SkyCargo Takes The Cake

     "We feel extremely honored by getting this recognition by the German air freight agents for the second time in a row," Emirates SkyCargo Senior VP Cargo Commercial Operations Peter Sedgley said in a speech to a well-heeled crowd last week inside the noble environs of Suellbergterrassen Hotel located in the center of Hamburg's opulent Blankenese district.
     Emirates SkyCargo might have also declared “let everyone eat cake,” proving once again that when it comes to winning awards they are in a class all by themselves.
     The Dubai-based carrier was chosen by German forwarders as 'over-all best Cargo airline' in an 'Air Cargo Performance Survey' conducted by market research institute TNS Emnid International.
     The Dubai carrier was given 788 of a maximum 1,000 possible performance points for the three criteria 'transport quality', 'customer orientation' and 'price-performance ratio'.
     Hamburg-based Garbe Logistic AG, a company that plans, develops and finances warehouses and distribution centers for air freight, ocean freight and surface transportation and a German magazine sponsored the survey.
     Outcome that placed Sky Cargo first was based on statements and votes of 240 freight forwarders that contributed to the Emnid results.
     But in 'best gets better' vein, as compared to the results in 2006, when the award was first introduced with Emirates also winning the prize, this year the UAE aerial powerhouse achieved a 1.7 percent improvement on its previous score.
     But Peter also showed up with something to tell the audience and that is exactly what he did.
     "For us the German market is extremely important and we would like to expand here further by flying to more destinations within the country,” he declared.
     Presently Emirates serves Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt-Hahn but eyes Berlin and Stuttgart, too.
German authorities however, have so far denied additional landing rights to the airline.
     "Air traffic should be driven by commercial reasons and not political decisions," Peter declared motioning toward the nearby Airbus factory on the Elbe River where EK has practically kept the place in business with its world beating order for 57 A380s.
     It is to Hamburg again and again far into the future that Emirates will appear, to accept yet another A380 as it rolls out of the factory and flies off into history. When it is all done some years from now, the airline will possess the mightiest “Made In Europe” widebody aircraft fleet on the planet.
Heiner /Geoffrey

Trans Eurasia Rail Cargo
Takes Off

     It all began with a series of test runs. Friday September 19 however, the first fully commercial "Trans-Eurasia-Express" departed in Xiangtang near Hong Kong en route to Hamburg in Germany. According to schedule the train will require 17 days for crossing the more than 10,000 kilometers from East China via Mongolia, Russia, Belarus and Poland before finally halting in Northern Germany.
     Loaded are the wagons with 50 containers that are entirely filled with high tech appliances from Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC).
     This, making FSC the pioneer for using this transcontinental train chain from the Pacific coast area to the North Sea in Europe.
     In Hamburg, the goods will be split and brought onward either to a production platform for servers and personal computers in Augsburg, Bavaria or to FSC's distribution center near the city of Worms at the upper Rhine River.
     About 60 percent of the joint venture's entire computer program is produced in Germany.
     Commencing next January the "Trans-Eurasia-Express" will be deployed once a week between China and Germany, confirmed Deutsche Bahn manager Hartmut Albers during the departure ceremony at Xiangtang.
     Once established, the trains will also link St. Petersburg and Moscow.
     According to Albers more than 100 major enterprises have shown their interest in utilizing the trains in the future for transporting their goods. "Compared to air freight we save about three quarters of the cost per kilogram," emphasized FSC manager Heribert Goeggerle.
     "And about 95 percent of greenhouse gases CO2," he added.
Heiner Siegmund

Moebius To ATC FRA

     New Branch Manager for full service ATC Aviation Services GSA in FRA is Andreas Moebius (above left).
     Born and raised in Hamburg, Moebius sailed through the stringent 2-year German apprenticeship scheme at Schenker in the Northern German port-city.
     But after making the grade he chose airfreight as his future field of action.
     Worth mentioning is that Tobias Jaeschke who had held the ATC/FRA post for a number of years accepted an offer as sales and market development manager at Air France/KLM Cargo for Germany and Austria.
     “Andreas Moebius brings a can-do attitude with a well rounded understanding of meeting customer needs,” said Ingo Zimmer ATC Partner and Managing Director.
     “Our critical difference across an international network in Europe and key cities on the Indian subcontinent is our people from management on down who are focused solely on the needs of our air freight partners.
     “Everybody needs to know what to expect.
     “ATC not only delivers a fully functioning network that manages all phases of air cargo quickly, reliably and for good value for our service partners, we also make it easy to keep track of shipments via a network of affiliated companies accessible via one single point of contact.
     “We take care of all details on-site, thus providing the 22 airlines we serve, more time to dedicate themselves to core business,” said Andreas Moebius.
More: www.atc-aviation.com.
Guenter

     Last week Ukraine-based Aerosvit launched “Air Train Flights” carrying about half of the 14,000 Hasidim pilgrims from Israel to the annual Rosh Hashanah gathering in Bratislava via Kiev.
     The movement that will continue until September 29 brings attention to the fast rising Kiev-based carrier that has stretched its wings globally.
     Next month as AeroSvit Ukrainian Airlines celebrates its 14th anniversary having been founded in October 1994, the carrier with its recently placed USD$543 million order for 14 B737 NGs can lay claim to the largest route network in Ukraine, with 60 international routes connecting the country with capitals, business centers, and resorts in 29 countries: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Pakistan, Russia, Serbia, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, the USA, and the United Arab Emirates.
      AeroSvit has interline agreements with many global carriers, including the top ten airlines in the world.
     In New York, the carrier operates a six days a week schedule departing Terminal Four at JFK via B767-300ERs.
     Cargo service is a big part of the Aerosvit package, in fact the carrier says that it has room for cargo aboard every flight although it does not operate freighters and has been conducting cargo carriage for ten years on scheduled flights all over the world in cooperation with other air carriers.
Contact: cargo@aerosvit.com.

Singapore Airlines received its sixth A380 superjumbo from Airbus and will put in a second daily flight between Singapore and London. Airbus insists that it is delivering 12 A380s all told by the end of the year amidst reports of delays that may shorten that number. Elsewhere Singapore and Japan have agreed to expand air services between and beyond both countries . . . Ameco Beijing has signed an overhaul agreement with Air India Express to conduct C Checks on 9 Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Air India Express. Air India Express is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India . . . Alitalia could collapse as you read this after a consortium of Italian industrialists withdrew its offer to buy the carrier, and Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister, was quoted as saying:  “We are facing the abyss.” Big game of brinkmanship, with unions banking on being able to get a better deal makes Berlusconi election promise to find an “Italian solution” another politician’s empty promise . . . Rates going up at FedEx Express by an average of 6.9 percent for U.S. and U.S. export services, effective January 5, 2009. Rates and surcharges for FedEx Ground also will increase for 2009 . . .

Interesting First Flight
     Qantas gets its first A380 and then makes headlines with a maiden flight with all its top executives aboard from Toulouse to Singapore?
     For the record the first of 20 Qantas A380s arrived down under in Sydney, Australia Sunday September 21 where this picture was snapped.
     With a range of more than 15,000 km and seat-mile costs 20 percent lower, QF begins replacing B747s adding capacity without increasing its number of flights.
     QF says A380 services will be launched on October 20th from Melbourne to Los Angeles, and on October 24th from Sydney to Los Angeles.