British air freight carrier MK Airlines has ceased the entire operation. In a Friday-sent announcement to agents and shippers the capacity provider named a "lack of adequate resources" as reason for grounding the freighter fleet. Further the airline told its customers that due to a shortage of funds the expected service and safety level cannot be maintained any longer. This made it necessary to suspend all flights temporarily, concludes MK.
     Next week the management will meet with investors and banks in a last minute effort to negotiate new cash injections for possibly getting the freighters off the ground again. Experts like aviation analyst Dirk Steiger of
Frankfurt-based Aviainform GmbH doubt however, this endeavor to be successful.
     "They operate aging Boeing B747-200 freighters that are burninga lot of fuel and which are producing high maintenance costs," Steiger reasons. Parallel they consider themselves being a budget carrier by offering their customers low air freight rates.
     "This business model of high fleet expenditures and small influx of funds obviously does not work any longer
in a changed economic environment. "Ultimately their crash is caused by the current market situation with too little air freight available for transport but ongoing global overcapacity of freighter aircraft," Steiger concludes.
     In a statement MK's major customer Swiss agent Panalpina pointed out that the fleet grounding "has no negative impact on the continuation of our Africa operations."
     The notice reads further: "Panalpina has secured sufficient capacity to guarantee its customers uplifts and highest service quality as usual. The company has worked out alternatives for the short-, medium- and long term, ensuring a smooth service for all customers."
     For 1990-established MK Airlines it is the second time the carrier had to stop operation after grounding the fleet in summer 2008 for a while.
     After the company's joint administrators secured an initial funding arrangement with Transatlantic Aviation Limited (TAA), part of The Belfairs Management Group of Companies, MK resumed flights with a reduced fleet of five aircraft in June 2008.
Heiner Siegmund

Brazil Logistics Builds Waterway

(Exclusive Sao Paulo)—Lots of good story lines out of that Intermodal South America Conference (ISAC) in Sao Paolo last week but none more interesting than the hook up between Brazil and the Netherlands to develop Brazil’s vast inland waterway system and other logistics projects including ports and airports.
     In Sao Paolo as ISAC opened, Netherlands Minister Public Works and Water Management Minister Camiel Eurlings (right) signed an agreement to support the inland waterway shipping initiative.
     Also at the event, an inland shipping container shuttle service was ceremonially inaugurated with the Governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Yeda Crusius.
     Brazil is of key importance to the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Amsterdam, which handle a total of 30 million tons of that country’s products. For this reason, Minister Eurlings and a Dutch trade delegation fanned out last week to visit various organizations in the port regions of Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro.
     “Placing this mode of transport on a par with road and railway transport, is according it a position it deserves,” Minister Eurlings noted.
     Worth mentioning here is that incorporating the principles of corridor management into the plan is key feature of Dutch policy on inland waterway transport.
     In the Netherlands, the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam are big-time gateways to Europe where fifty-six percent of goods entering Holland ports are transported by inland waterway.
     In Brazil that figure is not even one percent of all transport.
     “Many of Brazil’s waterways are highly suited to goods transport with more than forty thousand kilometers waiting to be used.
     “At present Brazil utilizes only a quarter of that capacity.
     “Imagine the possibilities: the Madeira, the Tapajos, the Lagoa dos Patos.
     Even the Tocantins, which was turned into a fully usable waterway in the nineties and presents opportunities for Brasilia,” the Minister said.
     “The way I see it, Brazil is sitting on a goldmine of inland waterways that offer an attractive option for transport: an option that is efficient, cheap, safe, clean and reliable.”
     Elsewhere at ISAC April 8 - Brazilian project forwarder, Primax Transportes Pesados said that is set to continue its expansion throughout Latin America with the opening of offices in Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela this year.
     The Sao Paulo-based equipment specialist clinched representative offices in Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay in 2009, as it followed Brazilian mining and energy companies into new markets.
     The company already has 28 representatives throughout Latin America but told ACN/FT that it is keen to secure a presence in the north of the continent to capitalize on key investments being planned by Brazilian companies in the energy sector there.
     Gilberto Nobre, head of the group's international division said the company was looking to find representatives in Colombia first in a bid to secure a position on large projects being developed including the expansion of two Ecopetrol refineries in Cartagena and Barrancabermeja.
Antonio Carlos Allende

Vietnam Opens Airline Investment

     Budget airlines VietJet Air and AirAsia on Thursday signed a strategic partnership agreement, and plan to launch a new Vietnam-based budget airline.
     VietJet Air has said the new airline will be called VietJet AirAsia, “This should be viewed as a very positive development for Vietnam tourism and the people of Vietnam,” said AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes.
     Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong were at the signing at the Sheraton Hanoi Hotel.
     Fernandes said the new company will not compete with Vietnam Airlines.
     The Vietnamese government has said that foreign investment in the country’s airlines cannot be restricted.
     According the Transport Ministry, existing laws do not allow the government to restrict FDI in the sector, making the Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia’s acquisition of a 30 percent stake in VietJet Air legitimate.
     The stake transfer in February was carried out in accordance with the Enterprise, Investment and Civil Aviation Laws, and it will not create a new airline in Vietnam.
     National carrier Vietnam Airlines requested the government to prohibit the move last month, fearing that a joint venture between VietJet Air and the Malaysian low-cost airline would hurt the local airline industry.
     The Ministry of Transport turned down the request, calling Vietnam Airlines’ claims groundless that AirAsia was the main reason behind the downturn at Malaysia Airlines and one of the factors causing political turmoil in Thailand.
     Low cost airlines are a development trend in the global aviation industry, the ministry said.
GF

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April 12:   Perfidious Albion. Cushy on Lake Geneva beats cozy in the Gulf as IATA's Aleks Popovich names Des Vertannes Head of Cargo starting June 7.

April 12:   With need for 1,600 medium lift freighters for next 20 years Airbus A330-200F was certified by Europe Friday with USA FAA expected to follow.

Contact! Talk To Geoffrey

RE: U.S. Merger Mania Heats Up

Geoffrey

     My neighbor across the street is a top Delta Captain, on the seniority list.
     So regarding Mr. Maldutis’ comment in today’s Flying Typers (Friday April 9): “The reason the Delta /Northwest deal worked was because CEO Anderson had an agreement with the two labor unions.” is pure bunk!
     The reality as of today, is that the NW and DL crews, pilots and flight attendants, as well as the fleet are run separately, as two different airlines. There has been zero integration (aside from painting some airplanes in DL colors) and thus none of the foreseen synergies have been realized, let alone projected cost savings.
     Enjoy reading FT all the time.
     Keep up the good work!
Name Witheld.

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