Swiss interest group shares know-how 
For the first time IG Air Cargo Switzerland offered professional air cargo training in cooperation with Spedlogswiss in Q4/2019, welcoming nine participants mainly from the forwarding business. Building on this initial success, the interest group decided to offer a second... more
Big news from Airbus and Airlander
Beluga XL, an integral part of Airbus’ industrial system, made its first operational flight on 9 January 2020. This is the first of six units to replace the Beluga ST predecessors until 2023. At 63 m long and 8 m wide, it has the largest cargo bay cross-section of all existing... more
Variegated and dynamic 
Swiss WorldCargo restructured its management of the overall American markets two years ago, when René Brechbuehl retired (see also page 22 of ITJ 43-44 / 2017), putting Hendrik Falk in charge of western and southern USA and all of Latin America. The globetrotter with almost 30... more
Qatar Airways Cargo launches freighter service to Japan
Qatar Airways Cargo, one of the world’s major air cargo carriers, is expanding its cargo network in Asia Pacific with the launch of a twice weekly B777F service to Osaka, Japan effective today, 14 January 2020. Approximately 200 t of cargo capacity will be offered per week... more
Emirates Skycargo is well poised for the future
At the start of a new decade, Emirates Skycargo, the freight division of Emirates, is geared up to facilitate global trade and cargo movement in 2020 and beyond through a combination of innovative product development and investment in "fit for purpose" infrastructure.... more
Baltic's biggest cargo airport aims even higher
In 2019, Riga airport (RIX) handled 27,300 t of cargo, 44.5% of which were direct mail shipments. Last year, almost half of all air cargo in the Baltics was handled in the Latvian capital. For Ilona Līce, chairperson of the board, the development of the cargo segment is one... more
(No) more conversions in 2020
Acia Aero Leasing, which was established in early 2000 to provide aircraft leasing and management solutions to a wide spectrum of clients and end users, has just completed another large cargo door conversion of an ATR72-200, the first of five targeted conversion completions for... more
Central Indian airport adds logistics park
GMR Hyderabad Aerotropolis Limited, a subsidiary of GMR Hyderabad International Airport, has formed a joint venture with ESR Hyderabad 1, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered ESR Cayman Limited, to develop a 268,000 sqm logistics and industrial park at Hyderabad airport city.... more
Mixed fortunes for two neighbouring airports
Despite a global economic slowdown, Liege Airport (Belgium) achieved a new record with over 900,000 t of goods transported in 2019 (902.480 t, +3.6% compared with 870.644 t in 2018). CEO Luc Partoune: "This year, 2020, will be a year of major works and projects. We are... more
Pan-American player in the unmanned air cargo market
EmbraerX, the disruptive business subsidiary of the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer, is expanding into the commercial air cargo market, via a collaboration agreement signed with Elroy Air at last week's CES 2020 in Las Vegas. This collaboration will allow the companies... more