Business Buzz
¦ ASIG® announced that its Salt Lake City fueling operation has received the Delta Air Lines Triple Crown Award for the fourth time. The Triple Crown is Delta’s highest operational safety award and recognizes their local operations and supplier partners for critical elements of teamwork, time management and operational excellence in achieving a safe, on-time operation. ASIG received the award for the month of November 2007; previous awards were received in 2002, 2003 and 2004. The award goes to the Delta location with the best on-time performance, lowest recordable injury rate per 100 employees and lowest aircraft ground damage rate per 10,000 departures.
¦ Lufthansa Systems announced that it is expanding its cooperation with Lufthansa Cargo AG. The cargo airline intends to consolidate all of its core cargo processes — including booking, handling and revenue accounting — using the AdvancedCargo Suite from Lufthansa Systems. Lufthansa Cargo is the second renowned cargo airline after Southwest Airlines to opt for this new IT platform.
¦ The cornerstone for a new air cargo warehouse at CargoCity South was laid Feb. 6. After receipt of the building permit and extensive preparatory work at the estate, about 50 guests met to lay the cornerstone for the 8,000 sqm building. The new building, which will be constructed close to the premises of Fraport Cargo Services, is expected to be completed in July 2008. From summer 2008, after only seven months of construction time, the tenant Fraport Cargo Services will use the cargo handling area of about 5,000 sqm and the office space of about 3,000 sqm for the exclusive air cargo handling of Japan Airlines Cargo. Effective July 2008, 80 staff members will be operating there day and night, 365 days a year.
¦ Capital Airports Holding Company, a Beijing-based airport operator, will sell its 24 percent stake in Air China Cargo Co. Ltd., the largest Chinese air cargo carrier. Air China Limited, one of the three largest airline companies in the country, has expressed that it will purchase the entire stake in the cargo carrier with its strategic partner Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.
¦ ASIG® announced that it has commenced ground handling services for LAN’s 14 weekly flights at Los Angeles International Airport. ASIG is providing the carrier with ramp side services, cabin cleaning and cargo transportation services.
¦ BAA and Emirates Airline today announced the launch of the UK’s largest RFID (radio-frequency identification) baggage trial, which could revolutionize the way bags are tracked and monitored at Heathrow Airport. As part of BAA’s ongoing investment plans, Heathrow, the world’s busiest international airport has begun a six-month trial of RFID techonolgy for Emirates passengers. The new system tracks bags at every stage of their journey and is a UK first. The trial will test the effectiveness and benefits of RFID against the airport’s existing barcode tracking system. The trial is expected to track around 50,000 bags per month for passengers traveling with Emirates to and from Dubai, and transferring through Heathrow. A duplicate of the Heathrow system has been installed at Dubai Aiport.
¦ IDS announced the expansion of Integrated Deicing Services LLC into Bradley International Airport. This will add a sixth operation to the current five IDS operations in the US. The expansion into the Northeast comes nearly one month to the date from which IDS was purchased by Salvatore Calvino, Kevin Worley and Larry Hopkins on Dec. 31, 2007.
¦ Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, deemed one of the nation’s safest, received the Federal Aviation Administration’s 2007 Air Carrier Airport Safety Award. In granting the award, the FAA cited an airport program that asked tenants to remove debris from runways to reduce safety hazards. The airport also was praised for its procedures to keep aircraft and ground vehicles separated on aprons. The award is given only to airports in the Southeast, and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International was the sole recipient this year, FAA officials said.
¦ Swiss WorldCargo, the air cargo division of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd., announced a significant increase of air cargo capacity between Zurich and Tel Aviv thanks to the introduction of an additional A-340 on the route. The new A-340 connection will become daily March 12, 2008. Swiss WorldCargo will offer around 42 tons of cargo capacity to and from one of the Near East’s most important gateways for air trade.
Partnerships/Acquisitions/Contracts
¦ Menzies Aviation announced the acquisition of the warehouse handling and trucking business of Airline Cargo Resources South Africa. ACR provides air cargo handling and landside trucking services to customers including Etihad Crystal Cargo and Qantas Freight, at Johannesburg, Cape Town and trucking reception points at Durban and Port Elizabeth international airports. The acquisition provides Menzies with a high quality cargo handling business to compliment their ground handling operations which will start March 1, 2008, following the award of licenses to provide passenger and ramp handling services to airlines at all the major airports in South Africa.
¦ ASIG® announced that Thai Airways has signed a two-year contract renewal with ASIG for the provision of cabin grooming services at London Heathrow Airport. ASIG has been handling Thai since 2003 and provides daily service to their 14 weekly flights.
¦ Swedish cargo handling equipment maker Kalmar Industries AB, part of Cargotec Corporation, said that Transnet Port Terminals, previously known as South African Port Operations, has awarded the company a maintenance contract for all rubber-tired equipment operating at the Port of Durban’s newest container terminal called Pier 1 Container Terminal. The contract calls for the maintenance of 18 Kalmar E-One rubber-tired gantry cranes, two Kalmar reachstackers and a range of other-branded machinery including 40 terminal tractors, 47 trailers and two empty container handlers, Kalmar said.
¦ ASIG® announced that Qantas has signed a three-year extension for cabin cleaning services at London Heathrow Airport. ASIG has been servicing Qantas at LHR since 2004 and handles 28 weekly flights for the airline.
¦ Swissport International announced that South African Airways’ ground handling services will now be carried out by ground services provider Swissport South Africa Ltd. An agreement was concluded between the two organisations whereby Swissport South Africa will handle SAA’s entire airport ramp handling requirements within South Africa. The agreement took effect Feb. 1, 2008.
¦ ASIG® announced that LTU has selected ASIG as their ground handler at JFK International Airport. ASIG is providing LTU’s six weekly flights with ramp side services, cabin cleaning, aircraft deicing and cargo transportation services. As of March, ASIG will also provide LTU with passenger handling services. Services to LTU commenced Jan. 15, 2008.
¦ Aircraft manufacturer the Boeing Company has revealed that it has selected Telair International to supply the cargo-handling system for the new Boeing 747-8. The company said that Telair is to supply systems for the main deck and lower hold of the 747-8 Freighter and also for the lower hold of the 747-8 Intercontinental. A cargo-handling system for the 747-8 will be designed and manufactured by Telair, which will feature “intelligent” power drive units networked through a control system. The cargo-handling system will be designed and manufactured by Telair at its facility in Miesbach, with the first hardware deliveries scheduled for late 2008.
¦ ASIG® announced that it has been awarded a seven-year contract to provide full ground handling services to all carriers operating at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal One. JFK’s Terminal One is managed by Terminal One Group Association L.P., which is comprised of four of the world’s premier international airlines, Air France, Japan Airlines, Korean Air and Lufthansa. ASIG will provide ramp handling, tower coordination, bag room staffing, lavatory and water service, cargo and mail handling, aircraft deicing and other services to all 16 airlines operating at Terminal One. ASIG expects to handle over 10,000 flights and support 4 million passengers annually. Operations were scheduled to commence Feb. 1, 2008.
¦ Menzies Aviation Bobba (Bangalore) announced that it has been awarded its first contract for their operations at the new international airport at Bangalore, India. British Airways will be operating a daily B747-400 service to the new Bangalore International Airport and with its new 13,000m² state-of-the-art cargo facility it is positioned to provide cargo handling services from the opening of this airport, a key gateway to the southern Indian market, from March 2008.
People in the News
¦ Swissport International and Michel Jansen, executive vice president cargo services and head of the company’s global airfreight handling activities, will part ways. Jansen, who has held various management functions since joining Swissport in August 2002, will be leaving the company with immediate effect to seek a new career challenge. Until a permanent successor is appointed to this group executive management position, responsibility for Swissport’s cargo handling operations will be shared by three in-house specialists on an interim basis. Juan Jose Andres Alvez, currently senior vice president passenger business, will assume overall responsibility for all European cargo handling and all HQ functions. Urs Sieber, currently EVP ground handling worldwide (except Americas), will take over the areas Africa and Asia, while Erich Bodenmann, currently executive vice president aviation specialty services, will be in overall charge of cargo handling for the area Americas.
¦ ASIG® announced that Carmine Testa has been appointed as general manager for ASIG’s new ground handling operations at JFK Terminal One. Carmine is responsible for overseeing a staff of more than 350 service personnel providing ramp, cargo, mail handling and other ground support services to the 16 carriers serving Terminal One. He reports directly to Dan Sewell, area general manager - JFK. Testa is an operations expert who has substantial experience managing large-scale, complex airline operations. He began his career with Delta Air Lines where he served for 28 years in numerous capacities, including field director, Florida and director – JFK. His most recent positions include hub manager – Atlanta Terminal for ABX Air and vice president – Atlanta Airport for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, where he managed a workforce of 1,200 employees.
¦ Hydrogen Engine Center Inc., a developer of systems and processes used in the design, manufacture and distribution of alternative fuel internal combustion engines, engine controls and generator systems, announced the passing of professor Tapan Bose, president of Hydrogen Engine Centre Canada. Bose had served as the President of Hydrogen Engine Centre Canada since September 2005 and as the eastern vice chairman of the Canadian Hydrogen Association.
¦ Swiss WorldCargo, the air cargo division of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd., announces a recent organizational restructuring with the appointment of Ashwin Bhat as managing director transportation management and Bernd Maresch as director marketing and strategy. Bhat, formerly managing director contribution management at Swiss WorldCargo, has additionally taken over the responsibility for operations in the newly created department, transportation management. The department brings together the steering, procurement and process function as well as all the quality and accounting issues. In Maresch’s new position of director marketing and strategy, he is now responsible for the further development of Swiss WorldCargo in terms of product development and management.
¦ Aviapartner announced changes to its management structure. Theo Dilissen has been appointed executive chairman of the Aviapartner Group and Peter Oostenenk CEO of the Aviapartner Group. Oostenenk is in charge of Aviapartner’s overall day-to-day operations, while Dilissen leads major projects such as large acquisitions and the integration thereof, and represents Aviapartner with the principal Belgian and European authorities, next to chairing the main board of directors.
¦ Mark E. DuPont has been named vice president - airport services planning at American Airlines and will be responsible for business planning, automation, service policies and support for all of American’s airport operations worldwide. He replaces Marilyn DeVoe, who recently was appointed vice president of American’s DFW airport operations. For the past three years, DuPont was the general manager of American’s airport operations at JFK International Airport in New York. He will be located at American’s headquarters in Fort Worth.
¦ Midwest Airlines announced the appointment of Joseph C. Kolshak as chief operating officer. In his new role, he will have responsibility for directing all aspects of the company’s operations functions, including flight operations, flight standards and training, inflight services, customer service, system operations control, safety and regulatory compliance, and maintenance and engineering. Kolshak came to Midwest from Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, where he served most recently as executive vice president of operations.
¦ Christoph Franz, CEO of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd, has been appointed to the board of JetBlue Airways Corporation. Franz has worked with Deutsche Bahn AG, the German national railway, earlier.
