Vol. 10 No. 121                                                                                                               Tuesday December 6, 2011

 

. . . Early morning at Frankfurt International Airport December 5, 2011-Could this be a sign that things might brighten up for Lufthansa Cargo and that dreaded “Night Ban” in effect until further notice? Is there a “Plan B?”
     Stay tuned….

 

Turkish Cargo Big Lift To 2012

     As globalization shrinks the planet and turns international commerce into something that feels like an outdoor, neighborhood farmer’s market, where everything and anything is available to all, the search for new markets has never been more important. The spotlight has now turned on “The New Europe,” specifically the countries and new independent states that emerged after the splintering of the Soviet Empire.
     Places like Albania, Slovenia, the Danube Delta, the Carpathian Mountains, the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Coast and even Cappadocia in Turkey are all somewhat below the radar, strikingly beautiful, anxious to establish their own identity, parade their own culture and celebrate their own history.
     Today, with most of Eastern Europe wide open for business, there is no shortage of airline companies willing to fly into new addresses in hopes of plugging into what will stack up to be an exciting decade of growth and development ahead.
     Enter Turkish Airlines, based in its legendary home, Istanbul—it’s amazing that what was once old is brand new again as this storied airline, currently celebrating 79 years since its creation, is vibrant and full of life, with big plans for adding fleets of new aircraft and destinations all around the world.
     Today Turkish Cargo is one of the more exciting and wide- ranging operators with both freighter and extensive belly lift.
     Istanbul, situated at the ancient and now modern crossroads of Europe and Asia, launches a fantasy of multi-modal transportation resources to all points of the globe with Turkish Cargo smack dab in the middle of all the action and excitement.
     Much was made of the showcase buzz that Turkish Airlines received earlier this year in March as IATA World Cargo Symposium was conducted in Istanbul.
     But Turkish Cargo does not stop there.

Left to right, Halit Anlatan, Ebubekir Kusak and Ali Turk.

     Right now with a new organizational set up, the flag carrier has earmarked an even more dramatic change in the form of enhanced air cargo services and additional new destinations in 2012.
     Recently we spoke to Halit Anlatan, Turkish Cargo vice president of sales and marketing, Ebubekir Kusak, the carrier’s cargo publicity and advertisement manager, and Ali Turk, who serves Turkish Airline as Vice President of cargo operations. It was an open and wide ranging conversation that took place inside the airline headquarters at busy Ataturk International Airport Istanbul.
     Listening to these people whilst gazing out a picture window at the airport below, confidence and destiny was the message, delivered loud and clear.
     Turkish Cargo can’t wait until tomorrow because they look better every day.
     “We are developing our Istanbul hub, which is situated at the crossroads of Europe, Middle East, Africa and former CIS countries.
     “There is much potential for air cargo and many niche markets within these areas for us,” said Halit Anlatan declares.
     “Turkish Cargo strongly believes that in the near future, our vision of growth by adding destinations and new aircraft will continue to develop our cargo business with Istanbul as a hub.
     “Turkey is not to be overlooked—it is a country of 70 million and itself represents great potential for the entire menu of air cargo services and we are expanding and developing our capabilities to meet that need.
     “Turkey represents a balanced import/export business as the economy is quite strong here.”
Another main focus right now at Turkish Cargo, Mr. Anlatan pointed out, is security and the development of e-freight.
     “We have dedicated considerable resource to security, offering multi-layered security up and down the system. Turkish Cargo is also investing in implementing and continually upgrading our IT offering with e-freight and other paperless efforts all destined to offer transparency with our customers and ease of use every step of the way.
     “Hub Istanbul is looking via Turkish Cargo to open connections across Africa and Middle East and former CIS with destinations such as Addis Abba and Nairobi (early 2012).
     “Our passenger side includes many narrow-bodied services to these gateways whilst continuing with our bigger aircraft to Asia. To USA, we operate double dailies to New York and also service to Chicago and Los Angeles.
     “Turkish also connects many of the capitals of Europe and we are looking to add capacity by expanding our all-cargo freighter served network.
     “Looking ahead to our regional Middle East, former CIS, Africa, India Asia offerings will serve our expanding markets based on inbound demand weakness, using the great flexibility of the freighters, A310s and others to build payloads by adding cities while awaiting development of better two way traffic.
     “For example, one routing under this philosophy is Cairo/Addis Abba, “Where we already have a solid, thrice-weekly service operating in and out of Cairo, we expand to Addis Abba, opening new avenues for trade and opportunities all around,” Mr. Antalan said.
     “In summary, Turkey enjoys great historical ties with many countries of the world, including a vast number of ‘New Europe’ destinations that used to be part of CIS.
     “Today, as these now open trade countries look to expand their offering with the rest of the world, Turkish Airlines stands ready to deliver the service and support to make growing business possible.
     “For example we have just launched twice-weekly freighter services flying to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan into Manas Airport via Shanghai.
     “We already serve Almaty, and we are planning to add Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan, to our network soon.
     “These are names that are not always in the news, but they are traditional markets to Turkey and we are moving to serve them with our world class air cargo service.
     “Turkish Cargo will expand its India offering with flights to Chennai.
     “We began with Mumbai earlier this year.
     “Maybe lesser known,” points out Ebubekir Kusak, “is that Turkish Airlines is the eighth largest air carrier in the world, serving with 177 aircraft to 190 destinations and 32 freighter or all-cargo destinations in our winter schedule.
     “Currently about 1000 people at Turkish Airlines are assigned to air cargo, which delivers about 9 percent of income to the airline,” Mr. Kusak points out.
     “In terms of challenges, what people should understand about Turkish Airlines is that we are not just a regional but actually a global network carrier,” Ebubekir Kusak attests.
     “And every flight is an air cargo flight,” Kusak says.
     “We are undergoing an unprecedented fleet expansion as THY operates about 35 wide bodies at the moment, including two new, just delivered A330-200F aircraft with 3 new ones coming every year.
     “THY currently operates four A310Fs and two A330Fs at the moment, with three new freighters coming every year into the future as we grow our business through 2014,” Mr. Kusak said.
     “Our strategy is to grow our business 15 percent a year into the future as we feel our expansion to new destinations and new aircraft deliveries will help us grow out of much of the financial difficulty felt elsewhere,” Halit Antalan said.
     Touching for the moment on e-freight, Mr. Anlatan noted that while customs in Turkey can be challenging, the biggest bottleneck in his estimation is the “varying demands of various countries that are otherwise eager trading partners.
     “It is past time for some kind of standardization recognized by all international trading partners that will allow our electronic initiatives to take paperwork out of air cargo, for the good of the industry and our customers.”
     Finally we spoke at some length to a key player in the Turkish Airlines Cargo plan: Ali Turk, Vice President of Cargo Operations.
     Mr. Turk had joined the carrier from the forwarder side having served CEVA, the big multi modal forwarder in a similar capacity.
     “We are operating at peak capacity and successfully bridging the past with the future as tonnage increases exponentially around here, whilst fast at work building an all-new cargo center for Turkish Cargo at gateway Istanbul.”
     While the erstwhile Mr. Turk and his team are building to accommodate all kinds of freight, including pharma, perishables and other commodities, Turkish Airlines Cargo, under its cargo director, Soner Akkurt, alongside people such as Halit Anlatan, Ebubekir Kusak and others, is working its way toward eventually moving 2 million tons annually through IST.
     The backdrop to all of this is management’s stated goal to building the cargo business of Turkish Airlines to that number by the airline’s centennial year of 2033.
     Fasten your seatbelts! Here comes an exciting, globally savvy air cargo player to be recognized and reckoned with.
Geoffrey

 

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Justus Works OptiCooler Success At FRA Cool Center

     “Opticooler movements are gathering momentum as more and more pharmaceutical companies are finalizing the complex validation process of both the Opticooler and the particular lane on which the Opticooler is to be used,” Luftahnsa Cargo reports.
     “Customers value the high level of temperature stability, the reduced complexity of the shipment procedures (as there is no need for dry ice replenishment) and longer standing times of the unit.
     “First companies started their validation procedures in April 2011, after Lufthansa Cargo introduced the container to the market at the end of 2010.
     “We expect a sharp increase of demand once the QA-Departments of our customers have finalized the validation and introduced the container into their internal processes,” says Christopher Dehio, Senior Manager, Global Key Accounts Competence Center Temperature Control of Lufthansa Cargo.
     Recently Lufthansa transported eight Opticoolers from Dusseldorf to the U.S.
     At 15 degrees Centigrade, the pharma shipment moved in high summer, “no sweat.”
     It has been just about a year since Lufthansa Cargo’s introduced Opticooler, a loading device tailored for the pharmaceutical and high tech industry.
     The box, built by the German cargo carrier in close collaboration with numerous clients and producer Dokasch GmbH, is able to maintain a permanent temperature of between +2 and +30 degrees Celsius. What is new and different to its forerunner Unicooler is the compressor technology. Instead of running on dry ice like its predecessor does, all the Opticooler needs is electricity to charge and re-charge the accumulators embedded in the device’s floor.
     The charging process takes between five and eight hours.
     Once fully charged, the batteries run 100 hours.
     Lufthansa Cargo’s Senior Product Manager, Temperature Control Competence Center, Hans-Peter Justus, considers this a big advantage, since “now we are no longer dependent on dry ice.”
     Unlike dry ice, compressors can be permanently controlled, which assures high transport reliability.
     And there are more advantages the Opticooler offers in comparison to the Unicooler:
     “It’s perfect for specific products like insulin, for example, that cannot come in contact with carbon-dioxide,” explains Justus.
     Lufthansa Cargo says that Opticooler has generated additional business since it enhances the flow of temperature-sensitive products.
     Michael Goentgens, spokesperson for Lufthansa Cargo, speaks of steadily growing demand by shippers and forwarders. Meanwhile, all the major pharmaceutical producers are utilizing the cool box.
     “On average, customers rent the product for as long as 96 hours,” Goentgens noted. “That’s about all the time needed for a door-to-door transport from the producer’s facility somewhere in Europe to the consignee in China, India, and Brazil.
     “Some shippers however, have opted to use the cool box permanently because of constant demand,” Goentgens said.
Heiner/Geoffrey

 

LH PR World's Best

     Today, on December 6, as “Little Christmas” deepens, we are thinking about this picture and what awards mean.
     FlyingTypers named Lufthansa Cargo’s Public Relations Department and its longtime Director of Communications, Nils Haupt, “World’s Best in 2008.”
     As Lufthansa Cargo celebrates the opening of a new Cool Center at Frankfurt International Airport on Tuesday, it is hopeful that the event will raise spirits despite the recent night ban on flights at FRA (which the carrier hopes will be overturned next Spring 2012) and challenging business news connected to overcapacity.
     To celebrate and lift the human condition helps everyone, and Haupt & Company still manage to do that with grace and aplomb.
     We think the award and this picture look better everyday.



Best Breakfast At An Airport

     They say an army “marches on its stomach.”
     Well, at Frankfurt International Cargo City Sud, Hosteler Extraordinaire Antun Wustefelds’ InterCity Hotel brings on a morning buffet that is hands-down the best airport breakfast anywhere.
     Thanks to a great hotel staff and also to the pilots and crews of EVA, Air China and others, there is still an old time sanctuary where the Berlin Airlift crews billeted, among other things.
     Today, the small hotel is updated and is the best place anywhere to get the feeling and spirit of airport history, great food and even a saloon called JU-52 with Harry Becker, (left) the bartender. It is an absolute original, filled with pictures and artifacts, including a recently added photo of 90-year-old Gail Halverson—the famed “Candy Bomber” of Berlin Airlift fame who came by recently to share some tales of yore while billeting at the InterCity.
     Not to be missed.
Geoffrey

 

 

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