news
South Africa’s new
airport comes alive Dube TradePort’s brand newcargo terminal at the King Shaka International airport, sited a fewmiles north of South Africa’s port city of Durban,went operational in the early hours of 1May with its first aircraft arriving carrying a consignment of loose cargo. The touchdown of the freightermarked
the beginning of operations at Durban’s newair gateway and at the flagship US$1.09 billion ultra-modern Dube TradePort,which incorporates the airport, a trade zone, its AgriZone and amulti-use city complex. The facility is the single biggest
infrastructural development ever undertaken by the KwaZulu-Natal state in a co-operation agreement between the Dube TradePort Company and Airports Company South Africa (ACSA). Commenting on the opening of the
state-of-the-art cargo terminal,which is the first of its type in Africa, Dube TradePort CEORohan Persad said the arrival of the first cargo aircraft “marks the culmination ofmany years’work on the Dube TradePort project”. Cargo handlerWorldwide Flight
Services (WFS) is the exclusive operator of Dube TradePort’s air freight terminal. Togetherwith state-of-the-art cargo
equipment, an elevating transfer vehicle (ETV) stacking systemand the Cargo Spot operating system, Persad noted that the involvement ofWFS in the running of the Dube TradePort complex“is going to be ourmost competitive advantage over all other cargo terminals”across the 15 states comprising the Southern African Development Community.
Bisignani criticises “poor decision-making process”
Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEOof the International Air Transport Association (IATA), estimates that the six-day closure of the skies in Europe caused by the cloud of volcanic ash that stretched across the northern part of the Continent in April cost airlines up to US$400million a day in lost revenues. “The scale of the crisis eclipsed 9/11 when US airspacewas closed for three
days,”he said. “For an industry that lost $9.4 billion last year andwas forecast to lose a further $2.8 billion in 2010, this crisis is devastating,” Bisignani added. He is urging individual
governments and bodies such as the European Commission to provide relief inmanyways, not least in terms of financial compensation for the disruption to carriers’business. While arguing that the aviation
industry neitherwants nor needs bailouts, Bisignani explained: “This crisis is not the result of running our business badly.” He noted: “It is an extraordinary
situation exaggerated by a poor decision-making process by national governments.”
BA and Iberia agreemerger
British Airways and Spanish flag-carrier Iberia have signed a long-awaited merger agreement, following a binding agreementmade between the two airlines last November. Themerger – expected to be complete by the end of this year –will unite
two long-established carriers and result in one of theworld’s largest airlines. Itwill create a newholding company, International Airlines Group, under
which both airlineswill retain their current operations and individual brands – British Airways and Iberia. Founded in 1919, BA forerunner Aircraft Transport and Travel flewthe
world’s first daily international scheduled air service between London and Paris – and itwas one of the first providers of a regular airmail service. Following a long history under various brandings including Imperial Airways
and BOAC, British Airwayswas formed in 1974. Iberiawas founded in 1927 as Spain’s first airline. It started as an airmail
transport service betweenMadrid and Barcelonawith King Alfonso XIII travelling as a passenger on the inaugural flight. In 1946 it opened air links fromEurope to South America and very publicly
demonstrated its special cargo handling skills in 1981when the airline flew Picasso’s painting Guernica fromNewYork to its newhome in Spain –where the artist had refused to exhibit it during the lifetime of Spanish dictator General Franco. No specific details have emerged yet as to the cargo service the combined
carrierwill provide, but therewill surely be claims of synergy between the products of the two airlines and a strong future ahead.
4 AIR LOGISTICSCHINA
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