According to Jettainer managing director, Alexander Plümacher, intense cost pressures last year made Jettainer’s selling point of flexibility, visibility and cost savings, very attractiveto air cargo carriers.

“While the advantages of outsourced ULD management today are no way different from those in the past, it is obvious that airlines are looking more closely into cost cutting these days. That way, we can assume that the downturn had a positive effect on our business,” he says. Plümacher expects the trend of ULD management outsourcing to continue as this enables the airlines to turn fixed cost into variable cost.

Asked about some of the major trends taking place in the ULD leasing industry, Plümacher says cost pressure will continue to be a major factor in outsourcing decisions. “Furthermore, the trend goes towards increased visualisation of KPIs and transparency, which Jettainer can now provide throughthe new management cockpit,” he says.

Regarding product trends, intelligent tracking technology is a major factor that the industry is looking at and the focus is on RFID and GPS solutions, Plümacher says. “In the lightweight sector, the lightweight pallet is a major challenge that has to be met. Quite a number of projects are in the pipeline and will be released at a later stage.”

During 2009, Jettainer conducted extensive testing of composite containers by different manufacturers in the market. The tests comprised in flight testing of AKEs together with Lufthansa Cargo, in which 120,000 flight movements were analysed, as well as material testing with the “Sueddeutsches Kunststoffzentrum Wuerzburg”, a renowned German composite testing institute, which tested the materials after the influence of UV radiation, extreme temperatures and salt water.

“The test results were very convincing and operation-wise the composite ULDs are as resilient as aluminium unitsand the material is a lot more damage resistant,” Plümacher says.

“We are now offering lightweight products to our customers, to whom the benefits are very obvious. Fuel savings – and therefore cost savings – start with the first container in use and are very significant if you look at the entire airline fleets. In addition to that, the “green factor” is of high interest to our customers – savings in CO2 emission are extremely important these days and can be immediately achieved by using lightweight ULDs,” he says.