Martinair Cuts Pax
As Air Cargo Indicted

      ”Martinair, which is down to four B767s devoted to passenger service, will end the 53-year old dream that began with Martin Schröder. At the end of 2011, the little airline that could will carry people no more.
      But Martinair says that despite everything else, it will finish 2010 in the black, and that the brand will still be around to lift air cargo beyond 2011.
      About a third of the line’s 1,800 employees will be immediately affected with the receipt of pink slips.
      On September 21, the U.S. District Court in Atlanta indicted Meta Ullings, (below) the carrier’s Sr. VP Cargo Sales and Marketing, for conspiring “to suppress and eliminate competition with price fixing."
      That charge would be laughable were it not so threatening to an individual.
      In a plea agreement filed July 22, 2008, Martinair Cargo made a deal with USDOJ, agreeing to pay a $42 million fine. Part of the agreement stated that “the United States will not bring criminal charges against any current or former director, officer, or employee of the defendant (Martinair) or its subsidiaries, including Tampa Cargo SA, for any act or offense committed before the date of this Plea Agreement and while that person was acting as a director, officer, or employee of the defendant or its subsidiaries that was undertaken in furtherance of an antitrust conspiracy involving the sale of air cargo services ("Relevant Offense"), except that the protections granted in this paragraph shall not apply to Arie Verberk, Meta Ullings, and Frank de Jong.”
      This latest indictment in the seemingly never ending price–fix scandals was only a matter of time.
      To date, four people have pled guilty in the global price fixing follies that have been going on for the past several years. Franciscus Johannes de Jong, Martinair’s VP of cargo sales in Europe, agreed in April 2009 to serve eight months in prison, pay a $20,000 criminal fine and cooperate with the DOJ in the investigation. The other three airline execs who have pled guilty and faced prison time: Bruce McCaffrey of Qantas Airways Ltd., Keith Packer of British Airways PLC and Timothy Pfeil of SAS Cargo.
      We know from speaking to Bruce McCaffrey, former USA cargo chief at Qantas, that an individual faced with total financial destruction will usually cut a deal and do short time in a country club slammer, especially when one knows that no one will back them up, but instead throw them under the bus.
      That looks to be the case with Ms. Ullings. It is far easier for the weight of these scandalous affairs to be born by an individual, rather than the company to which the dealings were dealt. One would hope that air cargo would band together to protect not only the air cargo industry but those people who have given dedicated service and time to build and maintain the industry.
      The air cargo industry is being held hostage by overzealous prosecutors. This is not the fault of one or two or three masterminds—the industry practices are implemented and managed by scores of people, and overseen by billion dollar companies—and yet we are laying responsibility and blame upon a few. The result is that innocent people are being singled out for stoning – penitent victims who must carry the sin for us all, so that we might all be forgiven. And that just isn’t right.
      We hope Ms. Ullings is not one of the employees slated for oblivion at Martinair, and that the carrier stands by their woman in this matter.
Geoffrey/Flossie

Miami Berlin Air Link

       Beginning in November 2010, airberlin will open twice weekly A330-200 nonstop service from Berlin to Miami codeshare flights with American Airlines.
      The new nonstop service will connect Miami with the German capital of Berlin starting November 1, 2010 until April 28, 2011.
      The flights to and from Berlin will operate on Mondays and Thursdays, utilizing an Airbus A330-200, with 276 seats in economy class and 24 in business class and, of course, leisure cargo below decks as possible.
      "The United States of America is an increasingly important market for airberlin. We are therefore glad to expand our route network from Florida by adding nonstop service to Berlin," said Joachim Hunold, (left) CEO airberlin.
      “We look forward to supplementing our partner agreements by offering lift for our air cargo product that is rapidly developing via hub Miami to central and Latin America,” said Ralf Auslaender, MD Leisure Cargo, the AB cargo arm.
      "airberlin’s new route will also provide numerous opportunities for connections for both cargo and passengers to dozens of destinations in Germany and Europe,” he added.
      From hub Berlin, airberlin connects to Zurich, Vienna, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Oslo, and seven intra-Germany cities including Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe/Baden Baden, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart.
      For the summer season, airberlin will further enhance its services from Miami International Airport to Berlin by offering a third weekly connection. Flights will commence on May 3, 2011 as the carrier goes MIA/BER Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
      In summer 2011, the number of connections to Scandinavia via Berlin-Tegel will increase slightly to a total of four destinations (Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenburg), adding to the intra-Germany connections and the Swiss and Austrian capitals Zurich and Vienna.
      In addition to the new Miami-Berlin service, airberlin will continue to offer nonstop service to its German gateway Düsseldorf three times weekly during its winter operation, thereby contributing to enhance the connectivity of Miami to the airberlin network, which encompasses more than 160 cities in 40 countries worldwide.
      airberlin currently offers nonstop flights from its six North American gateways: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Fort Myers, Miami and Vancouver to Germany.
      The most recent addition to airberlin’s U.S. network this year is twice weekly nonstop service from San Francisco to Düsseldorf, which was launched in May this year.
      The San Francisco route will, after a temporary suspension in winter, once again be offered as of summer 2011.
Geoffrey

Train To The Plane

     Emirates SkyCargo receives “Supplier of the Year 2010” from German logistics giant Deutsche Bahn in Berlin.
     Pictured (L to R) Dr. Volker Kefer, DB Board Member Technology and Infrastructure; Andreas Boppart, Emirates’ Manager Cargo – Global Accounts; Hiran Perera, Emirates’ Senior Vice President Cargo – Freighters and Manfred Strub, Head of Procurement Deutsche Bahn AG.
     Upon receiving the accolade, Hiran Perera said:
     “To be recognized as the only airline with a Deutsche Bahn Supplier’s Award—in any category—is a powerful endorsement of our commitment to customer service and quality. Emirates SkyCargo is absolutely thrilled to receive this award.”

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     FedEx is on overdrive in India. Last November, it launched domestic services in India, taking, as it were, the competition with other multinational express majors and homegrown providers. The move, which was primarily meant for 14 cities and is now being expanded, in phases, to 58 starting in August 2010, was to provide customers with a reliable and convenient shipping solution for their time-critical commercial and non-commercial consignments across key Indian markets.
     Nine months later, in another aggressive move, FedEx has launched a flight from Bengaluru.
     The move connects to the Middle East, Europe and the U.S.
     With that, Bengaluru has become the third Indian gateway for FedEx after Delhi and Mumbai. The Bengaluru flight adds to a A310 daily flight with a total capacity of 75,000 pounds that FedEx operates from Mumbai to Europe and the U.S.

(L-R) Indranil Sen, Managing Director, Marketing Middle East, India Subcontinent and Africa and Customer Service India, FedEx Express, Kenneth F Koval, Vice President Operations, India, FedEx Express Europe, Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa (EMEA), Samuel Thomas, Managing Director, Operations, FedEx Express welcome the first FedEx Express flight to Bengaluru.  
    
      According to Kenneth F Koval, Vice President, Operations, FedEx Express India:
     “The launch of a flight from Bengaluru, coupled with the domestic service expansion, broadens market opportunities for customers doing business locally as well as internationally by leveraging the reach of the FedEx worldwide network.”
     The new flight is in tune with the economic growth of the country. Between 2008 and 2009, the share of Europe and America in India’s exports stood at 23.8 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.
     The flight also emphasizes the growth of India’s south.
     Over the last few years, many airlines have concentrated on enhancing services to the southern cities of Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Martinair, for example, has a freighter flying in to Chennai thrice a week. As Koval commented at the press conference announcing the launch: “Bengaluru and its surrounding cities are a major component of India’s economic expansion, with South India contributing to approximately 20 percent of India’s GDP. By launching our flight from Bengaluru, we’re confident that businesses in South India will gain from greater global access.”
     The moves by FedEx also point to the scorching speed that the Indian logistics industry is going through.
     Taarek Hinedi, Managing Director Operations, FedEx Express, had not too long ago pointed out that the “Indian logistics industry witnessed a constant growth process, particularly between 2002 and 2007, during which time the sector grew from 8 to 10 percent annually.
     Highlighting the future potential of the sector is the expectation that the logistics business will reach a market size of over US$125 billion in 2010.”
     Realizing that the manufacturing sector has taken firm steps to go global, Hinedi felt that express service providers had become a necessity. He said that the outlook for the air cargo industry in the country was bright and companies foresee tremendous potential in the sector.
      No wonder, the new enhancements by FedEx have been planned to strengthen its foothold in India whilst building the trade lane between Asia and Europe. Way back in March 2005, FedEx started the air cargo industry’s first express direct flight from mainland China to Europe. That was followed in September 2005 by a second flight doubling the capacity between Europe and Asia, with a stop in Delhi, making it the first overnight express daily flight between India and China.
     FedEx’s plans to penetrate the domestic market may get a boost if talks with Naresh Goyal’s Jet Airways, the country’s largest private carrier, yield results. Way back in December last year, Jet, which has been planning to start a dedicated cargo airline for quite a few years now, started talks with FedEx about tying up for a dedicated cargo airline. Though no further developments have been reported, Jet is understood to still be interested in the project. If the project does take off – it could be either a joint venture or a simple tie-up between the two carriers – it will be a win-win situation for both.
Tirthankar Ghosh/Flossie

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