Specials - ITJ | Transport Journal

22 Aviation International Transport Journal 35-36 2013In briefReturn. Air India returned to Australia 16years after it suspended links to the fifthcontinent. The Indian flag carrier planned toresume a service from New Delhi via Sydneyto Melbourne and back four times a weekon 29 August. A thrice-weekly link connectingthe two Australian cities to the Indiancapital in the opposite order was due tostart the following day. Boeing B787s will bedeployed on the routes. www.airindia.comSecond – part I. Japan Airlines (JAL) is setto become the second operator after Air Indiato fly Dreamliners to and from Australia.It is planning to start a Tokyo Narita–Sydneylink on 1 December, with a JAL B787 serviceto Bangkok (Thailand) beginning on the followingday. www.cargo.jal.co.jpSweet and sour. The budget carrier AirAsiaJapan is being rebranded Vanilla Air, itwas announced in Tokyo this week. AirAsiaJapan was the result of a merger last Octoberbetween Malaysia’s AirAsia and Japan’sAll Nippon Airways (ANA). The cooperationfell apart in June, however, and the formerJV went fully to ANA. The new brand is setto take off in December. AirAsia also offersbelly-hold capacities on its Airbus A330-300s (10 t) and A320-200s (2.5 t).www.ana.co.jpSecond – part II. Cathay Pacific recentlyannounced the start of a full-freighter connectionlinking Hong Kong and Guadalajara(see also ITJ 31-34/2013, page 31). Before itcould start, however, the second-largest cityin Mexico saw the landing of an aeroplaneflying the same route on 21 August, butoperated by another Asian airline – namelyKorean Air Cargo. The latter’s offering seesa Boeing B747-400F heading for the CentralAmerican country twice a week, with astopover in Dallas TX (USA) on the schedule.cargo.koreanair.comFirst. 341,000t of airfreight were handledat the world’s leading cargo hub Hong Kongin July, 1.9% more than in July 2012. The increasewas partially owed to a 5% increasein export volumes, driven by success to andfrom North America, amongst other places.www.hongkongairport.comRe-opened. Jomo Kenyatta airport in theKenyan capital Nairobi, large parts of whichwere destroyed by fire on 7 August, wasonce again operating at 100% capacity from19 August, with services having successivelybeen reinstated. www.kaa.go.keHere’s looking through you, boxesLinz has improved airport security by investing substantially in a new freight scanner.A new large scanner that carries out securitychecks on airfreight consignmentsentered full operations in the cargo divisionof Linz airport (Austria) recently.The new piece of equipment can carryout security checks on pallets and cargounits up to 1.7 m high, 10 m long andweighing up to 2 t. Modern technologyenables staff to inspect cargo from variouspoints of view in a single process.Short processing times and the concomitantoptimisation of handling proceduresare the substantial advantagesthat the new equipment offers. DietmarSchram, the head of freight activities atthe airport, told the media that «flexibilityand rapid processing are important forour customers, and it is precisely thesequalities that we offer them, thanks to thenew scanner. It augments our two existingscanners perfectly and puts us in a positionto carry out the necessary securitychecks even more efficiently than waspreviously the case. This not only savestime, but also quite a bit of money.»The centre’s operator will also offer itssecurity services to external customerswho do not have any facilities of theirown – as is foreseen in the framework ofnew legal regulations concerning securitychecks on airfreight consignments. Thisoption is already used by clients, as is confirmedby Christian Hangl, DHL GlobalForwarding Austria’s head of airfreight inLinz.«Linz airport has lived up to its reputationfor professionalism. There have beenno delays in handling at the airport orhurdles to the collaboration with airlinesin Linz from the first day that the newordinance – which resulted in a screeningprocess for so-called unknown shippers –entered into force,» Hangl said.www.linz-airport.comBerlin airport opens ... a new cargo centreAn aeroplane flying for UPS and ownedby the Basel-based Swiss freighter operatorFarnair, a logistics and expressspecialist, transported the first cargo toGermany’s Berlin Brandenburg airporton 1 August. The ATR 72F took offfrom Cologne/Bonn airport and landedon time in Berlin early in the morning.The hub’s cargo centre, which had beeninaugurated four weeks previously, canhandle around 100,000t of freight annually.It also has a separate direct accessto the apron. Besides UPS and FedEx,airlines that carry belly-hold cargo willbe the first users of the facility. The firsttenants in the complex, which is operatedby the company Air Cargo CenterBerlin, include Air Logistics (the freightsales department of Qatar Airways) thefreight forwarder Müller & Partner andthe freight handler Wisag Cargo Service.Excellent freight volume growth in Berlincontinues. The Tegel and Schönefeldhubs registered an 8.7% improvement inJuly in comparison with the like-for-likemonth last year, bringing the figure to3,133t. The date for the opening of thenew airport – in phases or all at once – isstill shrouded in mystery, however. ahwww.berlin-airport.dePhoto: Linz airport