- LUG aircargo handling, the oldest independent ground service company at Frankfurt/Main airport, has been testing a forklift truck with hydrogen fuel cells (pictured above) since March. The German material handling manufacturer STILL and the ministry of the environment and energy of the German state of Hesse sponsored the project. Vehicles running on hydrogen emit virtually no green house gases and offer productivity gains, as the downtimes for refueling are very short.
- The Alliance for Aviation Across America released a letter sent to Michael Huerta, administrator at the Federal Aviation Administration, from 70 mayors and community leaders around the country whose communities would be affected by the FAA’s potential scheduled closure of contract air traffic control towers. The letter highlights the vital role of local airports to businesses, organizations, emergency services and the economy as a whole. The scheduled tower closures are the result of sequestration, affecting 149 airports nationwide. The closures are scheduled to take effect June 15.
- AMI, the world’s largest trade-only airfreight wholesaler, will relocate its New York operations in late June, following the decision by parent company Menzies Aviation to cease cargo handling at John F. Kennedy International Airport. AMI has been handled by Menzies Aviation at JFK since 2009.
- Logwin, a logistics service provider, has invested in a second X-ray scanner (pictured left) for inspecting air cargo shipments. The equipment went into operation at the end of March at Logwin’s facility at Stuttgart Airport in Germany. Logwin put its first X-ray scanner into operation in March 2012.
- Rushlift Ltd., a national supplier of equipment leasing and maintenance services, has acquired the ground support equipment maintenance facility at London Heathrow Airport from American Airlines. The deal secures several jobs at the facility.
Rushlift GSE will operate out of the existing Heathrow base at Elmdon Road, close to British Airways’ Vanguard House, and will continue to support AA. - IJS Global, a global logistics company, opened a sales office in Shenyang, China – the largest city in Liaoning province and an important industrial center for the region.
- Liege Airport handled almost 12 percent less cargo during the first quarter. The airport handled 139,593 tonnes of cargo compared with 158,458 tonnes during the same period in 2012. This decrease reflects the fragile global economy, including the airfreight industry, the airport said.
- Air France-KLM Cargo shipped 14 tonnes of tulips (pictured right) from the Netherlands to Singapore to commemorate 80 years of scheduled flights to Singapore. In a special collaboration between KLM and Singapore’s tropical garden, Gardens by the Bay, these tulips will be planted and displayed at the Tulipmania exhibit at the Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay, until May 20.
- Turboprop aircraft manufacturer ATR’s newest ATR-600 series aircraft have just received certification from the Federal Aviation Administration. This certification, for both the ATR 42-600 and the ATR 72-600, will enable the entry into service of these new aircraft in countries requiring FAA rather than European Aviation Safety Agency certification.
- Kuehne + Nagel is expanding its site in Geel, Belgium with an additional 322,000 square feet, making the site 807,000 square feet total.
- Etihad Airways opened a line maintenance base at Singapore’s Changi International Airport, the carrier’s eighth outside Abu Dhabi. The new facility will perform all scheduled and non-scheduled line maintenance for Etihad Airways’ daily flights operating to Singapore from both Abu Dhabi and Brisbane, Australia.
- LuxairCARGO has joined Cargo 2000’s quality management program to measure and improve air cargo process quality on the ground. LuxairCARGO, a business unit of Luxair Group, operates one of the largest air cargo platforms in Europe.
- Volga-Dnepr Airlines has delivered more than 90 tonnes of oil and gas equipment (pictured below) from Singapore to Turkmenistan on board one of its AN-124-100 freighters. The equipment was transported on behalf of Pacific Airlift, a global air charter broker.