U.S.A., Chicago – city of the “big shoulders” – gets an even bigger lift, as Qatar Airways Cargo delivers Boeing 777 freighters into ORD from Doha via Amsterdam, offering Midwest shippers up to 100 tons per flight.
      Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker noted that QR’s launch of its first dedicated cargo route to the United States is a milestone achievement.
      “With the recent introduction of Boeing 777 freighters into our cargo fleet, we’ve wasted no time in developing new markets, and we’re especially pleased to be launching our first U.S. cargo route to Chicago O’Hare, the busiest airport in the world.
      Chicago is QR’s first dedicated freighter destination in the United States and the airline’s fourth USA destination, including passenger and cargo services to New York, Washington, D.C. and Houston.
      Over the past 90 days, Qatar Airways Cargo has added two brand new Boeing 777 freighters, with Boeing 777F number three expected to join the airline’s cargo fleet next year.
      “Qatar Airways Cargo operation is expanding exponentially and our focus on increasing our network means we are always finding new customers and offering existing customers more options and convenience,” said Al Baker.
      New freighter operations have been launched to Hong Kong, Mumbai, Cairo, Kolkata and Riyadh, with increases in frequency also planned.
      The airline’s services to Hong Kong will be boosted to five times a week effective August 16, up from the initial thrice-weekly flights, which began only two months ago.
Geoffrey/Flossie

     Not that shippers and the various participants in the cargo business have much time to get so bored as to crack open the old IATA Cargo Services Conference [CSC] Resolutions Manual and read the arcane language of the descriptive “Resolution 600b” just for kicks, 600b (II) for that matter.
     And yet this governs the Conditions of Contract between the parties, with the famous notice on the face of the air waybill and the carrier’s limitation of liability in small print on the reverse side. In the age of the electronic air waybill and e-freight, the notice and limitation of liability text can be made available online and incorporated by reference.
      This is where all the excitement comes in – all applicable claims made against a carrier for “loss, damage or delay of goods, including fragile or perishable goods” are subject to the terms of this contract, as is the calculation of amounts payable for such claims.
     To put it in perspective, few modern day industries have to reach as far back as air transport when it comes to legal underpinnings and which still apply today. And a whole army of lawyers is what is needed before you wade into this morass, with names which sound like something from an old spy novel you read on the Orient Express:
          • The Warsaw Convention –October12, 1929
          • The Warsaw Convention as amended in The Hague on September 28, 1955
          • The Montreal Protocol 1,2 or 4
          • The Montreal Convention on May 28, 1999
     Which one is applicable depends on which convention a particular country has been a signatory to. This has been compounded by the fact that not every country is a signatory to either convention/protocol, which meant - good luck finding the value of the French gold franc!
     CSC Resolutions require government approval to become effective; despite our globalized world, for years, there have been multiple overlapping regimes, or liability limits in force:
          • 250 French gold francs per kilogram under the Warsaw Convention (unamended)
          • 17 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) per kilogram under the Warsaw Convention amended by Montreal Protocol No. 4
          • 19 SDRs per kilogram under the Montreal Convention 1999
          • 19 SDRs per kilogram for all carriage to or from the United States
     Few so called experts can tell off the top of their head what the equivalent of 250 French gold francs, 17 Special Drawing Rights may be; actually the International Monetary Fund (IMF) defines the SDR and currency conversion engines, believe it or not, list it – an example from XE.com:
     “Live rates at 2010.07.15 14:59:00 UTC
     1.00 XDR = 1.50490 USD International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights United States Dollars
     1 XDR = 1.50490 USD 1 USD = 0.664497 XDR”
     The bottom line is that the amendment to Resolution 600b simplifies things by standardizing the application of the 19 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) per kilogram Montreal Convention liability limit to all routes worldwide, even for countries where neither convention/protocol applies. And governments – as mentioned – still need to ratify and adopt the Montreal Convention.
      As customary, IATA member airlines have until their next air waybill printing, but no later than 18 months from the declaration of effectiveness, to complete the transition. In this period of time airlines will amend their Conditions of Carriage and notify shippers of the new changes to Resolution 600b.
     Here is the official announcement:
     IATA has announced the standardization of cargo liability limits. With regulatory approval and with effect from 1 July 2010, the Air Waybill (AWB) Conditions of Contract (IATA Resolution 600b) have been changed to harmonize the application of the Montreal Convention liability limit for all air cargo across all routes.
This simplified approach improves efficiency for shippers and forwarders. It is also consistent with industry efforts to improve competitiveness by simplifying global processes with projects including IATA e-freight.
The amendment to Resolution 600b standardizes the application of the 19 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) per kilogram Montreal Convention liability limit to all routes worldwide. The following advantages derive from the change:
     *Increased certainty for claims handling and service determination
     *Increased accuracy for claims procedures by standardizing the various regimes
The single global standard eliminates the uncertainty that existed where there was no applicable convention, or where existing conventions were out-of-date or required conversions from non-existing currencies, such as French gold francs.
     IATA says that the acceptance by airlines of the Montreal Convention liability limit standard on all routes is a step forward for the air cargo industry.
     Interestingly, the footnote on the actual text of the new resolution states that the IATA member airlines have authorized the IATA secretariat to “conform the provisions of this Resolution 600b” without further Conference action.
     Why in the world would the airlines do that, essentially relinquishing their rights and responsibilities to the secretariat assuming benign benevolence?
Ted Braun

Air Berlin Flies Oneworld

     Air Berlin, Germany’s second biggest airline, will become a member of the global Oneworld Alliance. This enhances the competitive position of the Lufthansa rival, which currently serves 160 destinations in 40 countries and offers 400 flights per day on average. Last year, Air Berlin carried 28 million passengers and posted a turnover of 3.2 billion euros.
     At first, code share flights between Air Berlin, American Airlines, and Finnair will be established, commencing at the end of October this year. Similar agreements with British Airways and Iberia are presumed to follow beginning in spring 2011.
 \    “We are currently in negotiations with American and Finnair concerning our future role within the Oneworld alliance,” said Hans-Christoph Noack, (left) Air Berlin’s head of communications, when asked by ACNFT.
     The talks target solutions for service offerings, such as aligning the different mileage programs, lounge access and network solutions for enabling transit passengers seamless traveling.
     “We speak about the entire range of mutual topics including solutions for cargo transports which, however, do not stand on top of our agenda,” Herr Noack states.
     Air Berlin’s air freight business is managed by Duesseldorf-based Leisure Cargo GmbH, a 100 percent subsidiary of the carrier.
     “Currently we have eighteen mandate airlines with German carrier Condor, Madrid-based Air Europa and Air Berlin as our biggest clients,” says Leisure’s director operations, Christian Weidener (right). He and Noack have left unsaid whether the cargo biz will be given a further push as a consequence of AirBerlin joining Oneworld. It’s far too early to qualify this topic, both say.
Heiner Siegmund/Flossie

Berlin's Taxing Situation

     First the bad news: the German government announced the introduction of new taxes on aviation as of January 2011. According to the bill passengers on short-haul flights of up to 2,500 kilometers will have to pay an additional fee of €9 euros on their tickets if boarding a plane at any of the German airports. For medium range flights up to 6,500 kilometers, Berlin intends to cash €25 euros and from travelers on long-haul flights €40 euros each.
     However, as Air Cargo News FlyingTypers was informed by people close to the case this weekend, an alternative draft circling within the Ministry of Finance suggests a two-step approach. It pleads for €13 euros per passenger flying to any domestic or European destination and €26 euros per person traveling on long-haul routes.
     Whatever the ruling, Berlin coalition of conservatives and liberals might favor at the end, what is very clear is this: the expected tax flow, although originally declared as environmental fee by the government will ultimately be used to consolidate the budget and not be invested specifically for reducing greenhouse gases or supporting developing new technologies for diminishing noise emissions and similar projects.
     Now the good news: exempted from paying the new taxes are all international transit passengers commuting at German airports. Excluded also from the charges are all air freight carriers landing at any of the German airports, including the local capacity providers Lufthansa Cargo, ACG Air Cargo Germany, and AeroLogic. The decision was taken although the Liberal Party’s traffic expert Patrick Doering had fiercely demanded the inclusion of cargo carriers in the new tax regime. But the majority of the federal government opposed his attempt.
supporting developing new technologies for diminishing noise emissions and similar projects.
     “This decision is a big plus for shippers, manufacturers of goods and the entire transport industry for retaining its competitiveness against rivaling European economies, cargo carriers and airports like Paris Charles de Gaulle, Luxembourg or Amsterdam Schiphol,” comments aviation analyst Dirk Steiger of Frankfurt-based Aviainform GmbH.
    He emphasizes that the German industry is basically willing to pay its fair share for consolidating the state’s budget but only if similar taxes are imposed by all member states of the European Union. “Otherwise competition would be distorted harming the entire German air freight industry.”
     Meanwhile airport officials have begun an intensive controversy about the passenger fees. While all major airports are fiercely opposing the upcoming aviation taxes, Frankfurt’s CEO Stefan Schulte (left) contradicted his colleagues by publicly stating that in his opinion the consequences of the additional spending by travelers would only be marginal.
    “There will be little consequences mainly because cargo transports and transit traffic is excluded. Because of paying €13 more euros per flight only a very few number of passengers will choose neighboring EU airports to avoid the costs,” said Schulte. His statement invoked a harsh reaction from Cologne’s managing director Michael Garvens (above right). He demanded excluding Frankfurt’s airport manager Fraport AG from the influential airport association Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughaefen (ADV).
     Hahn’s managing director Joerg Schumacher (left) attacked Schulte as well by pointing out that especially price-sensitive passengers that choose budget airlines for their transport might flee to airports in Luxembourg or the Netherlands to avoid paying the fee.
     “Due to our low cost structure we have a competitive advantage compared to high price places like Frankfurt,” Schumacher argued. His colleague Garvens emphasized that Frankfurt and Munich are not hit as hard by the fee compared to their German competitors since many of their users are transit passengers that don’t have to pay a cent for commuting services.
Heiner Siegmund

Beijing Arrival: Mr. Richard Jewsbury, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Far East and Australasia (right ) and Mr. Zhang Guanghui, President & CEO of Beijing Capital International Airport Co., Ltd. (left ), exchange gifts as Emirates launches A380 service from Dubai into Beijing starting August 1, 2010.

Jim McKeon

Brandon Fried

Contact! Talk To Geoffrey

RE: iCargo Vision 20/20

Dear Geoffrey,

     Great to see another FT article on ULD Management. From my experience, ULD control has not always enjoyed such attention in our community.
     It is thanks to bodies like the IATA Interline ULD User Group (IULDUG) and active vendors like Bob Rogers of Nordisk that ULD management is finally getting some much needed attention.
     I disagree that it has been a top priority for airlines, although it ought to be, given the issues of safety and compliance, to mention just two reasons. The reality is that most people involved in airline operations do not pay much attention to ULDs until the operation comes to a halt because there is no ULD stock left on the station to load the baggage or cargo. Or the aircraft is grounded because the FAA makes a spot inspection and finds ULDs on board that are not deemed to be serviceable. Worse still, a damaged pallet rips up the cargo compartment and makes the aircraft unserviceable.
     I would like to clear up a few minor misconceptions regarding CHAMP Cargosystems as mentioned in the article. Firstly, we are very proud of our brand, which is CHAMP Cargosystems not Champ or CHAMPS. CHAMP Cargosystems is not in the same business as Unitpool and Jettainer. We do not own ULDs or provide ULD pooling solutions. CHAMP and its sister company SITA have been providing ULD Management applications (software) since 1986.
     We were initially in partnership with IATA, when IATA was keen to promote membership of the ULD Interline system. A prerequisite of joining this group of carriers is that the carrier has to have an in-house system, which would quickly locate borrowed (foreign) ULDs. SITA provided the solution, so it was a win/win for all concerned.
     In 2007, CHAMP launched a completely re-designed and fully web based ULD Management system "ULD Manager," which interfaces with it's cargo management system, Cargospot, and in fact, because of something the techies refer to as the "Enterprise Service Bus," CHAMP ULD Manager can interface with virtually any other application. CHAMP is proud to have the largest number of airlines utilizing our ULD applications by far.
     Keeping ULD Management in the limelight is hard work and as an IATA Strategic partner, CHAMP is pleased to do its part by sponsoring and actively participating with ULD events, such as the upcoming IULDUG AGM in September, which will take place September 13-16, 2010 in Oslo, Norway. Any carrier or vendor interested to attend should contact Louise Ladouceur at IATA: ladouceurl@iata.org.

Keep up the good work,
Kind regards,
Peter
Peter Walter
Marketing Manager
CHAMP Cargosystems
Phone:+1 404 952 7948
email: peter.walter@champ.aero

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