Air Cargo News

AirGuide Business, May 18, 2009

New York (AirGuideBusiness - Air Cargo News) May 17, 2009

ABX Air

ABX Air parent Air Transport Services Group reported first-quarter net income of $11.1 million, a nearly threefold increase from a $3.8 million profit in the year-ago period, as the loss of a good portion of its DHL business led to expense cuts that outpaced lost revenue. DHL, for which ABX provides US air lift, ceased domestic US service on Jan. 30 (eliminating more than 1 million daily air shipments) and is planning to move the hub for sorting its remaining international shipments from ABX's Wilmington, Ohio, base to Cincinnati this summer. DHL has said it will continue to use ABX for air lift at least through August 2010, though the move from Wilmington to Cincinnati will curtail ground services that ABX now performs for DHL. ABX said 900 more jobs likely will be cut owing to the move. First-quarter revenue fell 26.6 percent to $280.6 million but the drop was offset by a 30.3 percent cut in expenses to $255.3 million. DHL-related revenue sank 34.9 percent to $182.9 million while non-DHL ACMI revenue grew 10.8 percent to $69.9 million. May 13, 2009

ABX Air

ABX Air, as a result of its recent losses, is operating a scaled-down system, dropping from 10,000 employees to 3,000 and parking more than 70 DC-9 freighters. It additionally plans to sell five of its Boeing 767 freighters that it previously used for DHL services to the German express giant. May 13, 2009

Ancra International, Boeing

Ancra International signed a long-term agreement with Israel Aircraft Industries to supply Boeing 767-300 and 737-400BDSF Main Deck Cargo Loading Systems as buyer-furnished equipment. May 15, 2009

AWAS, Cargoitalia

AWAS delivered the first MD-11F to re-launched Cargoitalia. The aircraft will enter service this month. May 13, 2009

CHAMP Cargosystems, Cargolux

CHAMP Cargosystems announced that Cargolux will be the launch customer for what it says is "the first-ever graphical weight-and-balance solution specifically designed for the air freight sector." May 13, 2009

Convair

US investigators have confirmed that elevator trim cables on a Convair 580 freighter had been reversed before the aircraft crashed in Ohio last September with the loss of all three occupants. The aircraft, operated by Air Tahoma, had undergone maintenance before the 1 September flight, including disconnection, rigging and reconnection of all flight-control cables in the empennage. "On-site inspection of the accident airplane revealed that the elevator trim cables were reversed," says the National Transportation Safety Board in an update to the inquiry. May 11, 2009

CSafe, Continental Airlines

CSafe said Continental Airlines Cargo selected its AcuTemp RKN air cargo container with both cooling and heating capabilities as part of its structured cold chain program. May 15, 2009

Menzies

UK logistics group John Menzies has cut 400 jobs citing continuing tough trading conditions in its aviation cargo business where volumes were down 26 percent. The group predicted the fall in volume for the year as a whole would be around 15 percent. Menzies said the outbreak of swine flu was adversely affecting its Mexico operations. The job losses just announced are in addition to the 600 job cuts which the company announced in November. May 15, 2009

Polet Airlines

Polet Airlines, a Russian charter carrier of heavy and outsize cargo, is entering the international cargo market. It has leased three IL-96-400"s from Ilyushin Finance Co. and wants to bring them into commercial operation by autumn 2009. It plans to add three IL-96-400"s in 2010-11. The company said in a statement that it is expecting to achieve positive results by 2011. Munich has been selected as its main base in Europe. At the initial stage, sales and marketing will be done in cooperation with partners and GSAs, though direct sales may be considered as a long-term plan. One of Polet's goals is to develop the Russian and CIS market with more direct air cargo connections as well as connecting other destinations worldwide. May 13, 2009

Shanghai Airlines

Shanghai Airlines is expected to reduce capacity in its unprofitable cargo operation and expand into the South China market by establishing a second domestic base at Fushan in Guangdong Province for its subsidiary China United Airlines as it seeks to return to profit after losing CNY1.25 billion ($182.8 million) in 2008. Fushan is a military airport. Zhou said China United has launched an airport management company in conjunction with China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Group to transform it into a civil airport. SAL's load factor reached 77 percent in April, then dropped after the swine flu outbreak to 65 percent in early May. Looking outside China, Shanghai Airlines has no plans to open new international long-haul routes but "won't give up the routes to neighboring countries." It launched service to Hanoi, Bali and Saipan earlier this year. In the meantime, Zhou pointed out that any merger between China Eastern Airlines and SAL won't happen in the near future. May 13, 2009