Japan Airlines joined a consortium of specialists that will test drive the use of drones for food and medicine delivery in Tokyo. Japan Airlines, with KDDI Corporation, East Japan Railway, Weathernews, Terra Drone Corporation announced the joint plan to the metropolitan government, as Tokyo sets out plans to adopt a drone delivery business model by 2022. To test the use of drones for pharma and food delivery, the project will transport medicines from Mediceo Corp.’s Tokyo warehouse to … [Read more...] about Japan Airlines joins cohorts to test Tokyo’s drone delivery project
cargo aviation
Asia’s airlines get creative to make space for cargo
Bloomberg Intelligence predicts belly capacity from passenger air fleets won’t return to pre-pandemic levels before 2022. Bloomberg says under normal circumstances, about 60 percent of global air cargo is flown in the belly hold of passenger flights. But with jets parked in deserts waiting out the pandemic, cargo volumes are down this year, whilst air freight costs have soared, with rates on the Hong Kong-North America route up 70 percent from early January. According to Qantas, the May … [Read more...] about Asia’s airlines get creative to make space for cargo
Payload Asia’s Weekly Recap
Alibaba doubles stake in YTO Express Alibaba injected 6.6 billion yuan, or $970 million, to double its stake in YTO Express, looking to boost its logistics network which relies on third-party logistics services. Alibaba has invested in major couriers from YTO’s home base of Tonglu through its logistics arm Cainiao. YTO commands a 14 percent share of China’s express delivery market, according to TechCrunch. In 2018, a Cainiao-YTO joint venture started building a digital logistics … [Read more...] about Payload Asia’s Weekly Recap
Global air cargo’s steady rally continues in August
Global air cargo was in its fourth straight month of growth in August as load factors jumped eight percentage points year on year, data from CLIVE Data Services and TAC Index showed. The whole month’s volume was down 17 percent from a year ago which was a far cry from the 41 percent decline seen in April, when demand started to rally. Air cargo volumes in the last week of August were four percent less than what were seen for the same period in 2019, putting off previous concerns of … [Read more...] about Global air cargo’s steady rally continues in August
Swissport under new owners following €1.9 billion debt-equity swap
Swissport will be under new management following a “lock-up” agreement with senior secured creditors, a press release confirmed. The deal includes a debt-for-equity swap worth €1.9 billion in existing debt, as well as a €500 million long-term debt facility and a €300 million interim facility to help the airport services provider stay afloat. Senior secured creditors, including SVP Global, Apollo Global Management, TowerBrook Capital Partners, Ares Management, Barclays Bank, Cross Ocean … [Read more...] about Swissport under new owners following €1.9 billion debt-equity swap
Amazon gets regulatory approval to test drone delivery
Amazon Prime Air, Amazon’s special service delivering packages in 30 minutes or less, has been approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to start trials of transporting orders using autonomous drones. Amazon added that while the Prime Air fleet isn’t ready to immediately deploy package deliveries at scale, it’s actively flying and testing the technology. Amazon joins Alphabet’s unit Wing and United Parcel Service to receive FAA approval for drone delivery, whilst other … [Read more...] about Amazon gets regulatory approval to test drone delivery