FT080403

     “Mahalo Nui Loa - Aloha Oe,”
     July 26, 1946-March 31, 2008 is what the Aloha Airline website says.
     If you are looking for Aloha Airlines and go to their website today the message above is all that is left, because now despite a long and storied history as the world has heard, Aloha Airlines is gone.
     Sad to report that Aloha Airlines (1947-2008) passenger business may be a dead duck as the world learned last week, but the rest of the story is that Aloha Cargo and its fleet of six B737-200QC freighters are still alive and well.
     “Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated,” Aloha Cargo assures.
     Aloha Airlines that filed for bankruptcy on March 20, before ceasing air passenger service for good March 31, had proposed selling its cargo division for $13 million to Saltchuk Resources Inc., the Seattle-based owner of Northern Air Cargo, Alaska’s biggest cargo airline.
     But many think that deal was undervalued and some other bidders are expected to up the price before the sale of Aloha Cargo takes place and is finalized April 14.
     So chances are better than good that the name Aloha Cargo will still be a familiar sight in the sky and on airport hardstands around Hawaii for some time to come.
     Aloha Cargo is a fascinating company moving all kinds of consignments including plane loads of fresh baked goods from Oahu all over the place every day aboard its freighters.
     Although these aircraft have not seen passenger duty in some time, they probably could still change from cargo to passenger operations in about an hour, although no one at the carrier is thinking about that now.
     A long tradition of service and being the airline that delivers the bread makes Aloha Cargo an almost revered resource here.
     Every day freighters filled with a variety of fresh Hawaiian baked goods from the ovens of The Lucky Bakery located on Oahu, the big island, move to interisland bakeries and grocery stores for sale the next day.
     As anyone who has thought on the subject knows, wherever you are in the world, often the most memorable comfort food is the local bread.
     Aloha Cargo it can be said has and will continue to carry the stuff of dreams around every night.
     For the record Aloha Cargo moves more than 85 percent of interisland cargo that travels by air.
     Aloha Cargo also provides vital sub service for all the integrators including DHL, FedEx and UPS.
     The Hawaiian interisland market according to most recent figures totals about 47,000 tons of non-mail air cargo transported from Honolulu to the other islands.
     Backhaul from the out islands to Oahu is put at roughly 22,000 tons annually.
     Air mail adds about 20,000 tons a year to the uplift figures.
     Aloha's cargo operation employs nearly 400 people and despite all else has posted steady profits for the past few years.
Geoffrey

     The air cargo business in India has been growing with the boom in the economy. Recently a dozen-odd proposals from various operators received clearance from the Aircraft Acquisition Panel (the government body responsible for aviation related clearances), proof that the sector is going places.
      However, the permission sought by Deccan Cargo, the aircargo unit being set up by Capt. G R Gopinath has been held back.
     According to sources in the aviation ministry, Capt. Gopi's company has failed to obtain the necessary security clearances. In fact, it has also been denied a proposal to import a new plane. Apparently, Deccan
Cargo had sent in a request to the aviation ministry that it wanted to start operations from Bangalore using three A310 freighters and ATR aircraft.
     A tersely worded message from an aviation ministry official said it
all: "Deccan Cargo has not obtained security clearance from the home ministry (the country's internal affairs department) and hence, we may not grant the no-objection certificate (NOC) to the company".
     On the other hand, 12 proposals for other airlines and aircrafts received the green signal from the Aircraft Acquisition Panel.
     While the move meant a stop for Capt. G R Gopinath, he is by no means out. In a recent move, he has come up with a new idea. Now, with virtually no work in his hands, the pioneer of low-cost aviation in the country is looking to play a new game. He believes that there is scope in the country for a strong multi-modal logistics operator.
     According to the former chief of Air Deccan, warehousing and inventory costs in metro and big cities have made business expensive. As a result, many companies had moved to smaller cities, which still do not have a proper logistics set-up.
     What Capt. Gopinath plans to do is set up a company, which would offer its clients a whopping 30 percent cut in their logistics costs by taking over their transportation and the cargo airline would be an integral part of the plans.
     To ensure that this company does not suffer the same fate as his Air Deccan did, Captain Gopinath wants the new company to be an independent one and not part of the Kingfisher-Deccan group.
     Although still in its infancy, the idea apparently came to the former army helicopter pilot— that was what Capt. Gopinath was in his previous profession —when one of his Air Deccan A320 had to make an emergency landing at Kolkata after a bird hit damaged one of the plane's engines. As a price-conscious operator, Air Deccan did not have spares in the city. Result: the engine had to be flown in all the way from Delhi – at least two hours and 1500km away.
      While Air Deccan did not have a spare Airbus to fly in the engine, neither could it be sent by road. It was only five days and many options later that an engine was flown out from Singapore to help the stranded aircraft.
      That mishap taught Captain Gopinath a lesson: get your own act together. Result: the formation of a logistics company with a former UPS Australia hand, Jude Fonseca to head it.
Tirthankar Ghosh

     A380 times two…Finally the first of 58 Airbus A380s destined to join the Emirates Airline fleet rolls out of the paint shop in Hamburg.
     Although there are hundreds and maybe thousands of pictures of A380s in Emirates livery, those aircraft were test aircraft while this one is the real deal destined to join the fleet later this year.
     In a separate announcement EK says that it will go daily Dubai-Rome and Dubai-Milan beginning July 1.
     Beautiful.