NewsWeek Expeditors: more of the same


UNITED CONTINENTAL flew 200.6 million cargo ton- miles in July, down by 6.2 percent on the same month of 2011. The January - July figure of 1.5 billion cargo ton-miles represented a fall of 7.6 percent year-on-year.


GAC SRI LANKA has moved into new, bigger premises at Galle and Trincomalee. The new office at Galle is said by GAC to have reduced the transfer time between the town’s port and Colombo International airport by more than three hours.


THE EUROPEAN Commission said it had "temporarily sus- pended" its investigations into UPS's bid to buy TNT Express, saying it was seeking more information. The move puts further doubt on whether the deal can be completed by the two com- panies’ hoped-for date of late 2012.


KUALA LUMPUR-BASED AirAsia X (the long-haul arm of low-cost carrier AirAsia) has signed a letter of intent with Los Angeles-headquartered International Lease Finance Corpora- tion for the lease of six A330-300 aircraft, to be delivered between 2013 and 2014 on a 10-year lease term. On 8 August, the carrier announced that the contribution of cargo to its total revenue had risen from 4.1 percent in 2010 to 5.1 percent in 2011. The airline said that this was a remarkable achievement for a low-cost carrier.


FINNAIR Group’s cargo and mail traffic rose 8.0 percent in the second quarter of 2012 compared with 2011, to 34,119 tonnes. Traffic for the first half of 2012 was up 8 per- cent, to 74,746 tonnes.


US-BASED Expeditors Inter- national saw second-quarter results fell year-on-year - net revenues were down 4 percent at US$453,651. In the three months to 30


June, operating income slipped 13 percent to $132.4 million and, in the first half of 2012, net revenues were down 3 percent; operating income dropped by 14 percent. Peter Rose, chairman and


CEO, said: “The trends in our 2012 first quarter continued into the second. That said, we saw volume growth in all areas with the exception of air freight, despite a very challeng- ing and uncertain economy.” Rose said air cargo tonnage


is down due to smaller ship- ments and reduced demand.


Rose: “very healthy” He went on: “While our


operating margin hovers below the mark we’ve enjoyed the last two years, it still remains very healthy from a competitive and a historical perspective.”


New CNS outreach event


CARGO NETWORK Services (CNS) is organising its second "Need to Know" conference in Miami, Florida on September 25, 2012. Need to Know is an outreach programme to keep the logis- tics industry abreast of the latest developments in the field of air cargo. The one day event next month will focus on financial strategies


for the logistics sector, and will bring together leading aviation and finance experts to deliver the most up to date analysis and strate- gies for financial success. For more information on this event, visit www.cnsc.net/events/Pages/financial-strategies.aspx


The air freight industry’s first and only television chan- nel, produced by ACWpublishers The A-Z Group and found at www.aircargoTV.com, leads this week with the Asian Development Bank forecasting a an environ- mentally challenging future for Asian cities – a direct result of urban population growth. Changyonh Rhee, the bank’s chief economist, says that


the challenge is to develop green technology hand in hand with urbanisation - otherwise town dwellers could face a bleak future. Turning to the industry itself, American Airlines’ plans


to extricate itself from bakruptcy could be stymied by a budget crisis at the Federal Aviation Administration. Cuts at the FAA could cost 132,000 aviation jobs and eliminate two billion pounds of freight capacity from the country’s air network. Meanwhile, Brussels is contemplating reducing the


number of carbon credits in its controversial emissions trading scheme in a bid to raise prices. But the Associa- tion of European Airlines complains this will heap yet more pressure on carriers, already facing huge losses. Finally, FedEx is offering voluntary redundancy pack-


ages to its employees in response to the debt crisis and slower growth in Asia.


20 August 2012


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