Pelican ready for take-off 
A2Z has begun to roll out its new flagship long-range delivery drone, the "RDSX Pelican". Capable of carrying payloads up to 5 kg on routes up to 40 km, the drone is claimed to be "a highly efficient platform for the last-mile fleet". Unladen it can travel 50... more
UPS A300-600F retrofit completed
Airbus has completed the cockpit upgrade project for 52 A300-600F and two simulators in the UPS Airlines fleet. The final delivery of an aircraft retro-fitted with state-of-the-art cockpit avionics in March was the culmination of a six-year project signed in March 2017, with... more
One more year for Cainiao and Saudia Cargo
Cainiao Network, Alibaba Group's logistics arm, and Saudia Cargo have signed a new twelve-month "space and service commitment" agreement which commenced on 1 April 2023 and will run till 31 March 2024. It reserves exclusively selected SACC freighter flights from Hong... more
Magma Aviation: first regular flights into China
Magma Aviation has added its first regular scheduled flights to China to its roster. The company’s China operations address a growing demand and broaden its access to customers in the Apac region. Available three to four times per week on a B747-400F, the routing is a return... more
Air Baltic carries the Stanley Cup
Latvia’s national airline Air Baltic was given a unique opportunity to transport the Stanley Cup – the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It was carried from the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto to Riga and afterwards to... more
Connecting an exclave with a new airline
The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has granted funding for a feasibility study to develop a new airline that will service Timor-Leste’s Oé-Cusse Ambeno exclave (816 sqkm). The project will link non-contiguous regions of Timor-Leste through aviation, while enhancing... more
Skycargo to double capacity in next decade
Emirates Skycargo has added two Boeing 747-400Fs to its freighter fleet, showing its strong confidence in the global cargo market in a currently volatile environment. Emirates’ cargo division is expecting 15 more freighters to join its fleet from announced orders and its... more
SR Technics initiates “Sustainable Engine Alliance”
At the MRO Americas 2023 conference which was held in Atlanta, Georgia last month, SR Technics joined forces with Kuehne + Nagel and Atlas Air, a subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings to launch the “Sustainable Engine Alliance”. Together, the alliance members pledged to set... more
AI combined with P & P 
Robot systems for airfreight pallets. Speedcargo, a Singapore tech start-up, and Güdel, a Swiss manufacturer of high-precision machine components, are teaming up to develop what they claim is “the first end-to-end automatic material handling solution of its kind for... more
Greater ambitions
Airfreight performance in Austria, Munich, Budapest and Zurich. The last few years have awakened the ambitions of Vienna airport, smaller hubs in Austria, or neighbouring gateways of comparable size to make a bigger mark in the airfreight sector. ITJ correspondent Josef Müller... more