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WORLD AIRPORTS .COM ACW Digital is sponsored by FREIGHTERS.COM
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The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals No. 1,160
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13 DECEMBER 2021
SKYTEAM CARGO FIRMLY IN SPOTLIGHT
BRUSSELS MILESTONE FOR VIRGIN ATLANTIC CARGO
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INSIDE
AVEM AERO LAUNCHES FD/OCC
THE carrier AVEM AERO has launched a Flight Dispatch and Operations Control Centre service available to airlines worldwide. The ... PAGE 2
MOVING GIRAFFES
INTRADCO Global and parent company, Chapman Freeborn, have worked together on a charter flight to transport 18 giraffes from ... PAGE 2 ROM CARGO APPOINTS AIR ONE AVIATION
ON Sunday November 28, Virgin Atlantic Cargo celebrated its 500th cargo-only flight departure from Brussels Airport, following its first take off in June 2020. The exciting Brussels operation originally took off following a decline in cargo capacity across mainland Europe following COVID-19 travel restrictions. With the support of its colleagues at its GSA, Kales led by Kim Ornelis, Virgin Atlantic Cargo was able to understand and support the demand for air cargo capacity departing mainland Europe at the time. The new venture initially saw a twice-weekly service to London Heathrow. However, with an increasing demand, it wasn’t long before the flights doubled capacity to four-times weekly, and then to daily. Expansion was on the horizon, as Virgin Atlantic Cargo began flying Stateside, to both
Atlanta and Los Angeles throughout summer 2020, in addition to the daily Brussels – Heathrow services. With demand continuing to grow, the operation extended to 10 flights per week just on the Heathrow route alone. Virgin Atlantic Cargo can now lay claim to exporting more than 11,000 AWBs and more than 10,000 tonnes of cargo from across Central Europe, since the route began in 2020, with every aircraft type in the Virgin Atlantic fleet having now visited Brussels; including Airbus A330-300s, A350-1000s, and the Boeing B787-9 fleet.
Variety of products With no two days the same, Virgin Atlantic Cargo has transported a variety of products during this time, including vital COVID-19 shipments of
ventilators for hospitals and raw materials for the creation of vaccines, to spare parts, luxury fashion items, works of art and even some of Belgium’s favourite exports, such as chocolate and beer to fans across the network. With the vast amount of cargo shipments, comes heavy departures. One of the heaviest to date departed from Brussels exceeding 44 tonnes – for context, that’s about the weight of seven elephants. Adding to the list of impressive feats, Virgin Atlantic Cargo have also successfully managed to get aircrafts unloaded and re-loaded in under 60 minutes, quite the achievement for a widebody aircraft. “Virgin Atlantic Cargo has found a great home at Brussels, with a plan to continue flying to Belgium for the foreseeable future,” says the airline.
ROM Cargo has appointed Air One Aviation as its exclusive global sales & services partner. This follows the awarding of the airline’s ... PAGE 4
HKIA HITS RUNWAY MILESTONE
AIRPORT Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has announced that the existing North Runway (07L/25R) at Hong Kong International ... PAGE 5
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NEWS AVEM AERO launches INTRADCO GLOBAL, CHAPMAN FD/OCC outsource FREEBORN MOVE 18 GIRAFFES service A
THE carrier AVEM AERO has launched a Flight Dispatch and Operations Control Centre service available to airlines worldwide. The flight planning includes OFP calculation, clearances and landing permits, flight monitoring, ATC flight plan filing, WX and NOTAM provision, slots, handling, fuel and hotel arrangements, aircraft performance and runway analysis. Experts consider that the market situation is changing rapidly, with passenger flights on the rise. EUROMONITOR Data Snapshot shows that business aviation is currently up 29% on 2019 levels; IATA reported air travel recovery and its Business Confidence Survey prognoses that passenger operations will increase over the next twelve months. The aviation market is recovering, and due to rising and uneven demand, many airlines feel the need for additional OCC support. The outsourcing of dispatch functions is a substantial optimisation of daily costs compared to in-house solutions. Being the urgent cargo charters operator with three years’ experience and focus on work with air flights risks, AVEM AERO has the necessary tools and expertise. A team of 10 aviation professionals will help airline companies co-ordinate flights on the high level up to post-flight care. The service is to help mitigate the issue of staff shortage, partially due to the pandemic fluctuation.
Testing period
INTRADCO Global and parent company, Chapman Freeborn, have worked together on a charter flight to transport 18 giraffes from OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg to Río de Janeiro Galeão Airport. Averaging 4.3-5.7 metres when fully grown, the animals were transported whiist still young to ensure they had the legally required head clearance in the 2.95 metre-high crates, which were made of metal and plywood to make them both sturdy and leak-proof. When animals are transported by air it is of utmost importance that their safety and happiness is at the forefront of the
operation. As such, Intradco Global and Chapman Freeborn ensured the giraffes’ speedy loading to reduce the time spent on the ground at the airport. Two attendants travelled with them during their 10-hour direct flight, one of whom was a breeder who has known the giraffes their whole lives, continually monitoring their wellbeing and giving them fresh food and water as required.
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from the 747F aircraft. The animals then entered a mandatory 30-day quarantine, which they will finish on December 11 to then be transported to their new home. Alexander Kraynov from Intradco Global said: “This charter was in collaboration with the Chapman Freeborn South Africa team cargo charter manager, Gerhard Coetzee, was on the ground in Johannesburg communicating with the handling company and customs agents, and ensuring the loading went quickly and smoothly. Together we completed a successful operation that saw 18 exotic animals travel over 7,000 kilometres in safety and comfort.”
Estonia-based charter, cargo, and passenger flights operator NyxAir became a launch customer of the service. Six crates The testing period started April 1 2021 and served 4269 flights. After arriving in Rio de Janeiro, cranes Jaanus Ojamets, CEO of NyxAir says: “The service covered were used to efficiently offload the six our need for qualified personnel and let us increase our discrates, each containing three giraffes, patch and flight planning capability. AVEM AERO was the contact for any related authorities for short and long-term regular programmes on NyxAir’s growing fleet. This brought together our level of experience and expertise and allowed us to focus on charter programme expansion.” ON December 7, 2021 at 19:30 CET, at Sofia Airport in Bulgaria, Quick-thinking pros DRONAMICS was due to reveal The Black Swan – an advanced “The experiences of our 10 quick-thinking pros help them unmanned airplane that is “the understand the industry’s needs and withstand any pres- most fuel-efficient cargo airplane sure. Training, attitude, and help from our digital system are ever built”. key to quality FP/OCC service that gives full control over the DRONAMICS says The Black executed operations. Swan is a whole new class of air“We are glad that we can help airlines and support their craft. Able to carry up to 350 kg flights in times of uncertainty,” managing director of AVEM of cargo at a distance of up to AERO Nikolay Kurbanov says. 2,500 km at up to 80% lower cost than any aircraft currently in existence, the Black Swan can operate from runways as short as 400 metres, unpaved, and will enable DRONAMICS to serve customers in even the smallest and most “For more than 100 years people have designed airplanes remote communities, ushering in a whole new era in fast, affordfor humans first, meaning they were never really optimised for able airfreight for the whole world. “The unveiling of the Black Swan represents a critical mile- cargo, and in fact, they’re quite inefficient. By being extremely stone in the company’s mission to enable same-day shipping for focused solely on carrying cargo, we were able to develop an aireveryone everywhere. The years of hard work are paying off and craft that is able to do the job at up to 80% lower cost than any as soon as we’re done with our extensive test programme and other airplane, meaning we can bring the benefits of aviation to obtain certification in 2022, we are going to begin commercial billions of people around the world who do not get regular air operations, serving customers in Europe and beyond years ahead service,” adds Konstantin Rangelov, co-founder & CTO. DRONAMICS plans to roll out a global network of droneports of everyone else,” says Svilen Rangelov, co-founder and CEO. allowing the Black Swan to provide the critical missing “middle mile” in air freight. Whether ferrying vital supplies between STILL reading a printed copy of Air islands or delivering critical spare parts deep into a country, Cargo Week? Consider switching to DRONAMICS will link towns and cities around the world. the digital version. Able to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel, it will do so in a more environmentally friendly manner than any previous airContact subs@azurainternational.com craft, enabling global partners like DHL and Hellmann Logistics and let them know that in future you to not only serve their customers in the fastest way possible, but would rather read the weekly also in the greenest one as well. publication online. The launch of the Black Swan was due to be live-streamed online.
DRONAMICS to reveal Black Swan UAV
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Congestion on the ground muted air cargo growth in November CONGESTION on the ground muted air cargo’s growth in November, with volumes falling by -1.2% versus October, reversing the trend traditionally seen in the peak build-up to Christmas, according to the latest global air cargo market intelligence from industry analysts, CLIVE Data Services. CLIVE’s analyses of the air cargo market for the full four weeks of November 2021 measures the industry’s performance to the pre-Covid 2019 level, as well as providing 2020 year-overyear comparisons, to produce a meaningful assessment of the current operating performance. Last month’s fall in volumes compared to October 2021 came despite a +0.5% rise in capacity, while overall air cargo rates climbed +8% in November month-on-month. Compared to November 2019, last month recorded a 3% decline in demand, but overall air cargo rates remained buoyant at +159%. Capacity versus two years ago was -12%, lifting CLIVE’s ‘dynamic load factor’ – based on both the volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available to produce a true indicator of airline performance – up 2% pts to 66%. Europe to North America market data for the last week of October versus the third week of November, prior to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, showed capacity down 7.3% and load factor up 4% pts to 86%. Airfreight rates for this market consequently saw a 10% increase. Any hope that the opening up of transatlantic services would offer some relief to the cargo market was quickly eradicated by increased volumes of passenger baggage.
“This unexpected month-over-month shift is not due to a lack of demand, it is almost certainly because cargo cannot be pushed efficiently through the system. This is also what we’ve seen reported in the oceanfreight market at US west coast ports. Labour shortages are a factor in all sectors, but this is especially having an impact on such a labour-intensive industry as airfreight, especially on the ground. Airport congestion seems to be the price the industry has to pay for the lack of investment in, and appreciation of, cargo handling,” he added. “The current inefficiencies on the ground must have opportunity costs for airlines, forwarders and shippers alike, because cargo will be missing flights. Two months ago, we described the air cargo market as ‘fragile’ heading into the traditional peak season, and this fragility is being visualised on social media through airport movies showing countless pallets and containers waiting on the tarmac.”
Slowing growth “Typically, we would expect November volumes to be higher than October volumes, but that’s not reflected in this latest volume and load factor data. We started to see the growth slowing down at the end of October. The global load factor for November was 2% lower than in October, which is quite remarkable,” said Niall van de Wouw, CLIVE’s managing director.
IAG CARGO LAUNCHES ITS BIGGEST-EVER RECRUITMENT DRIVE WITH 500 NEW ROLES
IAG Cargo, the cargo division of International Airlines Group (IAG), announces it will be creating more than 500 new roles over the next 12 months in the biggest recruitment drive in the organisation’s history, in areas ranging from operations to transformation. This landmark recruitment campaign will support IAG Cargo to expand its cargo operation and meet growing customer demand. The business has welcomed many new customers since the start of 2021. It has seen a growing demand for some of its specialist products such as Constant Climate, which supports the movement of temperature sensitive cargo such as vaccines, its dedicated perishable product Constant Fresh and its Critical product which continues to be popular for customers needing to transport emergency items. IAG Cargo’s Q3 revenues increased by 34% compared to the same period in 2020 showing sustained growth as the business increases capacity across its network. As part of the campaign, IAG Cargo will be recruiting in areas across the business including operations, revenue and inventory management, data & analytics and projects. Commenting on the recruitment drive, David Shepherd, managing director at IAG Cargo said: “IAG Cargo is a growing business offering rewarding careers in a fast-paced environment, where no day is the same. We give individuals the opportunity to put ideas forward, have varied career paths, work autonomously and explore their potential with the support of their team. We put a big emphasis on internal promotion and being part of the IAG group means that our employees can not only move ‘up’ but across into other parts of the group. This recruitment drive will see us recruit broadly, advertising a variety of new roles.”
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MENA Cargo signs agreement with Unilode for ULD supply BAHRAIN-based MENA Cargo Airlines has signed a five-year unit load device (ULD) supply, management and repair agreement with Unilode Aviation Solutions. MENA Cargo is in the midst of securing a fleet of dedicated and converted freighters as part of its expansion plans. Under the new agreement, Unilode will supply digital containers and pallets from its shared ULD pool to MENA Cargo’s scheduled cargo flights and ad-hoc charters, and provide repairs at the airline’s hub and other destinations. Peter Hewett, general manager and director ground operations, MENA Cargo Airlines, said: “Our decision to partner with Unilode for the supply and management of ULDs for our start-up airline matches MENA Cargo’s business strategy, which is based on the principles of efficiency, flexibility and agility. As our ULD needs can greatly fluctuate depending on our cargo and charter requests, we were looking
Marc Groenewegen, chief commercial officer, Unilode Aviation Solutions, said: “MENA Cargo Airlines has an ambitious growth agenda and expects a significant increase in cargo revenues that we look forward to facilitating with Unilode’s ULD management, repair and digital solutions.
Start-up airlines
for a flexible and cost-effective solution that we found in Unilode’s ULD management service. Having access to Unilode’s ULD pool and global repair network gives us peace of mind about container and pallet availability
and allows us to concentrate on our cargo business. “We are confident that Unilode’s ULD solutions will contribute to the success and growth of our airline.”
“Start-up airlines are a great addition to our diverse customer portfolio as we can quickly integrate their operations in our network and meet their ULD needs from our existing fleet. The supply of containers and pallets is mission-critical, especially for cargo airlines, and we are committed to providing reliable and customer-focused ULD solutions to MENA Cargo Airlines to help them reach their current and future business objectives over the course of our partnership.”
ROM Cargo appoints Air One Aviation as GSSA ROM Cargo has appointed Air One Aviation as its exclusive global sales & services partner. This follows the awarding of the airline’s Air Operators’ Certificate by Romania’s civil aviation authority to begin international Boeing 747-400 freighter services. Combined with its existing airline client base, the new contract means Air One Aviation is now marketing its biggest-ever fleet of Boeing 747-400SF freighters globally as well as a Boeing 737-400SF for regional cargo services. In the past 18 months, Air One Aviation has generated over 270 million kilos of airfreight for more than 2,400 full freighter flights to more than 50 countries, achieving its most successful year yet. Air One Aviation expects ROM Cargo’s 747F fleet – which will be available for full charter services and capable of carrying a payload of up to 112 tonnes – to meet immediate demand for Asia-Europe cargo capacity. Paul Bennett, founder and CEO of Air One Aviation Limited, stated: “We are delighted to welcome another Boeing 747 freighter operator into our fleet portfolio. With the support we are generating from our freight forwarding, logistics and charter broker customers for 747
all-cargo capacity, we are confident of quickly establishing ROM Cargo in the international market and developing a platform for the next stage of the airline’s expansion.” “Given its track record of generating growth for other 747 freighter operators, and its large, established customer base for full charter flights, we see Air One Aviation as a natural partner for our aircraft. It has a highly experienced commercial team, and we look forward to leveraging their knowledge and expertise in the freighter market,” added Nicu Berla, deputy accountable manager of the airline, which trades as ROMMCARGO.
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HKIA hits another runway milestone
NEWS
AIRPORT Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has announced that the existing North Runway (07L/25R) at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has been re-designated as the Centre Runway (07C/25C), signifying an important milestone for the expansion of the airport into a Three-runway System (3RS). The new Third Runway, which will be put into operation in 2022, will be designated as the North Runway (07L/25R). Prior to that, the existing North Runway has to be re-designated as the Centre Runway (07C/25C) according to International Civil Aviation Organisation’s requirement. At midnight on December 2, the North Runway of HKIA was closed to undergo the final re-designation procedures. The runway designation markings and the mandatory instruction markings of 07L and 25R on the runway and taxiways respectively were replaced by 07C and 25C. Movement area guidance signs on the airfield, as well as relevant equipment and procedures for HKIA’s air traffic control and airport operations control systems were also modified. The South Runway remained in operation when the North Runway was being re-designated and air traffic movements at the HKIA operated smoothly throughout the period. After comprehensive testing of the equipment and inspections of the runway jointly conducted by the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) and AAHK, the newly designated Centre Runway opened for operations at around 8am. The CAD has been working closely with AAHK to provide support for the runway re-designation in various aspects concerning air traffic control and aircraft take-off and landing, including modification of equipment and procedures.
Smooth operation Vivian Cheung, executive director, airport operations of AAHK, said: “We are pleased to see the smooth operation of re-designating the North Runway. Though the final changeover took only one night, the entire process has started over a year ago involving meticulous planning and close communications with other runway users. Apart from system upgrade and airfield works, all necessary updates on equipment, operation plans, procedures and manuals have been updated as well.” In addition to the runway re-designation, other preparation work for the targeted commissioning of the Third Runway in 2022 will include exercises, drills, trials and documentation work. Thereafter the Centre Runway will be closed for reconfiguration, conducted in parallel with other works of the 3RS project, with the target of completing the construction of the 3RS in 2024 as planned.
Volga-Dnepr, Bollore Logistics transported I-6 F1 ahead of its launch in Japan VOLGA-DNEPR Airlines has organised delivery of the world’s largest and most sophisticated commercial communications satellite - Inmarsat-6 F1, also known as I-6 F1, from Toulouse to Kitakyushu, Japan aboard its capable An-124-100. The challenging and complex delivery was completed in close co-operation with Bollore Logistics Space desk located in Toulouse, Volga-Dnepr’s long-standing partner across various industries. Even though the cargo weight was under 70 tonnes, the satellite container was close to cargo compartment sizes. Dmitry Vorontsov, Volga-Dnepr group director, APAC development, says: ‘Not only does the completion of I-6 F1 logistics project strengthen our footprint in the aerospace sector but it also brings our co-operation with Kitakyushu city government.”
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CharterSync: a complete rewrite from the ground up in 2022 CHARTERSYNC will be ringing in the new year with a completely new and upgraded platform for digitally booking and managing cargo charters. Simon Watson, director of CharterSync, tells ACW that the new system is a complete rewrite from the ground up and will be launched in Q1 of 2022. “Over the last two and a half years of trading, we’ve done about two and a half thousand to three thousand charters,” he says. “We’ve learnt a lot in those charters. We initially launched our product focussing on time critical movements in Europe as we felt that most catered to the use of our technology, which speeds up the traditional process. A traditional broker could take 15- 20 minutes to get an option and our system can create options for the client within three minutes.” Watson says the new system will build on this experience and technology to cater for a broader range of charter requests. “The new system will allow us to work with any type of client across any charter vertical and also work with any type or category of airline or aircraft operator anywhere in the world,” he explains. The new system comes at a time when airfreight charter business is booming, with ChaterSync timing their breakthrough into the market perfectly to ride the surge in charter demand that has been spurred on by the pandemic. “The last 24 months have been crazy. We launched the product and the company pre-Brexit, then we had Covid and now we have this capacity crunch, so a lot of the scheduled cargo has moved into charter. “Trading-wise we have been profitable since we very first started as a business and we forecast to continue to be profitable.” The pandemic turned the traditional office working dynamic on its head, which Watson says gave CharterSync an advantage in the market. “What’s been interesting is that pre-pandemic we saw some forwarders say they wouldn’t mind working with their brokers in the traditional process. “But now what has happened is that trying to source aircraft has been highly difficult. It all comes down to the sharing of information, and technology has been fantastic at communicating and sharing essential information. “For traditional brokers, who are sort of companies in their own right, operating within a brokerage, they have their own client base and manage their own requests. When they started to work from home it became quite difficult to manage and share availability across teams. “For us, we have one central system and it doesn’t matter where everyone is working, so it played to our advantage that we could share so much information with data available at the team’s fingertips,” explained Watson. As technology advances, will there ever be a need for human brokers? Watson says the answer is complex but he believes that human brokers are needed within forwarding companies, acting as a charter desk internally and will always exist in that market. “This actually ties in with the product we will be launching next year called CharterDesk. Our CharterDesk product is for global freight forwarding clients that have an in-house charter desk and can manage the charter process themselves. These clients can use CharterDesk to find the best cargo charter options
Cargo digitalisation Notably, cargo’s digitalisation has been particularly slow but is now gaining momentum. On the other hand, the passenger side, including the private jet sector, has been switched on for some time, which Watson puts down to the fact it is a business to consumer market. “High net worth individuals especially are used to on-demand booking of services such as Ubers and the like and they’re more open and accepting of digitalisation,” he says. “In logistics, I think there’s been two or three years that there’s been a real digitalisation drive and in that respect we timed our business launch well. “Some of the slow uptake could be put down to “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” mentality and maybe the pandemic has shown flaws in this. It’s also shown that the charter market is vitally important to global trade. “In the cargo charter market there’s always been an acknowledgment that digitalisation is the future but nobody quite knew how to execute it. For me, coming from a tech aviation background, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner,” he says. “It has been a difficult process and a steep learning curve, so in a way I can see why people haven’t done it!”
High demand for space
and manage the charters themselves across their teams. “Good communication is imperative when it comes to managing a charter. Actually, it’s amazing how many multi-million pound deals are made over WhatsApp. The communication tool in our system allows clients to centralise all this communication with the benefit of added security.”
With the current capacity issues that are facing the industry, cargo charters have relieved the high demand for space but whether the reliance on charters is here to stay is up for debate. “I would say the current issues have put charters to the forefront. Traditionally, clients would ask to be quoted for a scheduled airfreight option or a next flight out option but less so a charter option, unless just to compare rates. I suppose that up until Covid most clients wouldn’t have chartered because they wouldn’t have had the need to. “We would obviously like the demand to continue but realistically I think that the demand will probably drop down to pre-Covid or slightly above. Charters are only cost effective when the per-kilo rate is better than the airfreight option or if the schedule is better. “What I think could help keep charters stimulated is providing better access to those charter options for clients. “To find airfreight you can go to cargo.one or WebCargo by Freightos. Providing something similar to find the indicative price of the charter option to compare against, would instantly make charters more accessible to forwarders and therefore clients and end shippers.” Passenger freighters, or ‘preighters’ as they’ve been dubbed, have also relieved some pressure throughout the pandemic and Watson says these may be here to stay. “I think that preighters had never been considered as way for passenger airlines to make use of unused capacity. I think now clients will always look to see if they can make use of unused capacity. “From a passenger airline perspective they might be more open to making some extra revenue as aircraft only make money when they’re in the air. “Another trend I think is here to stay is the strengthened carrier - forwarder relationship. It will be the future of how many forwarders will operate in the charter sector going forward through an in-house charter desk.”
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DEMAND SHOULD BE STRONG IN 2022 “IT has been a very strong year. The demand for airfreight and charters specifically has been huge – far beyond our expectations,” says Dan Morgan-Evans, Air Charter Service cargo director. “Routes from China and South East Asia have been in very high demand all year – but particularly in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Our two mainland Chinese offices have been a huge benefit for the rest of the group as has our overall market presence in China. We are also very pleased with one of our newest offices – Singapore (which opened during the pandemic!) which has seen very strong growth during 2021. But all regions have been performing well, with a very strong North American domestic
“The million-dollar question is whether high demand for charters will continue post-pandemic. I think certainly for a while it will remain strong”
and international market, as well as our European operations gaining many new clients. “The million-dollar question is whether high demand for charters will continue post-pandemic. I think certainly for a while it will remain strong. We are forecasting a good 2022. Capacity issues and supply chain issues will remain – they may not have as much impact as in 2021, but they will still be a factor. But we will also see market sectors that have been hit by Covid return to pre-pandemic levels – most of them are already showing strong recovery during 2021.
First time charters “When so many customers turn to charter for the first time, it is only natural that some will stick. Although prices have been high, the point-to-point, on demand nature of charters makes business sense to some customers. The just in time model, so ingrained in the automotive market, works in other markets, like retail. Charters enable this business model to work effectively. “We have been juggling capacity constraints and high demand by leaning on our network. Whether that’s between offices, or between divisions (using our commercial jets and ACMI division). ACS has a big footprint with very strong carrier connections – it means we can find pockets of availability and solutions for the demand that others simply cannot. “There are still a vast amount preighters out there. The number of pax planes grounded during the pandemic was huge – many of the preighters will never fly with pax onboard again. “In 2022, we will continue with our development of in-house technology to make our brokers more efficient, which will ultimately result in a better customer experience. We will continue to recruit and train our next generation and focus on establishing some of our younger offices.”
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NEW CAMPAIGN PUTS SKYTEAM CARGO FIRMLY IN THE SPOTLIGHT AS the only cargo alliance in the world, SkyTeam Cargo has launched a new campaign and tagline: ‘Global shipping made easy.’
could continue flying – even with low or zero passengers but will full belly-holds. Aside from full freight operators, airlines started to load PPE materials in the passenger cabin and showed their importance as being a vital component in transporting vaccines around the world,” said Nico van der Linden, VP SkyTeam Cargo. “Before the pandemic some airlines might have considered air cargo to be less important than their passenger operations. However, COVID has demonstrated that air cargo is a crucial asset and, in many cases, has even helped airlines to survive the dramatic drop in revenue as passenger traffic disappeared.” With the pandemic reinforcing the need for additional efficiencies, such as automation and digitalisation to reduce costs and facilitate better and faster customer interfacing, SkyTeam Cargo is now helping push towards new developments that will help industry initiatives like Modernising Cargo Distribution.
THE alliance is now highlighting the strengths of its extensive network with a new campaign around its tagline, ‘Global shipping made easy’. The campaign is designed to promote SkyTeam Cargo’s unique product portfolio, which saves customers money – and hassle – through consolidated operations throughout the world. The campaign includes two advertisements focusing on SkyTeam Cargo’s ‘Sky is the Limit’ concept. Designed to show potential customers that the 12 SkyTeam Cargo members with their extensive network and services can ship anything anywhere, the adverts reveal some of the unusual and unexpected items the alliance expertly transports across countries and continents. A third advertisement has been created with the tagline, ‘Your Cargo shouldn’t feel out of place’. This aims to demonstrate how customers can avoid nasty shipping surprises thanks to SkyTeam Cargo’s four clearly defined product lines whilst reassuring them that they will enjoy the same ease of doing business – whichever of SkyTeam Cargo’s members handle their shipping needs. The campaign was launched during the important IATA World Cargo Symposium, which took place last month in Dublin, Ireland.
CNS Partnership Conference launch And SkyTeam Cargo made an equally prominent impression during the CNS Partnership Conference in Florida, USA in August – the first global in-person Cargo event since the beginning of the global pandemic. SkyTeam Cargo was proud to show its support by being platinum sponsor, also extending its thanks to members and their customers by hosting the conference’s golf tournament. With the industry moving at a fast pace, e-Commerce growing exponentially and quickly-changing government restrictions around travel, the conference was a timely opportunity for people to get together and discuss the challenges and opportunities ahead. “It’s clear that air cargo is vital to the global economy. For airlines it showed its importance to its bottom-line while they
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