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

Resurrected Italian carrier Alitalia is re-establishing itself in the cargo market due in a large part to its 25 per cent owner, the Air France-KLM group. Alitalia’s chief executive Rocco Sabelli said Air France-KLM is considering a multi-hub strategy based on Paris Charles de Gaulle in France, Amsterdam Schiphol in Netherlands and Malpensa in Italy. Alitalia already has belly freight capacity on long-haul passenger flights from Malpensa to New York, USA, Tokyo, Japan and São … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Alitalia finding its cargo wings again

Lufthansa Cargo saw its cargo volumes continue to slide with a 19.9 per cent drop in March from a year ago to 123,000 tonnes from 154,000 tonnes in March 2008. For the first three months of the year volumes are down 23.4 per cent to 328,000 tonnes. The cargo division cut capacity by 4.7 per cent and saw an 11.4 point drop in the load factor to 57.6 per cent. But the carrier has also recently launched a weekly freighter service between Frankfurt and Hanoi, along with a weekly MD-11 flight to … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Luft Cargo sees March slide but adds routes

Air France-KLM, Europe’s largest scheduled cargo carrier, has reported a continuing fall in cargo volumes, down 19.2 per cent in March compared to a year ago and the fourth consecutive month that its cargo traffic has fallen by around 20 per cent. The drop continued apace, despite an 8.9 per cent cut in capacity, excluding Martinair, the all-cargo and charter carrier that was consolidated in January. The cargo load factor, also excluding Martinair, fell 7.8 points to 61.4 per cent. … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: AF-KLM cargo slump continues in March

Air cargo has “all but collapsed,” according to the Association of European Airlines (AEA), who said traffic volumes were down by around a fifth for the first two months of the year, the worst figures on record. Passenger traffic plunged nearly five per cent in the first two months of the year and could fall another ten per cent in March as the economic downturn continues. It said it would normally expect a four to five per cent increase in traffic “so current levels are … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Decline continues for European carriers