American Airlines and American Eagle Resume Service to Haiti
Although Haiti is only in its infancy recovery stages from the January 12 earthquake that devastated its capital, one small but significant sign of progress is the resumption of American Airlines flights to Port-au-Prince.
On Friday, February 19, AA operated its first commercial flight from Miami to Port-Au-Prince. The carrier will operate three daily nonstop flights from Florida - two from Miami and one from Fort Lauderdale. American Airlines will also offer one flight a day, four days a week from New York's JFK airport.
Beginning on March 12, American's sister regional carrier, American Eagle, will begin nonstop service once a day from San Juan, PR, and two flights from Santo Domingo and Santiago in neighboring Dominican Republic.
Ralph Latortue, the consul general of Haiti in Florida, commended the two airlines for being not only the first passenger carriers to return to Haiti, but also the first commercial airlines to respond to the disaster by bringing relief supplies to the island.
Since the catastrophic earthquake struck on January 12, American Airlines and American Eagle have made a total of 30 relief flights, transporting relief workers, medical personnel and more than 400,000 pounds of humanitarian aid to Port-Au-Prince.
Source: AP 2/19/10 - Air Cargo World 2/19/10
Airfreight forecasting from different angles
Perusing the pages of recent trade publications and taking a closer look at the current global air cargo economic condition, it becomes apparent that our industry has some reason for hopeful optimism.
The Journal of Commerce pointed out that year-over-year volumes increased more than 24% in December and IATA indicated that further growth is likely in the months ahead. IATA cautioned that the December spike was exaggerated by the exceptionally weak December 2008 volume, which was the low point of the economic downturn.
Although cargo demand is still 9% lower than in the peak of early 2008, there are still more positive signs - New York's JFK International Airport reported a 0.2% year-over-year gain in freight tonnage in November, the first increase the airport has seen in 30 months.
Source: Journal of Commerce, 2/15/10
Another positive indicator of an upward trend is a recent report from Airbus. The manufacturer's latest forecast says cargo traffic will increase 6.3% per year throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This compares with a global forecast average of 5.2%. It is expected that this region will continue to dominate the global airfreight market with airlines growing their all-cargo fleets five times to 1,500 aircraft by 2030.
John Leahy, Airbus COO - Customers, says that by 2030 the Asia-Pacific region will be the world's largest air transport market with airlines carrying around 40% of all air freight. According to Leahy, in order to meet this demand, larger aircraft will be needed to ease congestion and do more with less. He further states this will see airlines from the region account for more than 50% of the demand of very large aircraft, such as the A380. Leahy cites that 66 Asia-Pacific airlines currently operate 1,430 Airbus with another 1,120 on order. This represents 32% of the company's total order backlog.
Source: Air Cargo World, 2/9/10
Boeing now has 76 orders for the freighter version of the delayed 747-8 passenger aircraft from Cargolux, Nippon Cargo Airlines, AirBridge Cargo Airlines, Atlas Air, Cathay Pacific, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, Emirates SkyCargo, Guggenheim and Korean Air.
Boeing's current forecast also suggests the world's freight fleet will nearly double to 3,892 units by 2027. As with Airbus, Boeing predicts that the orders will be for large aircraft.
Source: Air Cargo World, 2/9/10
"It looks like this recession is finally over," says Scott Davis, chairman and chief executive of UPS. Davis has signaled that an economic recovery is under way, as the package-handling giant reported a strong fourth-quarter profit and predicted shipping-volume gains and higher pricing this year.
UPS and other major transportation companies are expressing guarded optimism about the economy for 2010, a trend that analysts say could lead to price increases for consumers as firms try to make up for offering deep discounts during the recession. Because of their roles in enabling commerce, freight-handlers such as UPS and rival FedEx are among the first to feel the effects of a slump or recovery.
Source: CargoNews Asia, 2/5/10
OAG, the data information company, says global frequencies increased 4% in February compared to the same month a year earlier.
The only regional decline was experienced within North America where frequency and capacity dropped 1% and 2% respectively. Overall, flights to and from Europe increased 6% and 5% to and from Asia.
Mario Hardy, OAG VP Asia Pacific, said, "It is fascinating how much the movement in flight frequency and capacity seems to reflect the regional economic situation. Asia's economy, except Japan, is gradually and carefully recovering and so are parts of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. North America and Japan appear to have difficulty and are struggling to come out of this recession."
An OAG hub analysis shows Sao Paulo and Bogota added capacity of 24% and 17% respectively in February. For that same period in the Middle East, Abu Dhabi increased flights by 24% but in contrast, the data information company noted that Paris Charles De Gaulle and London Heathrow both had declines in operations and capacity.
Source: Air Cargo World, 2/12/10
NEW REGULATIONS
Dominican Republic - Electronic Customs Entries
In order to expedite the clearing process, Dominican Customs has implemented a new electronic system for entries. Effective January 20, 2010, the system is known as Sistema Integrado Gestion Aduanera, or SIGA. In short, any consignment arriving at a Dominican port or airport without the required information as listed below will be subject to a fine. A figure of USD $300.00 has been mentioned; however, that amount may vary.
The information requirements for the HB/L or HAWB are as follows:
- Complete information of the consignee showing name of the company or person and complete address, including country and phone number
- RNC Number (Registro Nacional del Contribuyente). The taxpayer identification number for Dominican companies to be used for commercial shipments.
OR
- Personal ID (Cedula de Identificacion Personal). The taxpayer identification number for Dominican individuals to be used in the case of personal effects shipments.
The MB/L or MAWB should be consigned to the agent and the agent's RNC Number should appear on that document. It is strongly suggested that the required numbers be obtained prior to making your bookings in order to avoid shipping delays.
Brazil - Commercial Invoice & Packing List
According to Brazilian Customs Rules, the Commercial Invoice (with number and date) must provide the following information:
- Complete name and address of exporter;
- Complete name and address of importer;
- Description of goods in Portuguese or official language of GATT (General Agreement for Trade and Tariff). Or, if in another language, Brazilian Customs will make the judgment as to how the goods are classified;
- Marks, numbers and, package reference numbers, if there are any;
- Quantity and type of packages;
- Gross weight of packages - defined as commodities with all their wrappers and packaging material;
- Net weight - defined as goods free of any wrappers or packages;
- Country of origin - defined as the place where the commodities were produced or the last place where any commodity modifications occurred;
- Country of acquisition - defined as country where the commodities were acquired to be exported to Brazil; independent of country or origin of goods or their components;
- Country of source - defined as the country where the commodities were when they were acquired;
- Unit value and total value of each different commodity;
- Freight value and other costs;
- Payment terms and currency;
- Incoterm
The Packing List must provide the following information:
- Name and complete address of the exporter;
- Name and complete address of the importer;
- Number as per Commercial Invoice;
- Issuance date;
- Quantity of volumes;
- Numeration of the volumes;
- Indication of the content of each volume, being able to be only the code of the product;
- Net weight and gross weight;
- Signature and identification of the responsible person for the issuance of the document.
UP, UP, AND AWAY - AIRLINE UPDATES
Chapman Freeborn has successfully completed an Antonov 225 charter to transport four giant pieces of oil and gas equipment totaling almost 150 tons from Houston to Sao Paulo.
According to the company, it was the first time the aircraft had been used in South America. The equipment will form part of a Petrobras oil refinery project in Paulinia, about 90 minutes drive north of San Paulo. The Soviet-built AN-225 first flew on Dec 21, 1988. The aircraft is the only on of its kind and has a
maximum payload of 250,000 kgs (550,000 lbs).
Source: Air Cargo World, 2/19/10
The merger of Aeroflot with six domestic carriers which were recently rescued from bankruptcy has been approved by the Russian government. This approval will give the state-controlled carrier a 30% - 35% share of the domestic market, up from 15% currently.
Source: Cargonews Asia, 2/5/10
Philippine Airlines' revenue for April-December 2009 declined 15% to $1.08 billion. Passenger and cargo revenue, PAL's main source of income, declined 25% and 14% to $805 million and $73.5 million, respectively. Total expenses declined 30% to $1.10 billion from $1.56 billion due mainly to lower fuel prices.
Source: Cargonews Asia, 2/22/10
AIRPORT UPDATES
Budapest's Ferihegy Airport provided free services for a B737-300 aircraft in order to transfer 13 lions which were rescued from an overcrowded Romanian zoo near Oradea to spacious surroundings at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, U.K.
The kings of the jungle were flown in the passenger aircraft which was specially equipped with special nets and a reinforced cabin door to protect the crew in case any of the distinguished passengers decided to take a stroll during the flight. Thanks to the efforts of UK animal rights activists, the lions spent late evening in relative calm at the Hungarian national carrier Malev's cargo facilities and early next morning their cages were loaded on special pallets ready for boarding.
Source: Air Cargo World, 2/19/10
The future of Ireland's Shannon Airport can only be secured by establishing an international cargo hub as passenger numbers continue to decline, according to Vincent Cunnane, chief executive of Shannon development.
Welcoming an apparent commitment by Lynx Global, part of Centurion Cargo Group, to develop such a facility, Cunnane said the airport could no longer survive on passengers alone. The recent decline in the Irish economy has exacerbated the problem. The proposed project could help regenerate western Ireland but needed €7 million of investment support from the Irish government, Cunnane said. It is unclear as yet whether this funding will be forthcoming.
Source: Air Cargo World, 2/19/10
It has been reported by Reuters that Abu Dhabi's wealth fund is scheduled to buy a 15% stake in London's Gatwick Airport for USD $198.4 million as the airport's new owner aims to bring in additional investors. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority's planned investment in London's second-biggest airport comes two days after South Korea's National Pension Service said it planned to buy a 12% stake in Gatwick for about US$157.4 million.
Source: Cargonews Asia, 2/5/10
Airport operator Fraport is investing about US$9.5 billion in expansion and modernization of Frankfurt Airport by 2015. Airlines have agreed to pay more for runway use in Frankfurt. By paying an additional 2.9% per year from 2012 until 2015, the carriers will help finance the multi-billion Euro expansion of Germany's biggest airport. Fraport expects some 88 million passengers to come through Frankfurt every year by 2020, compared with just over 50 million currently.
Source: Cargonews Asia, 2/22/10
PREPARING FOR TAKEOFF: A THOUGHT TO PONDER
The Wright Brothers created the single greatest cultural force since
the invention of writing. The airplane became the first World Wide Web,
bringing people, languages, ideas and values together.
- Bill Gates, CEO, Microsoft Corporation
If you have any questions or comments regarding the Air eNewsletter,
please contact Kathleen Lally from the AIT International Air Department. |
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