Bigger, safer, ‘shapier’

Hong Kong Airlines is about to become the launch customer for a container from Nordisk, developed in cooperation with Airbus, that will increase the payload on the main deck of its A330-200 freighters by more than 10 per cent as well as making the cargo more secure.
Didier Lenormand, Airbus’ head of marketing for freighter aircraft, said customers have been loading pallets since the aircraft’s entry into service in 2010. The curved profile of the AMV container, which marries to the shape of the fuselage with a clearance of just 50mm, allows the equivalent of one extra pallet.
It is important capacity given the carrier’s increased focus on express parcels, and the time-senitive nature of this traffic is also relevant because the containers can be loose-loaded quickly as well as more safely, explained BY Sim, VP sales and business development for Nordisk in Asia.
“There is less risk of the load shifting on is way to the plane, and damage to the aircraft if turbulence is encountered in transit is reduced,” said Sim. The container took a year to develop and test.