Lufthansa and Boeing celebrated 50 years of their relationship last month. The carrier ordered its first Boeing aircraft — the B707 on 30 January 1960. The airline also bought the 727 in February 1961, and in February 1965 the airline’s board authorised the purchase of 21 737s. The relationship continued with deals for the 747 and later, through Condor for the 757 and through the AeroLogic joint venture also for the 777 freighter. Lufthansa is the launch customer for the … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Lufthansa, Boeing celebrate 50 years together

Chapman Freeborn Airchartering has won business for a series of aircraft charters to New Orleans, USA, carrying equipment needed to deal with the leak from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The global aircraft charter specialist has arranged flights departing from Europe and the Far East in response to the spill with the company’s UK office coordinating an initial cargo charter using a B747- 400F aircraft to transport around 60 tonnes of technical oil spill … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Chapman Freeborn moves equipment to Gulf

Air France-KLM reported a 15.9 per cent slump in traffic in April due to airport closures imposed by the volcanic ash from Iceland that engulfed much of Europe. Operations were almost completely suspended 16-19 April following the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul volcano. The airline group said the affect on cargo traffic was minimal, with a drop of just 2 per cent in April, since most goods were stocked until flights resumed. Despite putting on additional flights in a bid to … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Air France reports volcano-linked slump

The Chapman Freeborn Group has combined its 24-hour ACMI division and its former operations subsidiary, Paragon Global Flight Support, to form one new company which will assist with passenger and cargo flight operations worldwide. The new company, named Wings 24 Ltd, will act as a comprehensive resource for airlines seeking fast, reliable ACMI sub-charter and outsourced flight support, including permits and aircraft fuelling services, the group said in a statement. One of Wings 24’s … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Chapman Freeborn launches Wings 24

Members and associates of the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) reported over 3,800 cargo crimes in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in 2009, costing manufacturers and logistics service providers losses of €120 million. In response to this, TAPA organised a special 24-hour conference to address the subject of ‘Freight Security in Practice’ in which over 200 security and transport specialists met to discuss increasing their joint efforts to combat … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: TAPA organises conference to address cargo crime

Lufthansa Cargo saw its freight traffic grow by 13.8 per cent in April from a its Frankfurt hub. The near halving of the growth rate from the 26.4 percent year-on-year increase in March partly reflected the closure of north European airspace when a cloud of ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano drifted across the continent. The German carrier handled 129,000 tonnes of cargo compared with 113,000 tonnes in April 2009, taking volume for the first four months to 520,000 tonnes compared to … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Lufthansa Cargo boosts volume 13.8%