The US Cargo Airline Association (CAA) has appointed Lauren Beyer as president, succeeding Steve Alterman who has led the organization for more than 40 years.
As president of the CAA, Beyer will lead advocacy and inform policymakers, regulators and others on the importance and operational realities of the air cargo supply chain.
Beyer previously served as the vice president of security and facilitation at Airlines for America, where she represented the largest US passenger and cargo airlines to the federal government on all security, cybersecurity, cargo, and passenger facilitation issues.
Prior to that, she was the director of aviation and surface transportation security at The National Security Council.
Beyer said: “The air cargo industry is indispensable to the modern world, and it is an honor to bring my government and industry experience to bear on behalf of CAA’s members. I look forward to fostering an environment where air cargo can continue to grow and drive the global economy.”
The organization paid tribute to Alterman: “On behalf of the Cargo Airline Association, I would like to thank Steve Alterman for his dedicated advocacy efforts over the past four decades,” said John Maxwell, general counsel Americas for FedEx Express and chairman of the CAA board of directors.
“Through Steve’s leadership, we have been able to build and advance the U.S. air cargo industry, creating expansive global supply chains that connect the US and global economy.
“Looking forward, I’m pleased to have Lauren Beyer joining us as CAA’s next president. Lauren’s impressive portfolio of government and industry experience, in the US and internationally, makes her ideally suited to lead CAA as it informs and shapes policies necessary to protect and grow this critical sector of the US economy.”
Dronamics has become the first cargo drone airline to be officially assigned both IATA and ICAO designator codes.
The drone firm has been assigned the IATA designator code “OY,” along with the accounting prefix “651.”
The ICAO call sign “Black Swan” and the 3-letter airline designator “DXE” have also been assigned to Dronamics.
Dronamics said the codes would enable it to be officially recognized as an airline entity, supporting commercial interline agreements with other IATA carriers, facilitating connections with freight forwarders, and enabling the publication of flight schedules.
The IATA two-letter Airline Designator code “OY” will be used to establish flight numbers.
The Airline Accounting Prefix “651” grants Dronamics the ability to issue air waybills (AWBs).
The ICAO codes are used by pilots and air traffic controllers for flight planning, communication with air traffic control, and the dissemination of vital information through NOTAMs (Notice to Air Missions).
Svilen Rangelov, co-founder and chief executive of Dronamics, said: “Becoming the first cargo drone airline with both IATA and ICAO designator codes is a testament to Dronamics’ pioneering spirit and our vision for faster, cheaper and green air cargo for everyone, everywhere. This recognition by the leading aviation community reinforces our position on the international aviation map.”
Cathay Pacific is grappling with flat demand and a steep increase in cargo capacity, but cargo volumes continued to pick up as capacity recovered from last year’s lows.
The airline carried 111,210 tons of cargo last month, an increase of 6.4% compared with June 2022. The month’s cargo revenue ton kms (RFTKs) increased 16.3% year on year.
However, the cargo load factor decreased by 6.7 percentage points to 61.7%, while capacity, measured in available cargo ton kilometers (AFTKs), increased by 29% year on year.
In the first six months of 2023, the tonnage increased by 23.8% against a 117.6% increase in capacity and an 83% increase in RFTKs, compared with the same period for 2022.
The carrier had to slash cargo capacity last year, which effected volumes, due to lockdown measures in Hong Kong.
The carrier also benefitted from e-commerce demand.
Chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “For cargo, the summer season is typically a slower period. As expected, overall demand in June remained flat, although e-commerce remains the bright spot and has helped maintain volumes.”
Commenting on the outlook for cargo, she added: “Although cargo demand is expected to remain flat throughout the summer period, we are already preparing for demand to pick up in the latter part of the third quarter. Additional capacity will be operated on our key transpacific routes to cater for this.”
The Cathay Group also said it plans to buy back the preference shares held by the Hong Kong SAR Government over the next 12 months as it further recovers from the operational disruption it experienced as a result of government pandemic measures.
The Group paid the deferred dividend of HK$1,524.1m on the preference shares held by the Hong Kong SAR Government on June 30, bringing its deferred dividend payments up to date.
It said it intends to pay all future preference shares dividends as they fall due.
The airline recently said it will add new freighter flights to Toronto and Miami over the summer as its belly operations continue to roll out.
American Airlines Cargo has become the first US carrier to join the United for Wildlife group that aims to end the illegal trafficking of wildlife.
The carrier is a member of the group’s Transport Taskforce and the North American Chapter where it will help stop the illegal trafficking of wildlife and associated products.
Stakeholders are trained to recognize patterns of illegal wildlife trade where it is most prevalent.
American Airlines Cargo president Greg Schwendinger said: “We are proud to be the first US cargo carrier to join United for Wildlife. We take our membership in the Transport Taskforce very seriously and are committed to doing our part to put an end to wildlife smuggling within the supply chain.
Ian Cruickshank, United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce manager, added: “Airlines can play a vital role in disrupting the supply chains of international criminal syndicates trafficking in vulnerable and endangered species.
“No country is immune from these crimes – between 2009 and 2021, there were an average of seven wildlife seizures a day at US airports. We’re thrilled to welcome American Airlines on board as our first U.S. airline partner and look forward to working together into the future to drive down this exploitation.”
The criminal wildlife trafficking trade is estimated to be worth up to $20bn annually as poachers and traffickers illegally trade wildlife and wildlife products, such as monkeys, rhino horn, ivory, pangolin scales or tiger parts, among many others.
Virgin Atlantic Cargo has launched a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Certificate (SAFc) program to provide greater insight into carbon reductions generated when using the fuel type.
The SAF certificate for scope three reductions – emissions related to service providers – will provide data on emissions reduction based on the airline’s own airfreight carbon calculator, which has been independently certified.
Forwarder DB Schenker is the first to participate in the scheme with the purchase of several thousand tonnes of scope 3 emissions reductions.
Phil Wardlaw, vice president and managing director, cargo, Virgin Atlantic, said: “Our new SAFc programme allows us to collaborate with customers and support them in making lower carbon choices to meet sustainability targets, easily understand their emissions and support future SAF contributions – a key step towards our Net Zero commitments.
“We already have one of the youngest and most fuel-efficient fleets in the sky, but after this, SAF represents the greatest opportunity to decarbonise aviation in the short to medium term, but we still require cross-industry and government action to support commercialisation of SAF at scale, particularly in the UK.
“Our fuel program will help us as we continue to work closely with our sustainability and cross-industry partners to find innovative solutions to achieve this goal.”
The airline is aiming to use SAF for 10% of its fuel needs by 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Virgin Atlantic’s first UK supply of 2.5m litres of Neste Oyi neat SAF was delivered into London Heathrow in 2022.
The carrier is aiming to be the first to fly across the Atlantic using 100% SAF later this year.
Thorsten Meincke, global board member for air & ccean freight at DB Schenker, said: “Climate neutrality is an ambitious goal – but it must be our guiding principle. That is why we are steadily expanding our portfolio of fossil-free air freight solutions.”
Jettainer has begun offering fire-resistant AMX unit load devices (ULDs) with Lufthansa Cargo, the first airline to utilize the containers.
The AMX containers are manufactured by Satco and are certified in accordance with the latest Technical Standard Orders (TSO) C90e specifications defined by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).
Jettainer said they can contain a fire for up to six hours which adds “critical time for a flight crew to land the aircraft safely in a cargo fire event”.
The ULD firm has been providing Lufthansa with 50 of the AMX ULDs since the beginning of June.
Satco vice president of strategy Randolph Chappell said that concerns around the safe transport of lithium batteries was the main focus when developing the ULDs.
“Our main focus is to improve ULD safety by collaboratively working with our customers to address their safety concerns,” said Chappell. “One of our primary areas of focus has been the safe transport of lithium batteries.
“This is why we opened our Air Cargo Safety Research Center, the world’s first manufacturer-owned full scale burn test facility, to rapidly develop new Fire Resistant ULD designs to provide the best solution possible for our customers.
“We are very pleased to have Jettainer as a globally active collaborator, leveraging their insights gained while working with their airline customers and through their engineering team.”
CSafe, the largest provider of a complete range of active and passive temperature-controlled shipping solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, recently announced that the company will expand its active bulk air cargo container portfolio to integrate a new -20°C temperature setpoint for the CSafe RKN.
The company will begin offering CSafe RKNs with the new frozen temperature setpoint on the control panel early next year. The CSafe RKN design requires minimal adjustment to accommodate the new -20°C temperature setpoint, limiting the need for additional customer training to take advantage of the new temperate profile.
“Our engineering team designed our RKN in a way that we could easily add frozen temperature setpoints in the future,” said CSafe Chief Operating Officer, Tom Weir. “Every CSafe RKN is built with patented high-performance VIP insulation and an innovative air recirculation system that envelops the entire payload. Combined with our industry-leading preventive maintenance rebuild program and support from our global service network, these technologies and service programs have delivered reliable temperature control and exceptional battery life for 15 years.”
“This expansion of our high-performing active bulk air cargo portfolio is yet another example of CSafe’s on-going commitment to delivering new innovations to meet the changing needs of the biopharma industry,” added CSafe Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Schafer. “We are passionate about ensuring life-saving and life-enhancing medicines can be safely delivered to patients around the world. With this latest capability, CSafe offers an unmatched range of temperature profiles that can meet virtually every requirement for customers shipping these high-value therapies.”
CSafe RKNs with the -20°C setpoint capability will be available for lease in early 2024. Additional details include:
Merlin, the aviation technology company developing the world’s most capable pilot to advance the future of automated flight, has announced it successfully completed 25 test flights in Alaska following a $1 million contract with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to demonstrate a highly automated flight control system in conjunction with a safety pilot. In partnership with the FAA-designated University of Alaska Fairbanks UAS Test Site and Everts Air Cargo, the test flights reached rural areas using crewed aircraft augmented with its integrated hardware and software solution, the Merlin Pilot.
All routes originated from Fairbanks and flew to Fort Yukon, Galena, Huslia, Tanana and Prudhoe Bay. Over sixty hours of systems-on, autonomous flight time were successfully completed with the Merlin Pilot allowing for extensive data collection in a real world environment with complex terrain and inclement weather. This data is essential to maturing Merlin’s in-flight capabilities as well as progressing autonomy for the aviation industry, making skies safer and more accessible for the future. These test flights also make Merlin the first autonomy system to be integrated into the NAS.
“Operating in Alaska is a real challenge. I like to say we’re the final exam. If you can fly here you can fly anywhere as we deal with long distances, extreme climate variations, and limited communications coverage,” said Dr. Cathy Cahill, Director of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration (ACUASI) at the UAF Geophysical Institute. “As we’ve learned in collaboration with Merlin’s team, it’s very apparent that they are doing this right. Their integrated approach to our unique ecosystem is one of the main reasons they were the first company with which we approached the FAA. They use real data to train the onboard automation system to ensure safety.”
“The data we’ve been able to gather from these flight trials is critical to the maturation of our in-flight technology, but also to our continued progression in certifying the Merlin Pilot,” said Matthew George, co-founder and CEO of Merlin. “It’s exciting to know our technology can successfully reach remote locations in Alaska, proving an important application for autonomy; its ability to assist in dangerous missions. We’re incredibly thankful for the support and partnership of the FAA, Everts Air Cargo, and ACUASI. Our partners have been critical in our ability to progress the Merlin Pilot.”
Maastricht Aachen Airport (MST) has unveiled its €35.3m renovated runway as part of a plan to extend its operational length to 2,750 meters by January 2025.
The eight-week renovation project was part of the Dutch airport’s overall infrastructure development plan to invest €100m over the coming years.
Sustainability was the key theme of the launch event held at the airport on June 30, with an electric plane used to officially open the runway.
“Today, we are celebrating the launch of our newly improved runway and looking back over the hard work that has gone into the planning and execution of this project – but we are also looking forward,” said Jos Roeven, chief executive, MST.
“The decision to inaugurate the runway with an electric plane is symbolic of our commitment to ensure the sustainability of this airport for years to come.”
Cargo operations have now returned at MST, the second largest cargo hub in the Netherlands, with Turkish Cargo operating five flights a week out of the hub.
Royal Jordanian and Emirates SkyCargo have also continued their operations at the airport, both running two flights each week.
Last month, Royal Schiphol Group finalised its 40% stake in MST, becoming the second shareholder in the airport alongside the province of Limburg, which owns the remaining 60%.
DHL Express has opened its Americas region hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to strengthen its global supply chain capabilities.
Spanning 100,000 sq ft, the $84.5m hub further strengthens the company’s connections and service capabilities between the US and key global markets.
The hub establishes direct connections between 19 cities in the southeastern US and global markets, including Europe and major DHL hubs worldwide.
Future plans involve adding capacity with flight connections to Hong Kong, Mexico, the UK, and Puerto Rico.
The Atlanta hub generates up to 50% of its on-site energy consumption through 65,000 sq ft of rooftop solar panels, preventing the release of 380 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, said DHL.
The remaining energy consumed on-site is sourced from renewable sources through Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
Additionally, the hub includes LED lights, electric forklifts, dock seals, and rapid rise doors, further minimise its environmental impact.
“The new DHL Express Atlanta Hub represents a milestone in our ongoing pursuit of sustainability and technological advancement. It also exemplifies our belief in the power of international trade and recognizes the significance of Atlanta and the southeast US in the global marketplace,” said Mike Parra, chief executive of DHL Express Americas.
The Atlanta hub operates as a fully automated facility, equipped with technology capable of sorting up to 20,000 pieces per hour.
DHL Express has also implemented advanced threat detection and security screening technologies to prevent the entry of illegal and hazardous commodities into its network.
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
