- Korean Air Cargo, a member of the SkyTeam Cargo Alliance, has extended its co-operation agreements with freight handler LUG Aircargo Handling at Frankfurt International Airport (FRA) through 2019. LUG has maintained its freight-handling partnership for Korean Air Cargo’s aircraft and road feeder services for 17 years, processing about 60,000 tonnes of cargo for the airline annually.
- National Air Cargo, Inc. (NAC), a freight forwarder specializing in difficult-to-move cargo for more than 23 years, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. NAC, Inc., based in Orchard Park, N.Y., made the filing after the U.S. District Court entered a judgment against the forwarder in October 2013 for an alleged breach of a letter of intent to finance aircraft through start-up Global BTG. Filing Chapter 11 allows NAC to continue operating pending appeal of the decision. Neither parent company National Air Cargo Holdings, Inc., nor its other global subsidiaries are parties to the bankruptcy action.
- Greater Rockford Airport Authority and AAR have broken ground on a new MRO hangar facility for wide-body aircraft at Chicago Rockford International Airport (RFD). Wood Dale, Ill.-based AAR will pay the airport $400,000 per year to lease the $40 million, 200,000-square-foot facility. The site is expected to operate 24 hours a day and generate more than 500 new jobs once it is completed in late 2015.
- In spite of a soft market for both inbound and outbound cargo, ground handler dnata has reported a 25 percent growth in its U.K. cargo handling business this year. Part of the success is attributable to improved volumes for the company’s clients, as well as 50 new contracts that dnata has secured in the last 18 months. Dnata now operating out of five new stations in the U.K. – Birmingham, East Midlands, Glasgow, Newcastle and London Gatwick – and has relocated to a larger refurbished facility in Manchester.
- AirBridgeCargo, Russia’s largest cargo carrier, has received its sixth 747-8F, bringing its total fleet to 13 747s, four 747-400ERFs and three Boeing 747-400Fs. This year, the tenth anniversary of its first flight, ABC has experienced a 55 percent increase in traffic from North America. This growth contributed to the carrier’s overall 16 percent growth in tonnage in the first six months of 2014, to 188,354 tonnes. ABC, a subsidiary of the Volga-Dnepr Group, also appointed Portland, Ore.-based Airlink Cargo LLC as its general sales agent in the Pacific Northwest region.
- Swiss WorldCargo, the airfreight division of Swiss International Air Lines, has started using a new e-booking system based on the cargo portal services developed by Unisys. The eBooking platform is delivered via software-as-a-service (SaaS), hosted by Unisys and is accessed via the swissworldcargo.com website.
- With its theme of “Celebrating the Past, Preparing for the Future,” the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will welcome students and aviation executives, Dec. 3-4, when they convene at the second Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) symposium. The ICAO NGAP initiative is aimed at ensuring that enough qualified and competent aviation professionals are available to operate, manage and maintain the future international air transport system in light of recent projections that air transport passenger and flight totals will double by 2030.
- Third-party logistics provider C.H. Robinson has begun operations out of a new facility in Corona, Calif., in order to provide customers of produce company Robinson Fresh with expanded supply chain solutions. The service center has more than 187,000 square feet of warehouse space that includes over 135,000 square feet of temperature-controlled operations, eight cold rooms with varying temperature zones, and the latest air-purification technology.
- FedEx is forecasting another record holiday. The company expects to move more than 290 million shipments between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, an 8.8 percent increase in overall year-over-year Peak seasonal volume. The season is expected to be bolstered by three volume spikes throughout December, occurring the first three Mondays of the month and each expected to surpass 20 million in volume. Dec. 15 is projected to be the busiest day in company history, with a forecasted 22.6 million shipments moving around the world.