CARGO SHORTS PEOPLE
Warwick Brady appointed
President & CEO Swissport International
AG. Brady is currently
the CEO of Esken Limited,
formerly Stobart Group,
a British infrastructure, aviation
and energy company
Michael White-Former
IATA US cargo unit CNS President
appointed to the Board of
PayCargo.
Pete Buttgieg is now Secretary
of Transportation replacing
Elaine Chao, wife of Mitch
McConnell
Cargo crew
quarantine
Hong Kong will begin all
crew quarantines beginning
February 20. Crew will be
mandated a 14 day stay in a
government hotel. This will
greatly impact cargo shipments
to Hong Kong until the
threat of Covid spreading lessens.
HNA Bankruptcy
The HNA airlines-to-insurance
conglomerate said it had
received a court notice that
creditors had filed a petition
for its bankruptcy and reorganization,
stating that HNA
couldn’t “pay off the debts
due and obviously lacked solvency,
but still had reorganization
value.”
Before this filing, it had
shed $10 billion of assets to
streamline the company. Its
other asses, Swissport managed
a debt-for-equity swap
with U.S. and U.L creditors
last year. The Chinese conglomerate
transferred ownership
to the financial investors
saying, “will share in the
value creation of Swissport
post-restructuring contingent
on a future exit valuation.” It
has $200 billion of debts it cannot
pay off, HNA is reported
to own more than 2300 companies
with 500 possibly tied into
the bankruptcy. It is reported
that China will take over the
HNA group and sell off its airline
assets to the country’s
other airlines, to the country’s
three biggest carriers — Air
China, China Southern Airlines
and China Eastern Airlines
Corp,
Cargo Stimulus
The U. S. Treasury Department
distributed $15 billion
in new “payroll support
program” PSP assistance to
airlines, money allocated by
Congress to help more than
32,000 aviation workers return
to jobs through at least March
31. $1 billion has been funded
to Airline contractors — defined
AIRPORT V 34 OICE, FEBRUARY 2021
broadly as persons contracting
with Part 121 air carriers
for catering, aircraft
loading/unloading, security,
ground handling, and other
assistive functions — will
receive an additional $1 billion
in support in aggregate.
All funds must be used exclusively
for the continuation of
payment of employee wages,
salaries, and benefits.
dnata DG
AutoCheck
dnats has become the first
global air services provider
to adopt the International
Air Transport Association’s
(IATA) Dangerous Goods AutoCheck
(DG AutoCheck) platform
for the acceptance of
dangerous goods shipments.
IATA’s innovative solution
will help dnata further enhance
safety and improve
efficiency in the handling
of dangerous goods at over
20 airports globally.
WFS
Worldwide Flight Services
(WFS) has opened a new
250,000-tonne capacity cargo
terminal at Brussels Airport
expanding its current 11,000sf
to 25,000sf of warehouse and
offices. The added warehouse
space will include a perishables
facility and a European
Union Border, a perishables
handling facility, a European
Union Border Inspection Post
and pharma zone anticipated
to be IATA CEIV Pharma and
GDP-certified in 2021 Cargo-
Jet Ontario-based all-cargo
carrier Cargojet (TSX: CJT)
announced Monday it raised
$268 million through a stock
offer to fund an aggressive
fleet expansion. The company
is investing in more aircraft
and buildings to take advantage
of a dramatic increase in
domestic e-commerce activity
and strong demand for international
air cargo service
spurred by the coronavirus
pandemic, which has altered
consumption and inventory
patterns.Cargojet said it intends
to use a large portion of
the proceeds from the equity
sale to pay for the acquisition
of five Boeing 767 passengerto
freighter conversion aircraft,
to be delivered through
2023, as well as new hangar
and other ground infrastructure.
The money raised will also
help fund the purchase of two
long-range Boeing 777 converted
freighter aircraft for
delivery in late 2023 and 2024.
The carrier said it estimates
the cost of each 777 at about
$57.4 million. Cargojet said
it will use about $68 million
of the proceeds to pay off aircraft
loans and retire the outstanding
balance on its credit
facility.
FAKE PPE
Among the products seized
by U.S. customs officials
were over 12.7 million counterfeit
masks, 177,356 COVID‑19
test kits prohibited
by the U. S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), and
38,098 FDA-prohibited chloroquine
tablets. Just last week,
the Queens DA announced
1.7 million counterfeit 3M
N95 respirator masks were
seized from a Long Island
City
warehouse before they
could be distributed to the
public. In December last year,
customs officials in Cincinnati
seized 10,080 counterfeit
surgical masks, which were
labeled “3M Mask Model
1860,” in a shipment originating
from China, according
to a press release. The
boxes containing the masks
were fraudulently labeled as
“Made in the USA.”
People to cargo
conversions
787, 737’s and A321 aircraft
are being converted from passenger
to cargo aircraft. Kenys
is the first to convert a
Dreamliner 787 into cargo
calling the configuration a
“Preighter”, certified to carry
up to 16 tons of cargo in the
cabin. Boeing has converted
over 100 737–800, and Aeronautical
Engineering Inc. will
be converting 777–800 aircraft
into freighters for lessor of
aircraft, Aero designated for
Ethopian Cargo over the past
year, may passenger designed
737–800’s have been converted
to a cargo configuration. The
Airbus A321 has seen conversions
to cargo as well. The
pandemic crearted a market
for these 737’s to be used
for cargo since airlines were
forced to maintain slots as
well as keep the plane flying
when passenger count was
down. Now, many use the entire
plane for cargo in what is
called cargo-in-cabin flights
carrying the increased need
for medical supplies, PPE
and related healthcare products..
/patterns.Ca