- Emirates launched daily, non-stop service between Dubai and Boston. In addition to passengers, Emirates SkyCargo will operate belly-hold cargo space to help transport goods to and from Boston such as electronics, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, machine parts, leather products, consumer commodities and New England lobster. Emirates SkyCargo can carry up to 15 tonnes per day.
- Boeing and Hainan Airlines announced a five-year pilot training agreement to support Hainan’s recent introduction of the 787 Dreamliner to its fleet.
- Under the agreement, Boeing Flight Services will extend the airline’s existing contract for flight training at Boeing’s Singapore and Shanghai training campuses on three Boeing models: the Next-Generation 737, 767 and 787.
- CSafe Global, a producer of actively controlled mobile refrigeration units, announced Interavion India Pvt. Ltd. as its new sales representative agent in India. Interavion is an aviation support services and cold chain services company with its headquarters in Bangalore.
- AV Cargo Airlines Ltd continues with its expansion plans with the delivery of a third MD11F to the fleet. The aircraft is expected to enter service in late April.
- CEVA Logistics is expanding its operations in four strategic Mexico markets with new facilities in Guadalajara and Monterrey and the expansion of its existing locations in Mexico City and in Queretaro.
- R. Gil Kerlikowske will head U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Kerlikowske is a career law enforcement official who had served since 2009 as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
- Unisys Corporation, an information technology company, is working with TravelSky, a provider of information technology services for China’s air travel industry, to build the next generation of the Unisys Logistics Management System for the air cargo industry. The new version will be known as LMS Next Generation (LMS NG) and is expected to be available by the end of 2015.
- Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. (AEI) announced that Aeronaves TSM S.A. de C.V. has ordered one more AEI MD80SF passenger-to-freighter conversion. The aircraft is an MD82 and was built in 1988. The aircraft will be modified at Commercial Jet’s Miami facility starting in July. This order will bring Aeronaves TSM’s MD80SF freighter fleet to three, with two AEI MD82SFs and one AEI MD83SF.
- CHAMP Cargosystems announced that Cargolux Airlines International S.A. will replace its customized legacy cargo management system with a new tailor-made core cargo system. This will be rolled-out across Cargolux’s entire international network in an evolutionary manner in the coming years. The cargo platform will be operated, maintained and evolved by CHAMP.
- Conroute Air & Sea, the Swedish partner of the U-Freight Group, has been certified by the Swedish Customs authority as an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) in the Combined Customs Simplifications/Security and Safety certificate categories, the highest of the three possible levels of AEO certification.
- CHEP Aerospace Solutions, a provider of outsourced unit load device services, launched CHEP Focus, a mobile app for iOS and Android devices including smartphones and tablets. The CHEP Focus app aims to simplify several ULD-related processes which are now mainly paper-based.
- TNT Express intends to invest tens of millions of euros to enhance the efficiency of its hub in Liege, Belgium. The investment will increase the hub’s sorting capacity by 50 percent and improve health and safety for the 1,500 employees. Work will begin in 2014 and end in 2016.
- Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. González hosted a group of high-level officials from Ireland at Miami International Airport to pursue new trade ties between Ireland and Miami-Dade County.
- Finnair Cargo’s summer timetable begins on March 31. For freighter operations, the airline is adding a third weekly frequency for the Helsinki-Hanoi-Hong Kong-Helsinki rotation. Seasonal Xi’an route returns again with three weekly A330 flights starting on March 30. Connections between North America will be enhanced with three weekly flights to Toronto, starting June 1. Finnair Cargo’s second hub, Brussels, will be served with two weekly MD11F freighter rotations with flights from Helsinki on Fridays and Sundays, and returns from Brussels on Saturdays and Mondays.
- Emirates SkyCargo presented some employees with achievement awards at a dedicated event held in Dubai. These awards recognize the role of cargo agents and forwarders in contributing to the airline’s success during 2013.