- Taipei became Emirates’ newest destination when flight EK366 arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, inaugurating the airline’s daily non-stop service from Dubai International Airport.
- Following Stefan Lauer’s resignation from the supervisory board of Fraport AG at the end of 2013, Lufthansa Cargo CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt was appointed as his successor. The court order was requested by Fraport AG in agreement with the the company’s majority owners, the state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt. This appointment is valid until the Fraport Annual General Meeting on May 30, when the shareholders will decide on a permanent seat for Garnadt on the supervisory board.
- Boeing and LAM – Linhas Aereas de Mocambique announced an order for three Next-Generation 737-700 airplanes. The order includes purchase rights for three additional Next-Generation 737s. The order is part of the Mozambique flag carrier and the country’s Ministry of Transport and Communication’s long-term strategy to increase flight frequency and provide greater route flexibility to and from the southern African nation.
- Aerolíneas Argentinas signed a purchase agreement for four Airbus A330-200s to renew and consolidate their wide-body fleet. Argentina’s flagship carrier will deploy the new A330 aircraft for medium- and long-haul routes from their Buenos Aires hub to destinations throughout Latin America, Europe and the U.S.
- Business Monitor, an analysis provider, revised down its construction industry forecast for Russia in 2014. With a contraction of 1.25 percent in the first nine months of 2013, Business Monitor now forecasts only moderate growth in the industry of 1.5 percent for 2014. Although it had anticipated significant growth in the industry as a result of the large investments made for the Winter Olympics, this seems to have failed to materialize. In addition, private investment has continued to weaken as a result of endemic corruption, inefficient bureaucracy and lack of investor guarantees.
- Boeing and Saudi Arabian Airlines Holding Co. signed a broad collaboration agreement allowing the companies to pursue possible partnership opportunities in the areas of defense and commercial aviation that will generate new business in Saudi Arabia.
- ST Aerospace and SF Airlines signed a contract for five 757-200SF passenger-to-freighter conversions, with an option for three more aircraft. The new 757-200SF freighters will have a 15-pallet cargo configuration. The first aircraft was inducted in ST Aerospace’s facilities at Seletar Aerospace Park in early January and is scheduled to be redelivered to SF Airlines by the end of the third quarter in 2014.
- At the request of the responsible inspection authority, Cargologic was awarded a permit from the Swiss drug registration institution, Swissmedic, to engage in wholesale trading of pharmaceutical products and to store these products on its site at Zurich Airport.
- Budapest Airport named Cargolux the best performing cargo airline as at evening of recognition it had for its airlines and business partners.
- The U-Freight Group, a Hong-Kong-headquartered international freight services company, welcomed the Chinese New Year with the appointment of Sri Lankan forwarder Care Logistics Ltd. of Colombo as the latest agency partner of its global network.
- Aeroflot, Russian national carrier, has taken delivery of its first A320 aircraft equipped with sharklets, becoming the first in Russia to have them. Sharklets are Airbus’ newly designed wingtip devices that improve the aircraft’s aerodynamics and cut the airline’s fuel burn and emissions.
- The cargo throughput of Singapore Airport Terminal Services Ltd. (SATS) was up 1.9 percent in the third quarter of FY2013-2014. For the nine months ending Dec. 31, 2013, cargo increased by 2 percent.
- CHAMP Cargosystems launched CargoUpdate, which is designed for airlines and GSAs to easily publish and disseminate operational and news announcements to the global air cargo community. This airfreight community portal is optimized for smartphones and tablets.
- Berlin’s Schönefeld and Tegel airports recorded 2,942 tonnes of airfreight in January, 31.5 percent more than in the same period in 2013.
- Vietnam’s VietJetAir finalized a major order for the A320 family. The purchase agreement covers firm orders for 42 A320neo, 14 A320ceo and 7 A321ceo, plus 30 purchase rights. In addition, the airline will lease eight more A320 family aircraft from third-party lessors.
- In January, Brussels Airlines’ cargo, measured in freight tonne kilometers, grew 30.7 percent year over year.
- FedEx Corp. announced an international expansion for its SenseAware service, which enables near real-time visibility into sensitive and high-value shipments. Customers will now be able to monitor shipments throughout an additional 14 European countries and Canada, and on board flights from three additional air carriers: Air France, Cathay Pacific and Qantas Airways. Customers in Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland can now use SenseAware.
- Miami International Airport will welcome back two international carriers in the coming months with Spanish carrier Air Europa announcing new Miami-Madrid service and French low-cost carrier XL Airways France announcing seasonal service between MIA and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. Air Europa will launch three weekly nonstop flights on June 4, using A330-200 aircraft. XL Airways France will again offer three weekly nonstop flights beginning May 25 utilizing Airbus A330-300 aircraft and will also carry cargo.