ACG Air Cargo Germany's CEO Michael Bock, and Thomas Homering, Managing Director 

     Germany’s youngest air freight carrier ACG Air Cargo Germany commenced commercial operations July 29 by deploying a jumbo B747-400SF (Special Freighter) en route to Central Asia. The craft took of at 7:02 am from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport with 108 tons on board.      The shipment consisted of a variety of industrial products that an undisclosed client wanted to be flown to Central Asia. Meanwhile the goods are unloaded at the destination and the aircraft (code: D-ACGA) is heading back to Germany.
    “We are really proud of having realized our maiden flight out of our home base Frankfurt-Hahn only days after obtaining the Air Operator Certificate issued by the German regulator Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA). Presently we have contracted a number of additional charter flights on intercontinental routes that will be accomplished step by step. Therefore, today’s inaugural flight will sure trigger further business,” states Managing Director Thomas Homering of ACG Air Cargo Germany GmbH.
    In a couple of weeks a second leased B747-400SF will be utilized by ACG Air Cargo Germany, Homering announces. The aircraft (code: D-ACGB) arrived at Hahn Airport July 24, coming from KLM’s paint shop in Amsterdam. There the freighter received its new red and white ACG livery. Presently the jumbo craft is undergoing its regular C-Check at Hahn-based MRO provider Haitec Aviation Technology.
     “We expect the airworthy certificate for the freighter by the German LBA in the second half of August,” says the executive. First commercial flights are scheduled for early September.
    Pleased with ACG’s commercial launch was also Frankfurt-Hahn’s Managing Director Jörg Schumacher (right). “July 28, is a historic day not only for ACG Air Cargo Germany but for our airport as well since we now have a home carrier that is based at Frankfurt-Hahn. This will give cargo throughput at our facility a further push and create additional jobs.”
    Presently 55 employees are listed on ACG’s payroll, including flight deck personnel. All are based at Hahn except for one who is working at the carrier’s Beijing office for generating business there.
Heiner Siegmund

India Cargo Fortunes Rising

(New Delhi Exclusive)—Signs of hope are emerging on the air cargo front. According to a statement in Parliament, India’s Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said that the country’s major airports could see a rise in freight tonnage between 2009 and 2012. Topping the list was Mumbai (pictured above). The minister’s calculations for the financial capital of India: one percent in 2009-10, 6.99 percent growth in 2010-11, and eight percent in the 2011-12. For Delhi, the growth figures projected were: 3.7 percent in 2009-10, four percent in 2010-11 and five percent in 2011-12.
     The other major airports that are likely to record impressive figures were: Chennai (2 percent in ’09-’10, 5 percent in ’10-’11 and 10 percent in ’11-’12), Kolkata (3 percent in ’09-’10, 6 percent in ’10-’11 and 8 percent in ’11-’12), Bangalore (3.8 percent in ’09-’10, 6 percent in ’10-’11 and 7 percent in ’11-’12), and Hyderabad (6 percent in ’09-’10, 8 percent in ’10-’11 and 9 percent in ’11-’12).
     The minister also added the fact that air cargo traffic from Indian metro cities had risen in 2007-08 but had dropped slightly in 2008-09. His statement mentioned that the total cargo tonnage handled at the metro airports at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad was approximately 1,329,000 MT (in 2006-07), 1,457,000 MT (in 2007-08) and 1,418,000 MT (in 2008-09).
     The optimistic forecast from the government – despite the gloom created by the financial misfortunes of Air India – has come following initiatives taken to boost air cargo. Over the last couple of years, the government and the privately held airports of Hyderabad and Kochi have spent more than Rs 830 crore to enhance infrastructure at major airports.
     Among these measures are investments in air cargo handling infrastructure at airports, plans to set up dedicated cargo cities with multi-modal interchanges, state-of-the-art cargo terminals, cold storage facilities and electronic data interchange systems. The government is also going ahead with the development of a major international multi-modal cargo hub in Nagpur.
     The other inputs include the implementation of a 'Perishable Cargo policy' that offers various concessions for setting up of state-of-the-art centers for perishable cargo. Also, color X-ray machines have been installed at metro and non-metro airports by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) conforming to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security guidelines that prescribe 100 percent screening of export cargo, prior to loading on aircraft
     In addition, AAI has introduced automation in air cargo handling by introducing Elevated Transfer Vehicle (ETV) for storage of ULDs of Export Cargo. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) through Internet with its community partners viz. Customs, airlines, exporters, importers and others for exchange of messages electronically also has been started.
     Praful Patel is not the only one who has an optimistic outlook. Though the preliminary figures released recently by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) showed that international freight traffic saw a year-on-year decline for the month of May ’09, Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General was a tad hopeful. He was quoted as saying that “the air cargo business remains severely depressed following the slump in international trade, but does appear to have stabilized. AAPA international air cargo traffic in May was down 18.6 percent, a slight improvement on the average decline of 23.2 percent seen during the first five months compared to the same period last year.”
     Considering the fact that Asia – particularly India and China – will spearhead the revival of the global slump, Praful Patel’s belief in the cargo sector performing well is more than welcome.
Tirthankar Ghosh