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 #INTHEAIREVERYWHERE |
| Vol. 21 No. 18 | Monday
April 25,
2022 |
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 “The
last few months have been pretty tough here in Hong Kong,” Bob Rogers
Of ULD Care writes.“Having ducked the bullet and having escaped the ravages of COVID Alpha and Delta through our stringent social distancing and travel bans,” Mr. Rogers said, “Hong Kong did pretty well until January 2022 at which point Omicron got through a crack, and went like wildfire through our incredibly closely packed community, and sadly due to a rather low vaccination rate amongst the elderly pushed our mortality figures skywards. “Despite that rather depressing news, I have to say that in terms of deaths per million, Hong Kong is still far far below a multitude of other countries. “Of course this policy of protecting the health of the population over the economic costs has not made it easy for Hong Kong, and there is no doubt that a lot of people have chosen to up sticks and move on to other places around the world, frustrated with the overbearing restrictions on travel into Hong Kong. “However we do seem to be at least at the beginning of the end, we now only need to do seven days quarantine on arrival back into Hong Kong and over the last month we have seen a further steady relaxation of travel-related restrictions, the latest coming Friday April 22 with the announcement that the ban on non-residents entering HK, in force for 2 years, is now lifted. “We are also seeing a gradual return to normalcy in day-to-day life in Hong Kong with restaurants now open till 10 pm and gyms and sports facilities open. “On the aviation side there is no question that the recent comments from Wilie Walsh that Hong Kong could no longer be considered a global airline hub raised more than a few eyebrows around town. “Of course to those of us in the industry the announcement of the shifting of the 2022 WCS from HK to London, while very understandable, Is nevertheless sad & disappointing news. “So now HKIA must face the wonder of just how rapidly Hong Kong can regain its pre-eminent position in the air transport world. “But for those in air cargo, the dark clouds have that proverbial 'silver lining' as HKIA can point to position as #1 cargo airport, head and shoulders ahead of second place Memphis overall. “HKIA also tops Incheon for International tonnage in the latest numbers. “So maybe it will be air cargo that will be the driver to bring back the passenger flights once the current quarantine policy is removed?” Mr. Roger’s neighborhood includes landscapes that invite occasional opportunity to take a walk in the beautiful hills to the south of Hong Kong, near the airport. Earlier this week his dedication to staying healthy revealed a stunning view of the aforementioned HKIA Logistics Center nearing completion. In the picture everybody can get an idea of the Logistics Center’s size by comparing the place to the jet fuel tank farm that sits beside it. Created during the worst of the pandemic the new cargo wonderworld actually dwarfs the giant squat (by comparison) fuel farm tanks. If HKIA’s number is up, someone forgot to tell the futurists in Hong Kong.! “DG Walsh, who may enjoy Chinese cuisine may have to also eat his words in the not-too-distant future,” Bob Rogers smiles . . . GDA |
An autonomous vehicle delivers critical supplies to residents in a locked down block in Shanghai, China Wednesday April 20. The vehicle was introduced there after over two weeks into the Covid-19 lockdown and is a lifeline for residents stuck inside their homes as Shanghai lockdown now a month old continues. Despite partial openings, a massive traffic glut at the ocean port due to ongoing testing of cargo truckers has slowed down cargo movement to a crawl. Truckers additionally need a 48-hour nucleic acid test report and a territorial pass to gain highway access. Truckers also may only access PVG cargo facilities with a Green Pass Certificate. U.S. to Shanghai by air dribbling in with limited schedules and top rates only. PVG not yet fully reopened is expected to be on the air and sea cargo critical list in terms of full recovery for some time to come with the backlogs. Neighboring cities continue to absorb cargo from the ocean port and airport, but space is at a premium. Add Kunshan, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Zhengzhou, to gateways that that are accepting cargo from air and port but now even these alternatives are increasingly being overwhelmed with restrictions and delays. |
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“War in Ukraine casts a shadow over the aviation recovery, and that is particularly true for aviation lessors, who are reeling after Russia’s version of “Grand Theft Airplane” saw a $10 billion plane grab, with almost 800 foreign-registered aircraft forcibly reregistered domestically,” says Eamonn Brennan, Director General of EUROCONTROL. “Aviation has continued to recover well over the last few weeks, and there has been a steady climb from 68% in January rising to 79% by the start of April compared to 2019 levels, even factoring in the impact on the network and on fuel prices of the unprovoked aggression by Russia against Ukraine. “Airlines are adding lots of capacity, and some airlines are already outperforming their pre-pandemic levels. People are showing that they are really keen to fly – many for the first time since before the pandemic began. Hitting 90% or more of 2019 traffic at peak summer moments is firmly on the cards, and we expect holiday destinations and some other parts of the network to exceed 100% of their 2019 levels. “Clearly, however, there are still some downside risks related to continued geopolitical tensions that could further impact fuel prices and economic conditions, as well as the possibility of new COVID variants. “We’re also seeing staff shortages in parts of the industry, particularly at airports in key roles such as airport screeners or ground handlers, and this needs to be carefully managed. Should any of these factors come into play, traffic could slide towards the levels envisaged in our Low Scenario. “But as cash-strapped airlines increasingly look for an asset-light business model, and traffic finally looks set to stay on course for close to 2019 levels by summer 2022, the future is once more looking bright for the leasing sector.” Brennan, always on the ball and right to the point, promises an update and an interesting guest April 28 as Domhnal Slattery, CEO of Avolon Aero joins Aviation StraightTalk live. Slattery will offer his take as CEO of one of the world's largest leasing companies. Live on April 28 at 15:00. Register here: https://lnkd.in/eV7CWpCY |
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Joe McBryan is a modern-day air cargo pioneer of aviation and air cargo. For over a half century he has pulled himself and Buffalo Airways up by the bootstraps, first by flying supplies to little hard to reach villages in Northern Canada and also as an aerial firefighter, and maybe more importantly by lovingly keeping the art and ability of some 50- and even 80-year old aircraft not only together but also air worthy. Joe, from what we can see of him on TV is the real man. You aren’t going to find out stuff about him later. It is all there right now. Crusty, crabby, demanding, but also with the softest side you might imagine. He reminds me of my friend, the late Ralph O’Neill , a WW I ace who sold fighters for Boeing, married Bill Boeing’s Secretary Jane Galbraith and then quit and founded NYRBA, the airline that pioneered the first international mail and passengers schedules down the east coast of South America. Ralph flew the first Consolidated Commodores (PBY Catalina), an open cockpit aircraft with a comfortable interior outfitted for passengers. Pan Am, a pipsqueak airline with political connections stole NYRBA from Ralph in 1930. I thought of Ralph, when a few years back, the regulators in Canada for one reason or another forbade Joe McBryan to fly passengers on one of his wonderful DC-3s via a regular schedule from Yellowknife to Hay River. The puddle jump at a couple thousand feet was a daily ritual used by commuters, business people and tourists; it turned a six hour drive into a 121 mile air journey, a blast from the past. Here would come Joe in his flying cap and flight bag followed by the passengers and the ritual would be repeated every day. The airplane that maybe had just delivered food supplies to some tiny village up north and then QC with seats would spring to life again with a throaty growl and it would be off to the races. Have you ever flown in a DC-3? As compared to a jet, of the roll down the runway feels like it takes forever. The experience up top is punctuated with a welcome aloft to a world where peering out of any one of the aircraft’s 14 cabin windows reveals a world in slow-motion, going on as usual, but where you can actually see things beneath. You can see cars, even pick out their colors. You can tell it’s Sunday because those same cars are parked around the churches.  The
Buffalo Airways passenger experiences were captured in the TV show Ice
Pilots.One episode should not be missed: Here is Joe in the left seat flying along and back in the cabin is a young cabin attendant who, an hour before passenger flight time was humping and running loading cargo, but is now dressed up and amongst the sheep, serving mints or something. In the front of the cabin a giant great dane along for the ride to Hay River cannot wait and has just taken a big dump and everybody in the cabin is holding their nose. The young lad has the thankless job of clean up and half way through that process with everybody watching and groaning, one person just laughs and before you know it all the 12 or 20 passengers are laughing out loud, including Joe, who reaches over and cracks the cockpit side window to get some fresh air. When was the last time something extraordinary like that happened aloft? A planeload of displeased passengers, no, people deciding they were having just too much fun to allow some dog shit to get in the way. A moment where you realize it’s only life and what you are experiencing is rare and treasured indeed! So chalk up attitude adjustment as part of the Joe McBryan Buffalo Airways DC-3 flight experience. So why can’t Joe be allowed in some manner or form to fly his happy band between Yellowknife and Hay River?
Is it the aircraft? Don’t be ridiculous—Buffalo Air has so many DC-3 parts that Mikey, Joe’s son and his team rebuilt an almost entirely destroyed DC-3 and had it airworthy for the D-Day 75th Anniversary a few years ago. “Plane Savers” was and remains a series of over a 100 hand-made YouTube video episodes of the step by step restoration of what will now be an immortal aircraft for people to experience in a museum somewhere. The airplane had flown in 1944 above Normandie, who knows, maybe even above our Cardine family home in Bernay, dispatching troops, and then post WW II served cargo for a second life until being left on the scrap heap of time to decay and rot, alone and forgotten. But the Family McBryan came to town and over a period of a year with volunteers and Buffalo staff and meals from Tim Hortons and elsewhere in Yellowknife, , raised the majestic DC-3 up after decade of inactivity like a phoenix and returned it to life up in the sky where she belongs. That is the stuff of a legendary adventure, so pardon me for playing it to the hilt. YouTube should have given an Emmy to this epic Plane Savers series for its genuine original and home-made concept, passion, heart and quality. It's high flying and even pioneering reality television for sure, certainly better than some of the stuff passing for reality TV these days. What Mikey McBryan did with Plane Savers was one up Ice Pilots’ professional multi-year series of programs about Buffalo Airways. Whether you are baptized in this stuff or not, it is completely irresistible! When that airplane rolled down the runway and actually rotated up into the air, it was absolutely thrilling, head to toe. It felt like The Yankees winning the World Series. But no more scheduled DC-3 flights? I suspect Buffalo Joe got caught up in something that most in aviation experience in one form or another with regulators. But at any level, enough is enough. At some point government in Canada needs to take a long look in the mirror. It’s like Canada not allowing the seemingly hundreds of cargo-worthy, ex-military Lockheed Hercules aircraft to be pressed into service there. Go figure. But kindly step back and take a deep breath for a moment. Aside from keeping an airworthy fleet of more of the legendary aircraft of the past than anybody before or since, in a world of sameness in 2022, is a genuine original, Joe McBryan, who also gets the nod as among the most fabulous aviation people Canada or for that matter North America has ever produced. He is with us now and deserves every recognition, including the ability to share what he knows to be one of the simple pleasures of life, which he has made safe and possible for others to enjoy, over and over again. Taking a ride in a Buffalo Airways DC-3. GDA |
Another great one has left us. Well-known air cargo industry icon and leader for 40 years, 1956 until 1996, Trevor Brading died at aged 89, in UK following a brief illness. Trevor joined the air cargo industry in 1956, initially working for Pan American Airways. He left Pan Am to join Airport Courier Service in the 1960s, and then went on to work for National Airlines as its UK Cargo Manager around 1968. When National was bought by Pan Am in 1980, he re-joined Pan Am briefly, before leaving again to join Delta Air Lines as its Cargo Manager UK, where he remained at Delta until his retirement in 1996. Trevor was a long-serving committee member of United Kingdom Air Cargo Club Heathrow branch, of which he was Chairman for various terms in the 1980s and 1990s. Trevor’s abiding passion was running, which he only took up at the age of 40. He could be seen running along the Seven Mile Ride from Windsor Castle every day before going to work, and also ran 26 full marathons (including London, Atlanta, New York, Boston and even the Grand Canyon), countless other 5k and 10K races and many of the World Airline Road Races (WARRs). He was also a very proud member of the Delta Dusters. One of Trevor’s proudest moments was carrying the Olympic torch in Atlanta (Delta’s home city), for the 1996 games in San Francisco. He also ran the 40 miles from London Heathrow to London Gatwick in memory of his late friend Kevin Bell, successfully raising enough money to buy a baby incubator for the Princess Royal Hospital. “Those who knew Trevor will remember him as a quiet-spoken, modest, but very warm individual whose knowledge of the industry was unsurpassed,” writes Derek Jones. “Trevor was a true Gentleman,” he concluded. Happy Landings always, Trevor Brading. In the race of a life well-lived, you were always out front and pulling away. |
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 Vol. 21 No. 15 Kale Logistics Solutions & More Chuckles for April 7, 2022 Shanghai Shutdown Marjan Rintel CEO At KLM Feel Good Story |
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Publisher-Geoffrey Arend
• Managing Editor-Flossie Arend • Editor Emeritus-Richard
Malkin Film Editor-Ralph Arend • Special Assignments-Sabiha Arend, Emily Arend |
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