Jade Hooks Up With AUA Cargo

      Shenzhen-based Jade Cargo International has signed an agreement for future intensive collaboration with Austrian carrier AUA.
      This includes air freight transports as well as representative functions by AUA Cargo on behalf of Jade in Austria and the neighboring Eastern European markets.
      “Austrian Airlines Cargo is a nearly perfect partner for us since they offer an extensive network to and from Eastern Europe, the CIS countries, as well as Russia. In addition they are a high profile quality carrier known for reliable and efficient transport,“ lauds Jade’s CEO Captain Kay Kratky of his newest ally.
      Austrian’s head of cargo, Franz Zoechbauer (left) calls attention to his carrier’s dense network and road feeder services to and from Vienna to major places between Poland and Kazakhstan.
      “We presently serve more than 40 destinations in Central and Eastern Europe, most of them for quite a number of years.”
      According to the pact Jade intends to deploy four flights weekly with jumbo long range equipment B747-400ERF via Vienna Airport en route from South Korea and China to Frankfurt, then Amsterdam.
      These services are due to commence soon with no exact date inked yet.
      “By landing at Vienna Schwechat Airport and due to our upcoming partnership with Lufthansa group member AUA Cargo, the Austrian capital will become sort of a sub-hub for us,” comments Kratky.
      There, AUA Cargo will be responsible for transporting and handling of all transit shipments.
      They will be either flown in the cargo compartments of their passenger fleet or trucked to places such as Prague, Budapest and Warsaw.
      Pallets and containers that are bound for the Ukraine will be transported on board a B737-300SF that AUA Cargo operates between Vienna and Kiev five times a week in cooperation with local partner Ukraine International Airlines
      Further to the AUA agreement Jade has appointed Air Logistics Group (ALG) as new general sales agent for Western and Central Europe, including Turkey and Israel.
      The GSA that won an international tender launched by Jade has offices in 24 countries. ALG belongs to France-based World Freight Company (WFC).
      The contract is based on the performance of ALG.
      “The more tonnage they acquire and load on board of our aircraft the more money they will make,” says Kratky.
      His partnering with a GSA is a consequence of Lufthansa Cargo’s decision to stop utilizing three of the six B747-400ERFs Jade possesses and lay the marketing and sales responsibilities for the capacity of the three freighters entirely on Jade’s shoulders.
      This is a consequence of Lufthansa Cargo’s grounding some of their own MD-11 freighters due to the economic downturn.
      Under these awkward circumstances it obviously would not have been appropriate to be responsible for filling the entire capacities of a six B747-400ERF of an affiliated carrier.
      This explains why LH Cargo has terminated the marketing agreement for three of Jade’s jumbo freighters for the time being.
      As a consequence of this shift of responsibility, Kratky and his crew decided to team up with a GSA to sell the capacity of those three aircraft.
      “The contract we have signed with ALG last week compliments and broadens our previous business strategy and opens up new doors for additional market opportunities,” Mr. Kratky said.
      Due to special pro rate agreements (PRAs) Lufthansa Cargo will be able to further utilize the capacity of the three aircraft if needed.
Heiner Siegmund

Future Views For India Cargo

      There is good news out of India.
      Reports are circulating that the March quarter is “turning out to be the best in the last five quarters for Indian firms” in terms of net profit.
      In addition, financial experts have started pointing out that inflation had come down drastically and sales had stabilized thereby improving the profitability of firms.
      Witness some recent figures from the air cargo sector.
      According to figures from the Airports Authority of India (AAI), domestic freight traffic, which had fallen around 11 percent in February 2009, saw the number decreasing to only around 2.4 percent.
      That, however, does not mean that the industry is out of the woods.
      Figures indicate that international and domestic freight handled by the country’s airports went down by 4.5 percent to around 1.5 lakh tonnes in March 2009, compared to the freight handled in March ’08.
      As for exports and imports, international freight traffic registered a decrease of 5.5 percent during March 2009.
      It is in this backdrop that those in the air cargo business or even remotely connected to it have started showing their optimism.
      The hope stems from the strength of the Congress-led newly reelected government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh.
      Freight forwarders, airlines and almost everyone associated with the cargo industry in the country feels that Prime Minister Singh, a strong advocate of the open market will push through development on a much bigger scale than what was seen in his previous tenure.
      Given the prevailing situation, stakeholders from the airfreight industry are looking up to the government to come out with a slew of measures that will not only boost trade but also ensure the economic growth of the country.
      Commenting on the new government, Shesh Kulkarni, (left) President of UTi Worldwide, and a prominent member of the Bangalore Air Cargo Club (BACC), told ACNFT:
      “Having Dr. Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister is a very positive indicator for the industry and for the economy as a whole.”
      Taking up the cause of the logistics industry, Kulkarni pointed out:
      “One can expect that with the clear mandate, the Prime Minister would continue to initiate the same game-changing initiatives to further the prospects of this country.
      “One is curious to see what specific plans this government would draw to support, improve, accelerate growth in the logistics industry.”
      Kulkarni also mentioned “it had been heartening to hear Aviation Minister Praful Patel talk about cargo at many forums when he was in the previous government.”
      Today, “with significant initiatives in the area of privatization of airports and ports, it is only imperative that these moves are complimented by a strong vibrant logistics ministry.”
      Vipul Jain, CEO and Managing Director, Kale Consultants Ltd., a leading solutions provider to the global airline, logistics and travel industry said its Technology Survey for Indian Logistics Industry-2008, forecast that the Indian logistics industry was set to grow at a CAGR of 11 percent to reach levels of Rs 4,100 billion by 2013.
      “Technology is expected to be a key enabler to support the logistics sector in its growth. Kale's survey also reveals that the current market for IT solutions in this sector is estimated at Rs 400 crores and set to grow to a level of Rs 1,000 crores by 2012-13 (growing at CAGR of 20-22 percent).”
      Jain went on to elaborate that “the government should ensure that the privatization and development programs undertaken in the country are on track. These moves will boost investments made in information technology by the logistics sector.”
      He cautioned that while “the growth story of the air cargo industry has been considerable,” there were issues that needed to be addressed urgently.
      For one, he said, “challenges exist both within organizations as well as across the industry.”
      Stakeholders in the airfreight industry are expecting things to happen.
      A number of them have prepared a wish list for Praful Patel, the new Minister for Civil Aviation and the government.
      Said freight forwarding veteran Pukhraj Chug, (right) Managing Director, Group Concorde, which handles cargo for a large number of international airlines as well as Capt Gopinath’s Deccan 360, “The government must have the time to concentrate on core issues like development of infrastructure to help develop the air cargo industry to its full potential.”
      Commented senior Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) member J Krishnan (left):
      “The new government has committed itself to spruce up the infrastructure.”
      To begin with, he said “an umbrella ministry for infrastructure, with a capable and senior minister, would be a step in the right direction.”
      Krishnan also pointed out that the new government should foster and encourage the “role of regulators.”
      That would be ideal “for private capital to flow in and also usher in transparency of pricing.”
      ACNFT also met (below left) Nirmal Sandhu, President of the Bangalore Air Cargo Club.
      He was more concerned about the facilities available at Bengaluru – considering the fact that the much-hyped private airport has not lived up to its expectations – the city where he operates.
      “The new government must provide more facilities and better quality at the Bengaluru International Airport, so that customers can be serviced in a better fashion which will benefit us.
      “That will also bring in more revenue for every one concerned.
      “Above all,” said Sandhu, “the cargo fraternity is looking for industry status.”
      Most air cargo stakeholders that ACNFT spoke to said that while the Indian government had taken the initiative to improve the existing infrastructure at a number of airports as far as passengers were concerned, the cargo section had not received similar attention.
      As a result, Indian shippers had been suffering, both in terms of increased time and money.
      “Today,” said Shesh Kulkarni, “the cost of imports per kg from countries like Germany, UK and elsewhere from Europe ranges between Rs 18 to Rs 20 per kg (roughly half a dollar).
      Similarly, if India were to export to the same destinations, our cost works out to Rs.45+ (almost a dollar), which is almost double.
      “This makes the value of the goods for the Indian shipper that much more expensive, particularly when one is competing in the global market.”
      Tulsi Nowlakha Mirchandaney, (right) Managing Director, Blue Dart Aviation, mentioned that till the government took a decision to implement the new ground handling policy, things would not improve.
      Incidentally, the new policy seeks to bring about a whole set of new people to do the job.
      Tulsi reasoned:
      “Air cargo is very different from air express operations.
      “The Blue Dart business model is based on an integrated, seamless service of a very high quality and processed within a short time window.
      “Any intervention that would fragment the process would destroy the service offering and render it uncompetitive.” She made it clear that her company did not “see the rationale of having to start fresh with new, inexperienced people who our employees would have to train, only to have themselves replaced by them.
      “The ground handling agencies’ investments in assets are expected to be leveraged over the smaller number of freighter aircraft operating in the India market, evident from the enormous difference in costs between the domestic passenger and cargo operators.
      “Apart from being unfair, the move would add between 13.3 percent to 16.8 percent to our direct operating costs.”
Tirthankar Ghosh

AF 447 & The Unexplained

      The disappearance earlier this month of Air France flight 447 with 228 people aboard the flight including 3 pilots and 9 other cabin crew harkens echoes from the past as loss turns to wonder of what happened that brought tragedy to so many aboard that ill-fated airliner.
      Now as human remains and debris are being picked up from the crash scene and a French nuclear sub is speeding to the South Atlantic, hope is that the aircraft’s black boxes having settled almost two miles underneath the ocean north of Brazil, might be eventually be recovered and cast further light on the worst air disaster since 2001.
      What is known is that the doomed airliner entered a fearsome area of severe thunderstorms and turbulence, and then mysteriously disappeared from radar screens.
      Deadlines came and passed at the airline’s destination control center. As minutes turned into hours, emergency armadas of military aircraft and vessels were dispatched to find the missing plane and its passengers.
      Another breaking news report about Air France 447?
      No, in fact the past couple of sentences were written nearly 60 years ago and are echoes from an eerily similar story about lost Northwest Flight 2501 in 1950!
      Also in June (1950), the Northwest DC4 left LaGuardia on a warm pleasant evening.
      Carrying maximum takeoff weight, 55 passengers and 3 crew, the transcontinental flight was bound for Seattle with an en-route stop planned in Minneapolis.
      Cruising at 3,500 feet over Lake Michigan, near Benton Harbor Michigan, Captain Robert Lind encountered a line of electrical storms and quickly asked permission to reduce altitude to 2,500 feet.
      The Civil Aviation Authority could not grant the request due to congestion in the area.
      That was the last transmission received from Northwest Flight 2501.
      Near South Haven, Michigan, a retired navy commander witnessed “a terrific flash” over Lake Michigan.
      And at least four residents of tiny Glenn, Michigan were loitering in their cars at the town’s gas station at 12:15 a.m. when they heard an aircraft sputtering overhead.
      One of the bystanders retorted: "Bring that plane down here buddy. We'll fix it up for you!"
      Mr. Danny Thompson testified that the plane's engines sounded "like a stock car with a blown head gasket.”
      Then Mrs. William Bowie saw a “queer flash.”
      “It was a funny light. It looked like the sun when it goes down.
      “It only lasted a second then was gone,” she said."
      In the Air France mystery, two pilots from an Air Comet flight from Lima, on a similar path, reported an ‘intense flash’ in the sky.
      The early investigations into the Northwest 2501 disappearance indicated a midair explosion.
      Two days into the Air France search, Brazilian authorities confidently reported finding a 7 meter section of the fuselage, buoys and seats, belonging to the stricken aircraft.
      In the Lake Michigan crash, local fisherman pulled up a small piece of it over to the Coast Guard.
      Divers were dispatched to a site that was bubbling oil and covered with bits of paper.
      They found nothing but rocks. In both cases, the debris had no connection to the lost aircraft.
      The Northwest 2501 crash was the biggest disaster in civilian aviation at the time.
      The Air France 447 catastrophe would be the largest loss of life in a decade.
      The Northwest 2501 incident is a mystery that has confounded searchers for over six decades.
      After an exhaustive investigation, the Civil Aeronautics Board labeled the cause of the crash as ‘Unknown’. Despite the massive proportions of the Northwest aircraft, weighing 71,000 pounds, wings spanning 117 feet and four engines weighing 1,600 pounds each—no significant pieces of the wreckage have ever been found!
      Even the renowned author and shipwreck hunter Clive Cussler joined the fray in May 2006.
      He has discovered more than 80 shipwrecks around the world.
      Cussler funded an advanced technology search, scanning Lake Michigan at a depth of 200 feet, near Benton Harbor, Michigan.
      To this day, his search has come up empty and the saga continues. The Lake Michigan crash, inexorably changed the history of Northwest Airlines.
    

He moved from crash investigator to top executive at Northwest Airlines.
Here is the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) in 1951:
Second (clockwise from top) is Donald W. Nyrop who served as CAB Chairman.
Shortly after this picture was taken Donald W. Nyrop took the reins of NWA and led the carrier for 24 years during a time that the airline in addition to becoming great, also pioneered weather avoidance technologies.   

     It was the second in an astonishing chain of 6 fatal accidents between 1950 and 1952.
      By spring 1952, the carrier had crashed 20 percent of its fleet of Martin 202s and its pilots were scared to fly the plane (let alone the traveling public!).
      At that critical moment, the head of the Civil Aeronautics Board, Donald W. Nyrop stepped in to conduct a top to bottom safety review of the Martin 202, Northwest’s pilot training and maintenance.
      His comprehensive list of 63 corrective measures so impressed Northwest’s board of directors, that they began a relentless pursuit to hire Nyrop. The effort was successful, culminating in his appointment as President and CEO in 1954.
      Thus began a 24-year reign that saw Nyrop among other things lift Northwest from the edge of insolvency and despair, to new heights of profitability and preeminence in the history of aviation.
      Nyrop was a pioneer of aviation safety, opening one of the industry’s first Meteorology departments.
      In an ironic twist, Northwest Meteorology was widely admired for its work in turbulence and storm avoidance. It created a ground-breaking system called Turbulence Plot (TP) in 1965 that linked directly into civil and military radar systems, and delivered storm and turbulence information into the cockpit in just 8 minutes.
      It charted out “do not fly” zones that other carriers regularly flew right into. For many years, Northwest touted Turbulence Plot as the safest thunderstorm and turbulence system in the industry.
      So the story comes full circle.
      The mysterious disappearance of Northwest 2501 led to a full-blown safety investigation and the lucky recruitment of industry titan, Donald Nyrop to Northwest.
      Even Clive Cussler couldn’t find the wreckage of Northwest 2501, but the twist is that Mr. Nyrop solved many of the tragic questions about the crash.
      His innovative Meteorology Department and their TP system were used well into the 21st century.
      Now we can only wonder if in some manner beyond our time will history repeat itself?
      Will Air France 447 start a chain reaction for the carrier and spur renewed scientific research about the dangers of storms and turbulence?
      Nothing is written of where the AF tragedy will move people.
      But history has proven an event as saddening and mysterious as Air France 447 will not go quiet before some answers and action are taken that will lessen possibilities for a repeat some time in the future.
Tony Randgaard
(Tony Randgaard is Continental Airlines director of cargo marketing based in Houston Texas).