MEA Cargo News
AIR INDIA TO SELL FREIGHTERS
09/30/2010
by: Air Cargo News
Air India has announced plans to sell its six freighters. The airline said the move was due to its plans to split its cargo division off into a separate subsidiary have now become remote. “We are looking at selling out our six Boeing 737-200 freighters as the plans to have a dedicated cargo business through a subsidiary are unlikely to take off now,” Air India said. The freighters were converted from passenger jets in 2007 when Air India had plans to launch a dedicated domestic cargo service. The six Boeing 737-200 freighters belongs to the erstwhile Indian Airlines and were converted into cargo planes from passengers aircraft in 2007 as the airline had plans to launch a dedicated domestic cargo service, using Nagpur as its as the hub. The airline is already selling four A310-300 freighters, aircraft that had also been converted for the cargo service at a cost of US$40 million. Air India currently has debts of nearly $4 billion.
EVERGREEN FACES US$4.9M FAA FINE
09/30/2010
by: Air Cargo News
Evergreen International Airlines, the US all-cargo airline, faces a fine of US$4.9 million, one of the largest fines the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ever brought against a cargo carrier. The FAA alleges that Evergreen did not fully train its pilots on the airline’s new flight management computers, resulting in over 230 flights being made in violation of FAA training regulations. The pilots have since been fully trained. In a statement, Evergreen’s executive vice-president, Raymond Wright, dismissed both the severity of the fine and the validity of the case, saying it should not have been brought because it represented a good-faith dispute. He added that the airline will be “challenging both the substance and the amount of the proposed penalty”. However, the FAA says the airline was “careless or reckless” in not ensuring its pilots were suitably trained. FAA’s head, Randy Babbitt, said the fine is appropriate “even though Evergreen now complies with its training programme”.
DUBAI CARGO UP A QUARTER, YEAR-TO-DATE
09/30/2010
by: Air Cargo News
DUBAI Airports reported a 21.5 per cent surge in year-on-year cargo growth in August to 198,543 tonnes compared to 163,427 tonnes during the same month in 2009. This marks Dubai’s 11th consecutive month of double-digit growth and brings the year-to-date cargo volumes up to 1,498,244 tonnes compared with 1,198,546 tonnes during the same period in 2009, an increase of 25 per cent. “Growth continues from the very strong base that was established last year,” said Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer, Dubai Airports.
