the hub as its European headquarters.
Hongyuan said in a statement: “Hongyuan has seen a rapid growth in its air cargo operations in Europe, and with the successful development of the “Air Silk Road” between China and Belgium, it became necessary to expand their infrastructure and find a new strategic location, which it found at Brussels Airport.
“Hongyuan is the first Chinese logistic player deploying a European logistical footprint at Brussels Airport to take their logistical services to a higher level.”
Cling Guo, director of Hongyuan Group Europe, commented, “We chose Brussels Airport as our new European headquarters as it is truly the strategic gateway to Europe. Now we can increase our operations, together with our partners at Brussels Airport. We have the ambition to become a key partner in the world of logistics around Brussels Airport. In the future, we want to gradually open additional international freight routes such as Europe, America and Southeast Asia and increase export business to China.”
Arnaud Feist, chief executive of Brussels Airport, added: “After the successful start-up of their operations at Brussels Airport in the past year, we are pleased to welcome Hongyuan Group in their new warehouse at our airport and to anchor our partnership with this Memorandum of Understanding. Being part of the Hongyuan network strengthens/from our role as the gateway to Europe for their Chinese and European clients. We are looking forward to a fruitful and long-term collaboration”.
Hongyuan has had a site at Brussels Airport since October 2020, chartering flights with multiple airlines. It plans to launch its own airline in 2022.
Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) has signed a long-term agreement to move its core cargo management system in the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia (EMEAA) region to CHAMP’s Cargospot Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution as part of its digital roadmap to standardize systems across the WFS group, eliminate paperwork and improve customers’ real-time visibility of cargo handling milestones in support of service excellence.
CHAMP is already a longstanding and established partner of WFS, the world’s largest cargo handling organization with 22,300 employees serving more than 270 airlines at 170 major airports in 20 countries on five continents. The implementation of CHAMP’s SaaS environment, and adoption of its Cargospot Mobile application using modern iOS or Android smart phone or tablet devices, will deliver transformational benefits in terms of eliminating manual processes and paperwork and give WFS cargo handling teams and customers faster access to real-time data.
WFS will seamlessly switch over its EMEAA cargo management system to CHAMP’s Cargospot SaaS in October before commencing a phased introduction of Cargospot Mobile as its teams complete the highly intuitive training provided via CHAMP’s online learning platform, CHAMP Academy. The mobile application will initially go live at WFS cargo stations in the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, France, Belgium, Spain, Sweden and Italy, and be followed by its operations in South Africa, Thailand and the UK in the second phase.
“Standardizing the platforms we use and utilizing the most technologically-advanced tools will allow us to work more efficiently as a global organization. This will enhance our customer experience and, ultimately, improve our group performance. CHAMP is a cornerstone technology supplier to WFS and is already at the center of our ecosystem of applications and capabilities. It is also working with many of our global airline customers, so we are investing in this 10-year relationship with confidence,” said Pedro Garcia, Group Chief Information Officer at WFS. “CHAMP has a solid infrastructure within their control, which ensures the reliability and resilience of their solutions and, ultimately, better performance. This is very important to an ambitious business like WFS as we need systems and suppliers with the ability to scale as we grow.”
“We are honored to be a long-term strategic partner of WFS. Our collaboration will not only bring value to our two organizations, but also the wider air cargo community,” said Chris McDermott, Chief Executive Officer at CHAMP Cargosystems. “WFS customers will benefit from our joint efforts that will enable us to push next generation applications and technologies at an ever-faster pace.”
Using Cargospot Mobile, WFS and its warehouse teams will benefit from:
Simplified data capture through touch, swipe and drag-and-drop actions
Larger screens on tablets to help remove paper from the operation
Reliable connectivity thanks to seamless switching between wifi and 3G/4G/5G connectivity
Automated validation of user actions to provide immediate feedback and prevent errors
Electronic checklists to enable warehouse staff and managers to conform to industry and local requirements.
The new technology will also give WFS and its airline customers easy-to-access visibility of what’s happening throughout the cargo handling process, with up-to-date status information on export and import freight shipments, measured against key milestones agreed in respective customer Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
John Batten, WFS’ Executive Vice President, EMEAA, added, “I am sure our customers will welcome this latest investment in our digital roadmap and recognize the improvements it is going to bring. Service Level Agreements are so important to WFS and our customers, so adopting new technologies, which make it quicker and easier to monitor real-time information of cargo handling milestones, makes perfect sense to everyone. Using CHAMP’s Cargospot SaaS and Mobile solutions will remove paper-based handling processes and help us play a bigger role at an industry level in accelerating the adoption of e-AWBs. It is also essential to support the many other digital advancements we are making. These include the roll-out of kiosk technologies at major WFS stations to improve our truck handling times, which rely on the speed and accuracy of data, truck slot bookings, Track and Trace and a new Service Delivery suite.”
Air cargo load factors and airfreight rates continued their expected peak season climb in September, according to the latest global market data from industry analysts, CLIVE Data Services.
CLIVE’s ‘dynamic loadfactor’ – which measures both the volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available to produce a true indicator of airline performance – rose to 68% in the last week of the month, higher than any pre-covid peak season level since CLIVE began sharing data in May 2018.
As in previous months, CLIVE’s latest market intelligence reports air cargo market performance to pre-covid 2019 levels, as well as 2020 year-over-year comparisons, to provide meaningful analyses of the current conditions. Data for September 2021 shows chargeable weight of +1% vs 2019, on a par with recent months, slowly tapering the gap to September 2020 volumes to +14% following the +23% and +19% levels reported in July and August 2021.
Capacity remained constrained at -13% versus the pre-covid level seen in September 2019, while in August it was still -16% versus 2019, although this more reflects the reduction in capacity in 2019 because of the ending of the summer season than an increase in capacity in 2021. Compared to August 2021, global air cargo capacity was more-or-less flat on a like-for-like basis month-over-month.
The dynamic loadfactor for September overall remained at 66% – but saw a strong upward trend towards the end of the month. This growing demand was reflected in continued higher pricing levels, with the average rate in September 2021 following a similar trend to the previous month at more than double the average rates (+113% pts) in 2019. Versus 2020, following the + 15% pts rise in rates in August, September saw a +26% pts increase as demand vs. supply further improved the ‘sellers’ market’, highlighting the strain on the air cargo supply chain.
“This September data shows just the early stages of the typical Q4 surge, but many signals and commentaries seem to suggest that this will not be a ‘typical’ peak season. The recent week-over-week increase in load factor is a significant jump by any standards and shows the pressure on the air cargo supply chain is clearly further heating up. If airlines are micromanaging their capacity right now, they can benefit from it quite substantially,” said Niall van de Wouw, CLIVE’s Managing Director.
He added, “Currently, air cargo capacity is still largely controlled by cargo departments of airlines, and I see no reason why this will change in the immediate term. We might, however, not be too far away from this starting to change as certain lanes traditionally dominated by passenger flights begin to open up again for passenger travel, like the transatlantic. This is obviously extremely important to the long-term health and survival of passenger airlines, but it will also be a bittersweet moment after the heroics of the cargo industry. The role of air cargo within the airline boardroom will likely start to recede and impact the demand vs. supply ratio once again.”
Airport operator Groupe ADP and Air France KLM Martinair Cargo have been testing an autonomous electric airside cargo transport vehicle at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.
The autonomous vehicle from French startup OROK is equipped with a GPS system, artificial intelligence and numerous sensors enabling it to access loading and unloading areas close to the aircraft.
They can carry pallets loaded with goods and ULDs and are intended to replace tractors and trailers usually used between cargo warehouses and aircraft parking stands.
The test consist, initially, in transporting empty aircraft containers between two areas inside the warehouse using a first demokart prototype vehicle. The tests will, then gradually, evolve with using of a new generati more efficient vehicles, the airline group said.
The airline group said it hopes the technology will optimize, secure and decarbonize ground operations, and also decrease the number of accidents on the runway, provide faster delivery for goods or luggage and reduce surface requirements for maneuvering.
Christophe Boucher, executive vice president of Air France Cargo, said: “Air France continues to work on innovative viable projects enabling the company to improve the efficiency and reliability of its operations, as well as reducing its carbon footprint.
“Since summer 2021, the cargo teams have been pleased to welcome the start-up OROK at the G1XL freight station. This start-up is testing the transport of pallets and containers using autonomous vehicles. This joint collaboration with Groupe ADP illustrates our collective ambition to support promising projects for reducing the carbon footprint of our ground activities.”
Turkish Airlines has signed a flight data animation partnership with CEFA Aviation.
Turkish Airlines continuously strives to achieve the highest possible safety standards. We are confident that CEFA FAS will help our Flight Safety Department manage operational issues and address future challenges”, said Captain Mehmet Nuri TİMURTAŞ, SVP, Corporate Safety.
Dominique MINEO, CEO and founder of CEFA Aviation, shared, “We are delighted with this partnership and to know that the animations created with our solution will help Turkish Airline’s Flight Safety Team to continue to achieve the highest safety standards.”
CEFA FAS animations provide flight investigators with realistic visual and auditory elements to go beyond a purely mathematical FDM analysis. Reproducing the dynamics gives a concrete notion of time to each sequence of events and leads to a better understanding of performances. Its ease of use allows flight data analysts to have an excellent resource for communication and risk awareness among crews.
“Prevention is the most cost-efficient way to improve flight safety. In addition to being very useful for investigation, CEFA FAS will enable us to develop learning materials for pilots based on real facts from our airline”, said Cumhur KILINÇ, Turkish Airlines, safety information manager.
Air Cairo has become the latest MENA-based airline to adopt TPConnects’ IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) and One Order certified Offer and Order Management Solution (OfrMS) along with NDC Agency Portal and NDC-based Internet Booking Engine for holiday bookings and Mobile Applications.
Air Cairo is the first Egyptian Airline to receive NDC Level 4 Certification from IATA – the initiative that provides airlines the flexibility and the capability to innovate and differentiate their services. The airline is on track to transition to become a true retailer.
TPConnects is also providing Air Cairo with an Airlines Agent platform (NDC Agency Portal), directly integrated to Air Cairo’s Passenger Service System and IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) that will enable travel trade (both IATA Accredited and Non-IATA Travel Agents) to book air tickets, ancillaries and related services with the NDC-certified airline.
The Mobile App and Holidays Website being built by TPConnects for Air Cairo will be integrated with flights as well as air and non-air ancillaries. Travel Trade partners will also be able to sell non-air products like hotel accommodation through the NDC Agency Portal in the near future, thus transitioning to a customer-centric retailer.
By Air Cairo participating in NDCMarketplace.com, a subscription-based marketplace connecting airlines and travel agents, launched by TPConnects, Travel Agents will be able to search, compare, book ticket, ancillaries and perform after sales (refund, reissue etc) on Air Cairo routes along with other airlines from various sources. In addition to this, Agents will also be able to create sub agents, additional users and user role permissions, create markup and service charges and generate reports.
TPConnects is the only IATA DUAL Level 4 Certified IT Provider and Travel Aggregator and the first IT Provider to receive the IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) Solution Provider certification in the MENA Region. The firm specializes in next-generation travel retailing with air and non-air ancillaries, NDC Offer & Order Management with customer-centric business rules and NDC-enabled distribution.
Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and meta-search engines will be provided with NDC Application Programming Interface (APIs) to access Air Cairo’s complete OfrMS including after sales-service.
“As one of the region’s fastest-growing low-fare airlines, it was vital for our business’ long-term growth plans to introduce the latest, cutting-edge technologies based on IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) and One Order standard,” commented Air Cairo Chief Executive Officer Hussein Sherif.
“TPConnects’ advanced Customer Centric OfrMS and NDC Agency Portal will enable our customers to package, price and bundle air tickets along with air and non-air ancillaries as well as third-party products, tapping into the greater flexibility provided by IATA’s NDC standard.
As the world is moving slowly towards a post-Covid-19 era, when travel is going to rebound, we want to provide more choices for our IATA and Non-IATA Travel Agents to meet their customer demand through our participation in NDCMarketplace.com by TPConnects. We are excited that NDCMarketplace.com will accelerate the quick adoption of NDC transactions for Air Cairo,” Sherif added.
According to IATA, the NDC standard is designed to enable the travel industry to transform the way air products are retailed to leisure travelers and corporate clients, by addressing the industry’s current distribution limitations by enhancing communications between airlines and travel agents.
Commenting on the rollout of the OfrMS platform and the NDC Level 4 Certification for Air Cairo, RajendranVellapalath, Chief Executive Officer of TPConnects, said: “As the region’s leading provider of IATA NDC Level 4 and One Order certified IT solutions, we are proud to be working with Air Cairo as it bids to expand its travel retail offerings, while supporting the airline’s long-term growth plans.
“Air Cairo will benefit from the inherent flexibility of our suite of NDC solutions including the participation of NDCMarketplace.com, helping them to improve their engagement with the travel trade and provide them with a range of exciting new solutions” said Rajendran.
Emirates and Sabre Corporation have signed a new multi-year, worldwide distribution agreement.
The new agreement will provide Sabre-connected travel buyers and agencies with access to Emirates’ content, through Sabre’s global distribution system (GDS), with immediate effect. Further to this, Emirates will create and distribute NDC offers through the Sabre GDS.
“We are pleased to have reached this distribution agreement with Sabre,” said Adnan Kazim, chief commercial officer at Emirates. “The new contract will support us to meet the needs of our agency partners. Providing agencies with flexibility, choice and efficiency will help them to thrive in the current climate and will help us drive revenue and growth.”
“We are delighted to reestablish our long-standing partnership with Emirates,” said Roshan Mendis, Chief Commercial Officer, Sabre Travel Solutions. “The agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating a sustainable distribution model that benefits all constituents across the travel value chain. Resulting from thoughtful discussions between both parties, our new agreement will provide both Emirates and travel buyers with immense value, removing complexity in the buying process, which is crucial to the recovery of the industry.”
Emirates Development Bank (EDB) signed a cooperation agreement with Abu Dhabi Exports Office (ADEX), the export-financing arm of Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), to boost the export potential of national businesses by offering innovative financing solutions.
Under the terms of the agreement, the entities will work together to also support manufacturers.
The agreement was signed by Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi – Chief Executive Officer of EDB; and Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, Acting Director General of ADEX.
The MoU is in line with EDB’s strategy to play a pivotal role in the country’s post-COVID recovery by supporting the country’s manufacturing and SME sectors and by collaborating with ADEX in its effort to add momentum to the UAE’s economic-diversification effort through strengthening national exports.
Commenting on the agreement, HE Al Suwaidi said, Director General of ADFD and Chairman of the Executive Committee of ADEX, “The accord exemplifies the vision behind the formation of exports office as a strategic financing partner of national exporters so they can expand their global operations. Our aim is to increase their competitiveness in the global marketplace, because their success will have a great impact on the national economy.”
He highlighted the MoU as an extension of the work ADEX had done over the past year with its strategic partners in the country to educate business leaders on how to access and leverage export financing solutions that would also boost economic recovery in the face of the global lockdown and supply chain disruptions.
Commenting on the EDB-ADEX partnership, Al Naqbi said, “As likeminded partners, EDB and ADEX are committed to support the exporters in the UAE as they recover from the disruption created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Through this MoU, we seek to empower companies by improving access to financial solutions, which they were previously deprived of. We are confident that this partnership with ADEX will help us play a bigger role in catalyzing increased trade and investment flows into the UAE and contributes to the growth of the UAE’s non-oil GDP, in-country value generation, productivity and employment.”
Saeed Al Dhaheri pointed out that the partnership comes at an opportune time when businesses face considerable challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that a strong export sector would substantially contribute to the country’s sustainable economic development agenda. “It is with this intention that ADEX has entered into a partnership with EDB. Moreover, partnerships with UAE government and private entities form the core of ADEX’s strategy to unify the nation’s export community and strongly position and elevate the UAE brand.
“Through this agreement, we can offer highly competitive and flexible products and services that will enable our exporters to make successful deals with their buyers that can access direct credit financing and lines of credit from ADEX.”
EDB and ADEX will also host workshops to increase awareness among the UAE exporters and overseas buyers about the products and financial solutions. Additionally, they will exchange data, market information, develop plans for joint finance and create other innovative financial solutions so these buyers can obtain financing from ADEX. Such initiatives will empower the national companies to enhance their export potential.
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