The UK-based carrier earned £230million in 2012/13 and is heartened that, after two years of record growth, results in the last financial year were virtually on a par with its best-ever figures, reported in 2011/12.

The airline carried 214,737 tonnes in 2012/13, –0.91 per cent lower year-on-year. This compares favourably with the average overall industry decline of –4.5 per cent.

John Lloyd, director of Virgin Atlantic Cargo, says: “Our result compares very positively with the industry average, particularly when you take into account that the markets we serve across the Atlantic, the Far East, Middle East and Africa were the regions most affected by challenging economic conditions.

“As well as remaining competitive on price, I believe it is our passion for customer service that means customers around the world have stayed loyal to us,” he adds.

It will offer wide-bodied freighters for charter or ACMI lease and will operate from a home base at Châteauroux, in central France, connecting high economic growth areas with Europe concentrating at first on India and Brazil.

The fleet, already in operation, comprises B747-200Fs and new B747-400Fs.

There are plans for further expansion, reveals founder Jaideep Mirchandani, who has just completed six months of negotiations with European regulators.

The all-cargo airline will initially target charter business worldwide, specialising in the transport of heavy loads, he points out.

“It will build cargo bridges between continents – initially Asia and South America, via Europe,” Mirchandani adds.

The new venture aims to fill a cargo void estimated at tens of thousands of tonnes a month left by the recent closure of other European freight-only airlines. It will also administer other aircraft on behalf of operators.

Mirchandani says: “We will serve a particular niche in this market. Our companies have been operating successfully for nearly a decade in the field of transportation of heavy loads and ACMI lease.”

Aerospace One made its maiden flight in April when a B747-200F flew from Sharjah to Jakarta.

Part of the Skyone group of companies, the carrier has already tied up with charter specialist Chartersphere, based in the UK.

An exclusive affiliation means the broker will handle all charter inquiries and contract arrangements for Aerospace One. 

Chartersphere will provide quotations on all business inquiries for the new. Paul Bennett, managing director of chartersphere, says the move is a natural development in the relationship between the two companies, which are both part of Skyone Group. 

“This is an evolutionary move which draws on the experience and professionalism built up across decades within the group,” he says.

“We will offer the Greek aircraft on a global basis and are delighted to be able to provide competitive prices on an exclusive basis to all inquiries as well as guaranteeing the flexibility for which we are known across the world,” he adds.

‘PARTY animal’ is not a term one would ordinarily use to describe one of the most admired operators in the industry. “A man for all seasons” would be more fitting for a person who has contributed so greatly to the business and touched so many lives in the process. 

But Chris Chapman eschews any kind praise or celebrity frequently attached to his name, along with any airs and graces that usually accompany success. Chapman Freeborn, which celebrated 40 years of successful aircraft chartering in May, is a leading supplier of passenger and freight aircraft charters to major corporations, private individuals, aid agencies and governments. “I firmly believe that you treat people as you want to be treated. It is really important, it doesn’t matter who the person is. Whether they are at the bottom of the totem pole or at the top – you treat them the same,” declares the father-of-four. 

Unsurprisingly, Chapman recalls an incident early in his career where he was discriminated against purely on the basis of what he was wearing. At the time, he was running a motorcycle dispatch riding company.

“I used to cycle to our office in Victoria (London) in a pair of shorts and sometimes I wouldn’t bother to change. One time we owned a dispatch-riding company and one particular day, I was asked to carry out a job for them and a receptionist in the building was extremely rude because it had been raining and I was dripping wet wearing a cycling cape. Two days later, I was there suited and booted and she was all smiles and even offered me a cup of tea. That really struck me as a way not to behave,” he adds. 

Away from the stresses and strains that come with running a thriving entity the colourful 70-year-old, who lives in Bath, likes to spend long holidays with his partner Lisa, in south-western France indulging in his two biggest weakness eating good food and fine wines. 

Such is his love for both pastimes that he now owns a restaurant and a bar. “Life is to be enjoyed. Wherever you are, you have got to make the most of it and enjoy it,” enthuses the stalwart who began his working life cleaning tables after leaving school at 16 with three ‘O’ levels. 

It was an inauspicious start and one that was unpalatable to his police sergeant father who naturally wanted more for his bright son so he used his connections to land him a position with a freight forwarder called Thomas Meadows. “It was a job filling in customs forms, which was extremely boring,” reveals Chapman who jumped ship and moved on to another forwarder, which had “more than one type of form to fill in”. Concerned he would not fulfil his potential his father carted him off to a jobs fair in the hope that young Chapman would discover his passion. 

“My father got really upset with me because I was showing no interest in life at all. When I went to the careers exhibition people tried to sell me the idea of being a banker or an accountant, which I definitely did not want to do.”

Seeing his devoted father become more and more frustrated as time went on, Chapman spotted a man at a British European Airways stand and told his father he wanted to work for an airline just to keep him happy.

“To be honest, I had never thought about working for an airline until two seconds before I said it.” But Chapman’s initial enthusiasm started to wane once he realised having three ‘A’ levels was a prerequisite to getting the position. He attended night school but threw in the towel after just two weeks.

His future looked uncertain until serendipity came knocking in the form of a Citroen, which had been parked outside the police station, where his father worked for four days. Under the assumption it had been abandoned, the vehicle was towed away to the annoyance of the owner who just happened to work for an airline. 

“I went for an interview with Tradair and got the job.” Chapman spent his first day on December 29  1959 flying as a passenger out of Southend Airport, which was then one of the busiest airports in UK. "I flew to Sylt in Germany in the cockpit of a Viking aeroplane with a very aggressive ex-Polish Air Force pilot. That was my day one in aviation and I enjoyed it from that day to this.”

It follows the industry’s adoption of a multilateral eAWB. “Paperless airfreight is set to become more convenient for our customers,” says a company spokesperson.

The new IATA multilateral eAWB means that forwarders need to sign only one agreement with IATA to gain acceptance from multiple carriers for their paperless airwaybills.

All signatory airlines are then automatically included in the accord.

The agreement spells out clear rules on the usage of the eAWB and renders complex bilateral eAWB agreements on legal aspects and interfaces between carriers and freight forwarders unnecessary.

Lufthansa Cargo has been a key influencer in pushing the initiative and tested its practical viability in a trial run since last November.

“This industry-wide agreement is a major milestone on

the road towards completely paperless air cargo,” emphasises Lufthansa Cargo’s chief executive Karl Ulrich Garnadt.

“Both our customers and we as an airline will profit from easier utilisation of the eAWB as well as from more efficient and faster processes,” he notes.

Lufthansa Cargo plans to switch entirely to the use of eAWBs by 2015.

In the course of this year, the eAWB is to become standard for air cargo transport from all German stations to all destinations in the carrier’s global network.

More than 60 of its customers, worldwide, have already signed up to using the eAWB.

The French company has announced the winners of its annual ‘Innovation Masters Award’, which recognises outstanding internal innovative initiatives discovered throughout the logistic service provider’s global network.

The competition is designed to stimulate trendsetting ideas which improve performance, processes and products.

This year the award was presented to two teams of innovators and two individuals.

The winners, who received their awards at a presentation ceremony in Dubai, are: From The Netherlands, Cynthia Liauw, Erik Goosens and Rutger Jonker for their Milestone Scan Events project which is about linking milestones automatically to Geodis Wilson’s track and trace system; Johan Karlsson, Martin Henriksen and Peter Riis Rasmussen from Sweden and Denmark, who proposed the development of a package scanner that can be used via smartphones; the Hong Kong office’s Steven Pike for his initiative that centralises and standardises reporting; and from India, Raj Kiran Pant’s 24x7 customer care idea for increased customer satisfaction.

“This programme is a product of Geodis Wilson’s corporate philosophy, which contains a commitment to become the innovation leader in the freight forwarding industry,” enthuses executive vice-president Kim Pedersen.

The entry and subsequent selection process began in September 2012 and included more than 250 submissions. These were whittled down by regional judging panels to a shortlist of 15 finalists before the ultimate winners were chosen by the executive board members and previous winners.

The operation involves applying thermal protection to each individual pallet to maintain the correct temperatures in transit. Shipments from the biopharmaceutical company's North West-based warehouse in Cheshire are timed to arrive in Sydney at the coolest time of day.

The freight is stored under strict temperature guidelines in transit, ensuring product integrity at all times, the air/ocean freight forwarding company states. 

Yusen has been working in close partnership with AstraZeneca since 2007, when it was appointed to manage its European road freight operations.

Julian Wann, from AZ, enthuses: “The relationship is one that has matured since its inception, as we have identified new requirements, Yusen Logistics has been proactive in developing solutions that meet all our needs.”

OUTSTANDING airfreight facilities, like HACTL’s Superterminal at Hong Kong, invite a lot of copy-cat moves, but Maurice Thorin, managing partner at AirLogistix, sees no merit in doing so.

“Passenger requirements are  generally more or less the same around the world, so you can copy and paste successful passenger terminal designs. But cargo is different,” he remarks.

Each facility has to reflect the types of goods it handles and also the local requirements and processes and peculiar regulatory set-ups, he stresses.

AirLogistix designed the new cargo terminals at Bogota’s El Dorado Airport in a sweeping revamp of its cargo infrastructure that was completed last year.

The design not only took into account the high proportion of perishables but also aspects like the fact that customs clearance is performed in a off-airport bonded warehouse.

These elements, along with actual and projected volumes, were fed into a simulation of operations and processes to determine the best layout, flows and productivity.

According to Ray Brimble, chief executive of cargo facility developer Lynxs, which built and manages the cargo infrastructure at Bogota, the airport achieves much improved flow-through velocity – a credential which is increasingly needed in modern cargo facilities.

The overhaul of the cargo area boosted its capacity to one million tonnes, with ample room for further expansion. Read more about how Colombia is keeping pace with the perishables growth market in the next edition of Air Cargo News 20 May 2013 - No 752

A Remote Explosive Scent Tracing (REST) process, at truck level, was approved by the Dutch authorities at the end of last year.

It screens an entire truck load of cargo at once, using specially trained explosive detection dogs.

Eelco van Asch, the carrier’s European vice-president, points out: “Many customers are happy with this new service.

“The first week in operation was very successful. Many trucks have been secured without any disruptions.”

AF-KL-MP Cargo believes that supply chain security is of crucial importance for European airfreight, says a statement.

“As major player in the air cargo industry AF-KL-MP Cargo wants to support its customers to meet the adjusted European security requirements,” adds van Asch.

LATAM Airlines Group will reduce its CO2 emissions by 10 thousand tonnes a year by replacing its entire stock of cargo containers.

A new inventory of 3,517 ultra-light Kevlar containers will also save one million gallons of fuel and reduce the carrier’s overhead by as much as US$3.2 million a year.

The replacement containers are 30 per cent lighter than the current aluminum versions, are made of the same material used to manufacture bulletproof vests and are five times stronger than a steel equivalent.

The airline group has invested $9.3 million in purchasing the new containers from Nordisk Aviation.

Kevlar has many advantageous properties, including high impact resistance and excellent stability when exposed to extreme temperatures, thus providing an ideal combination of ultra lightness and strength.