Volga-Dnepr operated its first modified IL-76 flight, carrying an emergency shipment of 10 metre pipes from the Australian airfield of Townsville, bound for Noumea in New Caledonia. The charter required a 72 hours response time over the course of a weekend and called for the use of a carrier with a self-loading, ramp freighter that was also able to meet the strict Australian civil aviation regulations, Volga-Dnepr said. Unlike older versions of the IL-76, the modernised IL-76TD-90VD … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Volga-Dnepr’s modified IL-76 gets first job

Global Airline Services group became GSA for Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) in Belgium from 1 April when the Japanese pecialist freighter operator began operating six B747-400F flights from Amsterdam to Narita with alternating stops at Milan and Frankfurt. … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: NCA appoints Global in Belgium

The average aircraft utilisation for the world’s commercial fleet is expected to drop by four per cent this year over 2008, according to the latest Commercial Aircraft Fleets and Utilisation Forecast from OAG. This compares with a typical annual growth in utilisation of around 3-3.5 per cent. The forecast is based on the global MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) service demand projection for the next decade, developed in partnership with AeroStrategy. The forecast includes the … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Aircraft utilisation won’t recover until 2011

Lufthansa Cargo has announced it is offering seven new destinations in Africa in cooperation with the Kenyan cargo carrier Astral Aviation. Under the accord with the Kenyan airline, Lufthansa Cargo MD11 freighters will fly cargo to Nairobi from where it will be distributed to five other African states on freighters operated by Astral Aviation. These five destinations include: Bujumbura (BJM) in Burundi; Dar Es Salaam (DAR) in Tanzania; Mwanza (MWZ) in Tanzania; Juba (JUB) in Sudan; and … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Lufthansa Cargo expands Africa services

European Union transport ministers have backed an ‘open skies’ aviation pact with Canada that will deregulate cargo and passenger services across the Atlantic, from 6 May this year. The accord will allow European and Canadian carriers to fly between any airport in the 27 nation EU and any Canadian airport and includes a provision for cargo carriers to fly onward to third countries from both the EU and Canada. The agreement also lowers barriers to foreign investment in Canadian … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Green light for EU-Canada open skies