MUNICH – In a flurry of activity during the Air Cargo Europe/Transport Logistic conference last week, Jettainer announced that it had created a quality seal to be used by outsourced companies who repair airfreight pallets and containers, and also signed a maintenance deal for ULDs used by Thomas Cook Group Airlines.
Jettainer, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Cargo, which performs maintenance on more than 85,000 ULDs for 16 airlines, created the seal to let its customers know that a ULD repaired by one of its service partners meets Jettainer’s own ISO 9001-certified standards. Martin Kraemer, head of marketing at Jettainer, said the company created a set of unified guidelines for servicing and maintaining ULDs for its international customers.
At this week’s show, Jettainer named Frankfurt-based Deufol Airport Services as the first of its repair partners to be certified. Deufol is also located within Jetthub, Jettainer’s logistics center at Frankfurt Airport, which is an added benefit, since they will have direct access to the containers at the facility and “they won’t be carrying cans through neighborhoods at night,” Kraemer said.
Other repair companies that meet Jettainer’s guidelines will also receive the new seal once an audit has been completed. Jettainer, which currently has three auditors on staff, plans to build a network of top-class, non-owned repair partners with unified quality standards around the globe. Kraemer estimated that maybe five to ten of them should earn the seal by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, by this fall, the Thomas Cook agreement will bring 1,800 ultra-light ULDs into Jettainer’s network of outsourced ULDs. The Thomas Cook Group consists of Thomas Cook Airlines UK, Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium and Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia, as well as Condor Airlines, which already has a service contract with Jettainer and will renew that agreement immediately.