The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Venezuela arrived in Athens to perform at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus with their equipment, consisting of 49 pieces weighing 4.6 tonnes delivered by the ATR72 freighter of Farn Air Transport via Athens Airport. The shipment was handled by Goldair Handling SA.

The orchestra, founded by conductor Jose Antonio Abreu, is the fruit of El Sistema, a social programme in Venezuela for encouraging talented poor children to form their own orchestra and their success has won international acclaim. Alexis Sioris, manager of cargo development at Athens Airport, expressed pride for the cargo community’s flexibility and dedication in handling every piece of freight with care. “Our cargo team is always up to the occasion and this orchestra shipment was again handled quickly and without mishap. We wish them well on their tour.”

EUROPE & CIS: Lufthansa Cargo ready for TSA 100% rule early A full month ahead of the scheduled 1 August implementation date of the US Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) 100 per cent cargo screening requirement, Lufthansa Cargo was already screening 100 per cent of outbound cargo shipments transported on passenger aircraft at the 17 American airports it serves.

“Over the past three years, screening requirements in the US have steadily increased,” said Klaus Holler, vice president Americas at Lufthansa Cargo. “We therefore invested early on in new technologies and in staff training. By meeting the requirements well before the mandated deadline we are able to give our customers planning reliability.”