Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, offered a bleak assessment recently that the worst of the recession was still ahead for the global airline industry. Walsh said BA had planned “on the assumption of a 24-month downturn, and we have seen nothing yet to persuadeus we are over-pessimisticâ€Â. “Though some of the financial markets may be looking better, I believe that for airlines, the worst of this recession is still ahead of us.†He added that a … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: BA chief warns worst of recession still ahead
Carriers
EUROPE & CIS: Cargolux Italia begins HK services
Cargolux Italia has launched its first flights after getting approval to start operations from the Italian civil aviation authority and will initially operate one B747-400 freighter, on a twice-weekly Hong Kong and Milan service. It will also call at Dubai eastbound and Baku westbound. It has appointed parent company Cargolux Airlines International as its worldwide general sales and services agent and Hactl as its handling agent in Hong Kong. … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Cargolux Italia begins HK services
EUROPE & CIS: Major Euro carriers report cargo leveling
Nearly a six-month long plunge in cargo traffic has leveled out in May for major European carriers, giving hope to earlier sentiments that the global economic contagion will not get any worse. Lufthansa Cargo, Europe’s second largest scheduled cargo airline, carried 125,000 tonnes of freight in May, a 9.1 per cent decline from the same period a year ago that left traffic in the first five months of 2009 down 21.4 per cent at 566,000 tonnes. The May decline is a marked … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Major Euro carriers report cargo leveling
AUSTRALIA & NZ: ATSG airlines launch services for Qantas & DHL
Air Transport Services Group, Inc. announced it has commenced a new wide-body freighter service for Qantas Freight between Australia and New Zealand, and for DHL between Europe and Africa. ATSG said its subsidiary Air Transport International (ATI) is scheduled to begin providing wide-body ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) service for Qantas Freight between Australia and New Zealand under a twoyear agreement starting 15 June. ATI’s Boeing 767-200-SF will allow … [Read more...] about AUSTRALIA & NZ: ATSG airlines launch services for Qantas & DHL
NCA stalls fleet expansion, losses until 2011
Japan's Nippon Cargo Airlines - a subsidiary of Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), the nation's largest shipping firm - has announced a stalling of its fleet expansion plan over the next three years to weather "unprecedented" economic turbulence. Japan's second-largest international air cargo carrier after Japan Airlines, currently operates eight Boeing 747-400Fs and had originally planned to increase the number of aircraft under its own operation to 24 by the end of 2013. But NCA will … [Read more...] about NCA stalls fleet expansion, losses until 2011
DHL and Lufthansa launch new cargo carrier
In a bold but largely unvoidable move, a new cargo airline has taken flight in what is arguably the harshest air cargo environment in the history of air cargo. AeroLogic, the new child of global heavyweights DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo officially started operations out of its Leipzig, Germany hub Friday after two years of extensive planning. The all-cargo carrier is a unique joint venture that sees the capacity of what will ultimately be an eight-plane fleet of 102-tonne B777 freighters … [Read more...] about DHL and Lufthansa launch new cargo carrier