NEWSWEEK ACI: airfreight achieves 5 positive months


global airfreight markets resurged in the last quarter of 2013 and into 2014. The airfreight industry has seen an overall growth of 2.6 per cent in volumes for the month of February. ACI world’s economics director, Rafael Echevarne says: “While


there is some optimism in the air regarding the positive growth in the airfreight market, there are two forces at play which are pushing the pendulum in opposite directions. As North America and Europe get back on course, a cyclical slowdown in emerging markets such as China will likely translate into subdued growth in the global freight market.” The Asia Pacific region grew only modestly with respect to international freight at 1.4 per cent year-on-year. ACI says, this is consistent with the overall slowdown in the Chinese economy. The European airfreight markets posted an overall gain of 3.9 per


cent. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt Airport each posted gains of 8.7 per cent, 4.9 per cent


A


irports Council International (ACI) has released posi- tive figures for the airfreight industry in 2014, showing that the cargo figures have stayed positive for the fifth month in a row. Following three sluggish years in freight traffic growth,


Panalpina achieves lean education


Panalpina has received a Lean Competency System


(LCS) accreditation for its global training program, devel- oped in partnership with Cardiff University. Panalpina’s overall logistics strategy is to move products


quickly, not store them, to help customers reduce their in- ventory levels and increase speed to market. In order to achieve this accreditation, changes made by


Panalpina include the complete re-design of layouts and processes to increase capacity, in some cases by more than 200 per cent. Peter Hines of lean specialists SA Partners, says: “Panal- pina has developed a whole new way of working in logistics where it operates like a manufacturer and runs its facilities like factories.” The LCS accreditation created by Cardiff University’s


Lean Enterprise Research Centre, based at the Cardiff Business School means Panalpina’s in house training pro- gram is on a par with the university’s own practices. The partnership has resulted in the creation of Logistics Ex- cellence (LogEx) by Panalpina to improve profitability and to turn around operations that require assistance around the world. After the local site strategy is developed and training is given, and when delivering a successful lean improvement, employees then receive one of seven levels of certification from Cardiff Business School. Mike Wilson, Panalpina’s global head of logistics says; “incorporating lean from manufacturing into the logistics industry was a challenge but we’ve found a way.”


Ni Hao Lufthansa


LUFTHANSA CARGO’s new Boeing 777 Freighter, named Ni Hao China by the carrier, will operate daily flights to Shang- hai Pudong Airport.


The aircraft was christened Ni Hao, China upon its arrival in Shanghai, as a sign of the special ties with China. Its name means Good Day, China. Shanghai has become the first city that is served with daily flights by Lufthansa’s new triple seven for its global route network. “We are strengthening our position in China consider- ably through the use of the best freighter in class,” says Lufthansa’s Christian Haug.


Lufthansa’s freighters and passenger aircrafts fly to nine cities on the Chinese mainland, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, with cargo flights offering customers more than 2,200 tonnes of freight capacity to its European hub per week.


and 3.4 per cent, respectively. According to ACI, Hong Kong Inter- national Airport (see picture left) contracted by one per cent in


international freight volumes in February, however, the airport has seen international volumes rise by 2.2 per cent over a 12-month period. Shanghai Pudong International Airport has also experi- enced modest growth at 1.4 per cent over the same period.


ICAO studies tracking


INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION (ICAO) has announced that on 12 to 13 May its experts will meet to discuss the global tracking of airline flights.


ICAO has recently established new guidance on underwater locator beacons which will come into force in 2018, in addition, its flight recorder panel is reviewing new means of expediting the location of accident sites. The meeting has been prompt- ed partly because of the continuing search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370. ICAO president, Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu says: “The unprecedented and unusual circumstances of flight MH 370 have been particularly difficult for civil avi- ation officials to resolve to this point, and the lack of definitive answers has been much harder still for the victims’ families to come to terms with. They, above all, will benefit from a fuller explanation of this accident.” Aliu added that, no matter how safe or secure an air transport network, “no solution is ever a reason to stop seeking further improvement.”


ACW14 APRIL 2014


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