Greener environment at John Glenn Columbus

John Glenn Columbus International airport is benefitting from a program that eliminates the need for fuel-powered equipment at its gates.

Thanks to a US$2.7m VALE grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, delivered late last year, the Columbus Regional Airport Authority has installed pre-conditioned air units at 11 airbridges, in addition to upgrading 13 existing ground power units. Whilst a number of gates had incorporated emissions reduction technology prior to the VALE program, currently all the gates are so equipped.

The change has meant the removal of heating and cooling generators on the ground that burned fuel to keep aircraft systems operational while the aircraft was parked. Work on the project commenced in November 2015 and was completed this month. In all, the new units should result in a total emissions reduction of some 207 tonnes of carbon monoxide over a period of 20 years.

US cargo tractors destined for Africa

Swahili Aviation Aerospace, acting on behalf of NMC Wollard, recently completed the sale of four model 60 cargo tractors of 3,000-6,000 pounds drawbar pull to McEnso in Accra, Ghana. The actual contract was with the Defence Force of Ghana.

Record Cargo from Heathrow for American Airlines

American Airlines Cargo carried over 260,000 kilograms of freight and mail from London Heathrow in a single day, setting a new daily record for the station.

The previous record for the London team, set in October 2015, stood at 256,668 kilograms from the facility. On the same day, American also achieved a 99% passenger load factor.

Major destinations from LHR include Chicago O’Hare, New York JFK, Miami International, Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles – all major transit hubs. An impressive 88.2% of all available cargo positions were loaded.

“There was high demand for space from all the origins which support our LHR flights, as well as general cargo from across the UK,” said American’s Managing Director of Cargo Sales – Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Tristan Koch. “Our Operations teams did an exemplary job in rising to the challenge, highlighting the great collaboration between the ramp and Cargo departments.”

All shipments were moved successfully from London’s Heathrow airport and the high demand continues.

UPS expands to 64 destinations worldwide

UPS Worldwide Express Freight is expanding its service to nine new countries: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Malta, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.

Over the last year, UPS also added eight other countries, taking its global footprint to a total of 64 destination and 66 origin countries.

“Companies in the healthcare, retail and automotive industries have grown their international volume, 18, 11 and five times more, respectively, using UPS Worldwide Express Freight service than their peers over the last three years,” said Bill Seward, president of US International Exports for UPS.

UPS’ shopping data demonstrated a growth in Mexico-to-US trade, from the fifth-most used lane in 2013 to the second most used lane in 2015. First place was taken by the China-to-US lane. The carrier noted that, “this progression is likely due to a growth in manufacturing in Mexico, increases in e-commerce and the rise in intermodal cross-border shipments between the countries.”

Earlier this year, UPS remarked that it had strengthened its US-Mexico cross-border trade services to support the growth observed within that trade lane.