Groundforce Portugal’s Management System has been recognized by APCER (Portuguese Association for Certification) with the normative reference ISO 9001:2015.
Groundforce Portugal reports that it is ISO 9001 – Quality Management certified in all its stations – Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Madeira. This certification regulates the best market practices in Service Quality Management, assuring that the company’s operation is guided by the highest standards of quality and safety.
Groundforce says, “The renewal of this certification, almost two years passed after the beginning of a pandemic that disproportionately affected the aviation sector, is a source of immense pride and a demonstration that, despite the many uncertainties that surround us, everyone in Groundforce Portugal always puts the most important thing above everything else: providing a high-quality service and in total safety to their customers.”
According to APCER: “Despite the atypical circumstances experienced and the profound changes that the company and the sector are going through, the organization maintains its Integrated Management System operative and effective.”
Other strong points were also highlighted by the audit: the resilience of the audited team in a highly adverse situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic; the search for business alternatives, while maintaining the quality of service provided to the customer; the experience of the technical team; the details of the internal audit; the implementation of biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and the evaluation of customer satisfaction, with scores of 88%, an excellent result in spite of the current situation and in line with previous years.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. has ordered four new Boeing 777 freighters, with the first due for delivery in November.
The company, which in November saw its revenues breach the $1bn mark for the first time ever, said the order of the 777-200LRFs is in response to strong customer demand for dedicated international wide-body airfreight capacity, particularly in the fast-growing e-commerce and express markets.
Following delivery of the first 777-200LRF in November, the other three freighters are expected to be delivered throughout 2023.
This investment will bolster Atlas’ 777 fleet, which currently includes 14 freighters that the company operates or provides to customers on a dry-lease basis through its Titan Aviation Leasing subsidiary.
“These new aircraft will advance our strategic growth plan as we continue to capitalize on strong demand for dedicated airfreight capacity,” said John Dietrich, Atlas Air Worldwide president and chief executive.
Ihssane Mounir, Boeing senior vice president of commercial sales and marketing, said, “These new 777 freighters provide Atlas with more capacity, fuel efficiency and operational flexibility for its customers.”
In addition to its 777 fleet, Atlas is the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747 freighter aircraft, with 49 in its current fleet.
The company previously announced it will take delivery of four new 747-8 freighters during 2022, with the first delivery expected in May. These aircraft are the last four 747 freighters Boeing will produce, said Atlas.
The company also operates and leases sizable fleets of 767 and 737 aircraft for domestic, regional and international cargo and passenger operations.
DSV has responded to Covid restrictions and lockdowns in Asia by adding extra freighter capacity from Hong Kong and Singapore.
The freight forwarder is adding two extra weekly flights – offering 100 tons of capacity each – to its Hong Kong-Liege-Hong Kong loop, bringing its weekly flights on the route to three.
Meanwhile, the company has also introduced a new weekly route from Singapore to Los Angeles.
DSV vice president and head of the DSV Air Charter Network, Mads Ravn, said, “Right now, the market is greatly underserved – especially out of Asia where the situation is being impacted these days by increased Covid incidents and by new restrictions. We are monitoring the situation closely, so we can continue to do what we can to keep our customers supply chains flowing.
“We are also introducing a new DSV Air Charter route from Singapore to Los Angeles (LAX), which can further relieve the pressure on some of the other hubs in the region and also bring a little more flexibility to our customers on our airfreight offerings out of Asia.”
He added, “At DSV, our finest job is to serve our customers, and they rely on us to provide them with reliable transport solutions. That is why we are now adding more capacity to the DSV Air charter route from Hong Kong to Liege and back to Hong Kong.”
The move comes as a series of lockdowns and restrictions have been implemented in the Asia Pacific region as countries try to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.
These restrictions are already having an impact on supply chains and air cargo capacity.
In response to stricter cargo crew rules, Cathay Pacific has made ‘substantial reductions’ in its long-haul freighter network for the first quarter, with no flights operating to Europe and just seven per week to the Americas.
Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport’s cargo handling volume exceeded 1.5m tons in 2021.
The local transport bureau said cargo throughput is up 12% year on year, according to China’s state press agency, Xinhua.
Shenzhen handled about 318,000 flights last year, 85.9% of that in 2019, according to the bureau.
The airport increased the frequency of 11 international air cargo routes in 2021. The number of airfreight destinations hit 51, a record high.
Located in the Pearl River Delta, Shenzhen Bao’an has a 7,700,000 sq m airfield and a cargo facility encompassing 1,660,000 sq m.
The airport plays a part in China’s ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure development initiative to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations.
Last year, Shenzhen Bao’an benefited from diverted air cargo shipments from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, following COVID-10-induced delays at Shanghai Pudong.
Icelandic ACMI leasing and airfreight company Bluebird Nordic will lease three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in an effort to expand its widebody cargo ACMI operations.
Avia Solutions Group-owned Bluebird Nordic concluded the lease agreements at the end of December. At present, the aircraft are in passenger configuration but will be converted into cargo aircraft in 2024.
The Boeing 777-300ER is the world’s largest twinjet aircraft. As a freighter, it is capable of carrying approximately 100 tons of cargo and is generally considered the most economical long-haul freighter available.
“Through combined efforts, we have managed to secure widebody aircraft for cargo haulage from 2024. Until then, Bluebird will operate the aircraft listed in our AOC as “preighters” and VIP/Corporate Pax,” said Sigurður Agustsson, chief executive of Bluebird Nordic.
Two of the three aircraft can carry 60 tons of cargo as belly freight, but once converted will carry approximately 100 tons.
“If this goes as planned, we will likely add more widebodies to the Bluebird fleet,” says Gediminas Žiemelis, founder and chairman of the board of Avia Solutions Group. “With this investment, we are firmly placing ourselves in the widebody cargo ACMI.”
At present, Bluebird has seven B737-400s, one B737-300 and one B737-800 cargo aircraft in operation.
Last year, Bluebird announced it planned to add 25 x B737-800 aircraft to the company’s existing fleet by the end of 2024.
South Korean airline Fly Gangwon has received a cargo transportation business license from the South Korean Government’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT).
Founded in 2016, the low-cost domestic airline is based at Yangyang International Airport and currently flies to Seoul and Jeju City.
It currently operates two Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft.
According to the Center for Aviation (CAPA), Fly Gangwon received its first aircraft, an 186 seat Boeing 737-800, in Sep-2019.
The carrier received an AOC from the MOLIT in October 2019, allowing it to launch commercial operations in November 2019 with a Yangyang-Jeju service.
Supply chain challenges this year, which saw air cargo demand 10% higher than 2019 levels and ocean rates four times higher than already elevated prices at the start of the year, have reinforced the need for more efficient air cargo capacity utilization and booking. Digital Air Cargo has emerged as a key tool to address this, with strong support from both airlines and forwarders.
Continuing this trend of air cargo innovation, Silk Way West Airlines, a top-25 global all-freighter airline, is joining WebCargo’s air cargo booking platform, enabling access to real-time pricing and booking across their rapidly growing fleet for over 10,000 freight forwarder offices globally. As of mid-January 2022, capacity across Silk Way West Airlines’ 13 freighters, which connect over 40 destinations across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, will be made available to WebCargo forwarders around the world starting from Europe.
“It has become clear that the pandemic and increased global logistics demand has accelerated the need to offer digital booking capabilities for air freight,” said Mr. Wolfgang Meier, CEO and President of Silk Way West Airlines. “Building on the strength of a full freighter network, Silk Way West Airlines looks forward to the new year by extending greater service accessibility and capacity visibility to our valued customers 24/7.”
Demand for Digital Air Cargo via the WebCargo platform has soared during 2021, with over 10x growth on a strong 2020, resulting in hundreds of thousands of eBookings on WebCargo. Airlines have also encouraged adoption; Silk Way West Airlines’ addition brings the level of global capacity across top-100 airlines digitized on WebCargo to over 35%.
“In 2017, air cargo digitization was a question of if the industry could adapt. By 2019 it was a question of when. Today, we’re asking how much faster it can go. Freighters like Silk Way West Airlines are showing that the answer is ‘faster than you can possibly imagine’,” said Manuel Galindo, CEO of WebCargo. “We’re witnessing a massive shift towards Digital Air Cargo reflected on WebCargo’s booking and rate management platform and are proud to welcome Silk Way West Airlines to our list of innovative partner airlines”.
Supply chain software innovator Topo Solutions (Topo) has expanded its team and moved to new offices in Hong Kong as part of ongoing growth and development plans.
The low-code Software as a Service (SaaS) provider has boosted its team with expertise from across the supply chain, packaging, CO2 emissions, system implementation, project management, and data privacy and security sectors to meet demand from retailers and brands for its end-to-end solution.
Topo made the move to bigger offices in Hong Kong’s Central Business District Two as part of ongoing expansion plans.
“Topo has experienced a period of strong growth and the natural evolution was to develop our workspace and provide a modern environment where we can encourage Agile Working as well as supporting our ambitions for a highly diverse team,” said Tobias Grabler, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Topo Solutions.
“There are 13 different languages spoken within the Customer Success Team alone, and we continue to welcome fresh and exciting talent to our ranks to ensure we are part of the drive to create a truly sustainable and accessible tech industry.”
Topo is a low-code supply chain platform for cloud-based remote collaboration, process automation, and advanced analytics covering a product’s journey from sourcing, product development, ordering, and production, to quality, chemical, and sustainability management.
Awery Aviation Software has rolled out its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform for cargo carrier Sky Bridge Cargo following a record two week implementation program.
The system streamlines Bahrain-headquartered Sky Bridge Cargo’s sales, operations, and finance functions, as well as supporting bookings through Awery’s CargoBooking system.
Awery’s ERP platform provides full connectivity of all Sky Bridge Cargo’s business and operational activities and uses the latest AI (Artificial Intelligence) to automate previously manual tasks.
Giving real time analytics enables Sky Bridge Cargo to better serve its customers, optimize flight management, and make more informed commercial decisions.
“In the air cargo sector, communication, effective data flow, categorizing and ensuring that all the related departments are on the same page is of utmost importance,” said Abdulnasser AlSaei, Managing Director of Sky Bridge Cargo.
“We are delighted Awery is a smart technology we can rely on for smooth workflow.”
Awery’s Chief Executive Officer, Vitaly Smilianets, was part of the team which implemented the full ERP system for Sky Bridge Cargo within a two week window, a record for Awery.
“The Awery system has been developed to be flexible and scalable, working specifically to support the aviation and logistics sector,” said Smilianets.
“Our aim is to improve and automate business processes, visibility, and performance and to reduce the risk of error and the need for human intervention.
“We are bringing ground breaking technology and new ideas to work for the air cargo sector.”
Japan Airlines (JAL) and CHAMP Cargosystems have extended their highly successful partnership for a further five years.
The carrier has been using CHAMP’s acclaimed Cargospot solution to manage its day-to-day cargo business processes since 2014. Since then, JAL has partnered with CHAMP in a series of ground-breaking digital transformational projects built around the Cargospot ecosystem, including the launch of a cargo business platform that enables a fully digitalized end-to-end process across the airline’s domestic operation, and a unique API-based solution that allows the airline’s customers to compare and book against multiple air-to-air and ground transportation options.
By extending their partnership with CHAMP, Cargospot will remain the IT keystone of JAL’s cargo business, enabling the airline to take advantage of the solution as it continues to evolve for the benefit of CHAMP’s large and growing customer community. JAL’s operation of Cargospot will be supplemented and further enhanced by the airline’s continuing use of CHAMP’s ULD Manager and Traxon compliance services, which support pre-loading and pre-arrival declarations to customs and border protection authorities.
“The Cargospot ecosystem has vast potential for our growing customer community,” says Nicholas Xenocostas, VP Commercial & Customer Engagement at CHAMP Cargosystems. “Our solutions have been and will continue to be at the core of Japan Airlines’ cargo operations. Cargospot and CHAMP’s other services continue to evolve in line with its emerging business needs and continue to be an integral part of our long-term digital transformation.
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