Air Cargo

The air cargo market will remain weak through 2016 due to sluggish world trade growth, the International Air Transport Association said.

The transportation industry has been omitted from a draft text of the agreement nations are haggling over at the Paris Climate Conference to keep the planet’s warming from greenhouse gases to below 2 degrees Celsius.

Lufthansa and United Airlines plan to expand their current passenger partnership to cargo operations between Europe and the U.S.

One way to get rid of unwanted aircraft is for an operator to park them on the tarmac at a big airfield and then disappear, something that is causing consternation at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.

The logistics arm of Hong Kong air cargo terminal, Hactl, has opened a depot in the Pearl River Delta city of Nansha that will target China’s fast growing e-commerce business.

The ban of belly cargo on Egypt Air passenger flights to North America is creating chaos in Egypt’s textiles and cottons sector, which has made up 45 percent of the country’s exports to the U.S. this year.

From a near-meltdown at U.S. West Coast ports to a wave of mergers and acquisitions, with hints of more in the container line industry, 2015 has been full of plenty of surprises.

The global air freight market is still flat-lining with traffic in October rising just 0.5 percent from a year ago, the International Air Transport Association said.

As it gets closer to a $1.35 billion acquisition by DSV, logistics company UTi Worldwide opens new multimodal facilities in Southeast Asia to speed freight to Europe and the U.S.

Cathay Pacific has agreed to pay $4.4 million to settle litigation in Canada in a cargo anti-trust class action in which the carrier was a defendant.

Demand for air cargo shipments in Asia fell slightly in October on the back of continued weakness in export-import activities in the major regional economies of China, India and Japan, according to the latest data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

Six Volga-Dnepr crew members were among the 22 people killed in a terrorist raid on a hotel in the Mali capital of Bamako on Nov. 20, the Russian heavy-lift airline has announced.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol’s cargo throughput edged closer to last year’s tonnage in the third quarter, narrowing the deficit in the year-to-date to 1.44 percent and raising the possibility of matching record volumes in 2014.

Indonesia’s Minister of Transport threw down the gauntlet to domestic air carriers, warning that if they were not able to add international routes he would offer them to foreign airlines that were knocking at the door.

The good news is that Asia’s airlines are heading for a record year, driven by first half performance momentum that carried through into the third quarter, according to Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

A 2 percent gain by the world's Top 50 largest transportation service providers in 2014 marked a turnaround after the group’s combined revenue slipped 0.1 percent in 2013.

UPS assumed the top spot on the JOC-SJ Consulting Group list of Top 50 Global Transportation Providers in terms of 2014 revenue, pushing Deutsche Post DHL to the No. 2 position. Of the Top 50, 13 companies are located in North America, 19 in Europe, 16 in the Asia-Pacific region, and one each in India and Australia.

Global air freight traffic increased by 1 percent in September from a year earlier as strong growth in the Middle East offset a flat Asia-Pacific market and reduced volume in North America, according to the International Air Transport Association.

International Airlines Group posted a slight increase in cargo revenue in the third quarter despite a bigger decline in volume as the Anglo-Spanish carrier scaled back freighter operations.

Japan Airlines Corp.’s net profit surged 28.7 percent year-over-year in the April-September period to 103.4 billion yen ($854 million), as lower fuel prices and cost-reduction efforts more than made up for a decline in cargo operations revenue.

Air France-KLM’s cargo losses narrowed in the third quarter but revenue and traffic shrank as the carrier slashed its full-freighter capacity in a bid to return to the black.

Lufthansa Cargo is heading for its first annual loss in six years after Europe’s largest freight airline sank into the red for the second consecutive quarter.

Qatar Airways unveiled plans to build a new cargo terminal at its global hub at Hamad International Airport in Doha to keep pace with its “phenomenal” traffic growth.

All Nippon Airways Co.’s efforts to capture cargo normally moving through West Coast ports that was delayed because of congestion weren’t enough to offset weak demand from Europe and North America to Japan.

Union pilots at UPS authorized a strike if their leaders fail to wrest concessions in contract talks, but any labor action would face major obstacles and delays.

Russia’s AirBridgeCargo Airlines continues to outperform its European rivals with traffic soaring 28 percent in September despite the steep slump in its domestic economy.

Asia’s air cargo markets weakened in the third quarter, hampered by slowing global trade and tough comparisons with last year, with the industry still holding thumbs for a pre-Christmas bump to push up full-year traffic figures.

Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting Inc. a subsidiary of Nippon Express Co., Japan’s largest international freight forwarder, predicts that Japan’s international air cargo trade will contract for the first time in two years.

The world's second-largest transport operator is adding more than 41,000 postal codes to its international guaranteed package service, expanding its delivery footprint in Asia and other regions.

TNT Express said its third-quarter operating profit will be “materially lower” than last year due to economic volatility in China, Brazil and Australia.

Europe’s ongoing refugee crisis was impacting the movement of cargo across the busy region, according to the International Air Cargo Association secretary general Doug Brittin.

Global air cargo remains stagnant with three-quarters of the year gone, but the Middle East and South Asia market has shrugged off the negative trend and posted solid increases in volumes.

Global air cargo traffic stabilized in August following two months of decline as strong growth in the Middle East offset lower volumes in North and South America, according to the International Air Transport Association.

A new all-cargo airline will enter greater China’s fast-growing express market next year after a mainland carrier, a Nasdaq-listed aircraft leasing company and an online retailer set up a joint venture to create United Star Express Airlines.

The U.S. arm of the global package express carrier is buying 45 electric cargo vans as part of a broader initiative to run more "clean" vehicles. Overall, corporate sustainability targets are powering interest in electrics.

TNT Express has launched a road service connecting Georgia to Moscow in a bid to cut up to 48 hours of transit time for shippers using the company’s European road transit service to reach the Russian capital.

The sustained growth in passenger numbers carried by Asia’s airlines is in stark contrast to air cargo traffic that remained weak through the month of August, according to the latest data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

The express parcels industry is coming under pressure “as never before” as e-retailing, technological disruption and macro-economic upheaval drive fundamental changes in the market, according to a leading logistics consultancy.

Russia’s AirBridgeCargo Airlines is pulling further ahead of its troubled European rivals as it continues to post double digit increases in traffic month after month.

Air France KLM Martinair Cargo has signed a partnership agreement with China Southern Cargo spanning the carriers’ global networks.