Vol. 8 No. 95                                                                  WE COVER THE WORLD                                               Friday September 4, 2009

     Last week a German court outlawed nearly all night traffic at Frankfurt airport as of October 2011 when the fourth runways will be ready for operation. Meanwhile this decision, which still can be questioned and revised by politicians has caused an avalanche of reactions. ACNFT presents major voices:
     Wolf-Dietrich von Helldorff, (left) President of the influential German Air Cargo Club warned: The forseeable night flight ban at Rhein-Main “is incompatible with Frankfurt’s importance and role as international cargo gateway.” Shippers and agents highly depend on night flights to offer their clients rapid transport solutions. Shipping cycles of 24 hours are standard in the globalized cargo world nowadays. This applies not only for express products, but for the entire range of air freight, Helldorff said. Germany as leading export market not only depends on state-of-the-art logistics and traffic offerings but also on airports that offer 24/7 service.
      Carsten Spohr, CEO LH Cargo: “Our existence would be threatened if absolutely no night flights were to be permitted in Frankfurt between 11pm and 5am any longer. Apparently some of the political and legal authorities have simply no idea of what a ‘threat to our existence’ really means. Not only Lufthansa Cargo but the complete logistics location of Frankfurt would be pulled into an irreversible downwards spiral which would result in a sharp reduction of cargo volumes.”
     Asked by ACNFT about the consequences for his enterprise he delivered this perspective: “If the tonnages decline, further cargo flights would become uneconomical and would have to be terminated – until finally the operation of a freighter fleet that is closely interlinked with the belly-hold space of Lufthansa’s passenger aircraft would gradually no longer be financially feasible. Our business model, in which we closely coordinate the capacities of bellies and freighters in Frankfurt, would no longer be profitable. Consequently volumes and hence traffic and jobs would increasingly be shifted abroad, to Amsterdam and Paris, for example.“
     And why not base the entire freighter fleet of nineteen MD-11s at other German sites, like Munich, Hahn or Leipzig/Halle, Herr Spohr? “Munich is not a convincing alternative since night flights are outlawed there already. Leipzig is a modern airport with a well working infrastructure and approval for night flights. However, a logistics system consists of freighter capacity together with belly-hold space in passenger aircraft, many global players with offices or stations at that site together with a powerful manufacturing industry in near reach. Leipzig, unlike Frankfurt, does not have these preconditions. Our business model requires the linking of belly-hold and main deck capacity for assuring our customers the fast flow of their goods. Third theoretical alternative could be Frankfurt-Hahn airport, but an additional 47,000 truck movements yearly would be indispensable. This is time consuming, would generate extra costs, and unnecessarily pollute the environment – not to mention the additional noise people would suffer from that are living aside the roads. Therefore, we don’t see a realistic alternative to Frankfurt at any other German airport for a possible translocation of our freighter fleet.”
      Stefan Schulte, (left) CEO of airport manager Fraport AG believes that the game is not over yet, since “ultimately the (night flight) issue will presumably be decided at the highest court level.” He admitted that the judges weighed the resident’s need for an undisturbed nighttime sleep higher than the interest of the transport industry. Further he pointed out that prior to the court’s decision Fraport had opted for as many as 17 flights per night in average.
      Secretary General Martin Gaebges right)of BARIG (Board of Airline Representatives in Germany) stated that it is “completely inexplicable that a modern hub (like Frankfurt) will be cut off from full utilization” as a result of the upcoming night flight curfew. He reminded politicians and judges that technical improvements in recent times have contributed substantially to reduce the noise of air traffic. Hence plane makers, turbine producers, and airlines have paid their contribution and should now be rewarded by conducting their flights according to commercial demand. This includes indispensable operations between midnight and dawn, requiring a better and more realistic understanding by politicians and courts of his industry’s arguments.”
Heiner Siegmund

ACD Germany Kicks Off

     If there is one thing that every member of an air cargo club anywhere in the world has in common it is concern for the quality of the food served at the meeting.
     Some places the food is great, like in Atlanta.
     Elsewhere let’s just say the situation can be spotty (like at JFK).
     But in Frankfurt the Air Cargo Deutschland Club (ACD) that has been around approaching a half century may have finally figured out where to hold meetings and be reasonably assured that when a meal is served, it will be great.
     New meeting ground for ACD starting next week on September 8 is at the Sky Chefs airport catering building.
     Summer break is over and luckily many ACD members found some good news returning to their desks.
     The entire inland economy has stabilized, export orders start coming in again – although slowly.
     Unemployment came to a stop and step-by-step temporary part timers are picking up regular speed again.
     The general feeling here is that it will take a while for airfreight—as well as the entire logistics-industry to climb back to normal.
     Next week (Sept 8) as ACD gathers together discussion will cover general policy, selection of new members and guest speakers.
     It is expected to result in newly designed guidelines and administrative needs and activities.
     Of course the big breaking news of the day concerning that dreaded night ban of flights in and out of Fraport no doubt will get plenty of airing, so look for our post meeting take right here in Air Cargo News FlyingTypers to get the latest on that touchy subject.
     Due to the purely internal character of can attend.
     ACD will also recall long time member Alfred Eisele, who passed away last week. Alfred is best characterized as “controversial” but creative at the same time.
     Here are some personal thoughts:
     “Alfred was outspoken in situations when a fellow member, guest or even guest speaker at ACD deviated too much from logistics, or a presentation turned into a sales pitch.
     “Alfred would most always speak up to keep the conversation lively, professional and always on the beam.
     “Alfred’s labels were Kuehne & Nagel, Impex and Rhenus.
     “A full blooded freight forwarder who was down to earth, he said – “cargo always seeks and finds the best way to destination.”
     “In that and most things the man was outspoken and right on ..and will be missed.”
     Alfred´s daughter it should be mentioned Elke Wasser successfully runs the Frankfurt “Aircargo People Academy”.
     Going forward 2009-ACD 2009 meetings 2009 at LSG-SkyChefs always on the “jour fixe” – the second Tuesday of the month 04:00 pm – sharp; and guests are welcome .
     Future Programs include: October 13th – “Aircargo on Rails”; November 10th. “ World Economy Related to Transport Needs” – Prof. Borislav Bjelicic; December 08th “Dr. Andreas Otto, Marketing Lufthansa Cargo” Year in review & Looking Ahead”.
Guenter Mosler

     “Dear guests, please be advised that SkyEurope has suspended its sales and operations immediately.”
     With this announcement on the carrier’s homepage since Monday night, another European airline seems to have gone to ashes once and for all.
     A temporary nightmare for thousands of stranded and distressed passengers that were left behind at about 30 European airports as each of them had to individually solve the problem of how to get back home again.
     Some airlines, namely Austrian carriers Niki and AUA offered help.
     The final nail in the coffin for the Slovak budget carrier was Monday night when airline owner SkyEurope Holding was denied additional funds to finance further operations.
     Consequently the airline announced it was broke leaving the entire fleet of ten aircraft immediately on the ground.
     Rumors about the 2001-established low fare carrier having pressing cash problems had already arisen two months ago when a number of bills for fuel or landing fees to airports were not paid in time.
     Then two weeks ago, Vienna Airport stopped its support for the carrier due to open invoices.
     Other airports followed which put a dramatic pressure on parent company SkyEurope Holding to knock at the bank’s doors to raise desperately needed additional funds.
     That last ditch effort obviously failed.
     The carrier’s end has also forced some change at leisure Cargo.
     leisure’s Director of Operations Christian Weidener noted that while SkyEurope had been an important client of his enterprise by offering belly-hold capacity for shipments on a number of interesting routes, namely the flights from Vienna to Athens, Cyprus and Barcelona:
     “Cargo to all our destinations is moving smoothly without interruption as Niki Lauda’s Niki and our other resource partners are filling the gap, ”Weidner said.
Heiner Siegmund

B747 Gets Hang Of It

    At Boeing mechanics install GEnx-2B engines on B747-8 No. 1 in final assembly at the factory in Everett, Wash.
“We are another step closer to bringing the 747-8 Freighter to market,” said Mo Yahyavi, vice president and general manager of the 747 program.
The 747-8 Freighter is expected to make its first flight in the fourth quarter of this year, with first delivery scheduled for the third quarter of 2010.

     AirAsia X does a tie-in with a sports team in a country the airline does not serve and now is flying an A340 in and out of KUL to places like STN with the logo of a US based NFL Football team Oakland Raiders.


     So here is this big new Airbus with home base in a largely Muslim country with pictures of American football players on one side of the tube, and female cheerleaders with low cut tops on the other.
If this sounds a bit jerky you might be right.
     We can only wonder, who did the wiser minds at AirAsia X think that they might impress?
Understand that some LCCs seem to enjoy walking on the wild with their marketing.
     That’s OK we think . . . after all the wheel that squeaks gets the grease.
     Some of the offerings from carriers like Ryanair & the US carrier Spirit, at times have been laugh out loud funny.
     But why AirAsia X would want to project itself in a manner that uses women in an anti-female and chauvinist manner is a puzzlement.
     And we still cannot get over the fact that the airline just doesn’t fly into USA at all except until today when we were invited to a presser in Oakland later this month presumably to see the football airplane up close & personal.
     Maybe the carrier will start to fly to Oakland?
     Perhaps the football players and cheerleaders will show up at the presser?
     Seriously—the rub here, as we see it is that seXporting this A340 around the world is not very imaginative or funny.
     Funny is that video of all those naked crew people on an Air New Zealand doing a safety pre-flight message.
     This AirAsia X marketing effort is not very smart and while it might have looked good on paper, in application it plays out dumb at best, or exploitative at worst.
     Even manages to make American football that relies in great part on offense—a bit offensive.
Geoffrey

 

Women In Air Cargo     
   

 

 

 

Air Cargo News FlyingTypers leads the way again as the world’s first air cargo publication to connect the industry to the broadly expanding and interactive base for social commentary—Twitter.
     Here are updates from Twitter so far this week. To be added to this 24/7/365 service at no-charge contact: acntwitter@aircargonews.com

September 3:  Finncomm Airlines now flies daily Helsinki Vantaa to Norrköping, Sweden Sunday-Friday in cooperation with Finnair.

September 3:   Traffic slowdown during July at Bulgaria's two Black Sea international airports at Varna and Bourgas. Cargo Air operates B737C, AN12s.

 September 3:   LHR/LGA? BA gets first of two A318 aircraft with 'steep approach' to land at steeper than usual gradients Opens potential for int'l city center service.

September 3:   Australia has charged PT Garuda Indonesia of price fixing security and fuel charges. Hearing is on Oct. 22 Aussie actions so far against QF, BA, SQ, CX & EK.


September 3:   JetBlue goes Boston-Baltimore/Washington for $19 each-way or $59.20 round trip and has seats.

September 3:   NexDisplay (S. Korea) builds four video LCD plants in Hungary with partner, Ketrax Hungary Kft. First at Szentgotthárd (western Hungary) up and running by 2011 employs 600 people.

September 3:   Baltic Air Charter Assoc. celebrates its 60th year at London (Guildhall), below left, October 29 where bow-tie parties & award ceremony are national sport. Tix:  baca@balticexchange.co.uk

September 3:    In USA CMH (above right) mulls putting up cash to entice airlines follows PIT giving DL 9 mil for CDG & PDX 3.5 mil to DL for NRT & BWI $5.5 mil for LHR.

September 2:   Emirates said today that it will put A380 back on New York/Dubai run during first half of 2010.

Summer Gone As Labor Day Observed

     The unofficial end of summer in America comes Monday September 7 as the annual Labor Day is celebrated.
     Even though the sweet season still has a few more weeks to go until autumn, kids will be off to school on Tuesday and the beaches will be closed down until next May.
     Here in USA baseball still has some weeks to go, made even more exciting this year as the beloved New York Yankees in their new billion dollar Bronx address appear ready to go all the way to World Series promise land come October.
     Labor Day here for air cargo is a pause and a hope that as the rest of the year and history unwinds—the terrible downward trend will really be over sooner rather than later.
     My family will be at a bridal shower as preamble for our oldest son’s gala wedding in October, while we ready ourselves to go and celebrate our friend’s wedding overseas next week.
     Seems everybody is getting hitched as life goes on.
     Catch us for updates before you read it here @ www.twitter.com/AirCargoNews
     Air Cargo News FlyingTypers returns September 8.
     Safe home.
Geoffrey