Tag: Air Transport

FedEx says landing rules cut its efficiency

Posted by | Apr 24, 2007 | |

New FAA landing rules imposed at Memphis International Airport last week reduce FedEx Express’ efficiency by more than 20 percent some days, quickly affecting its ability to deliver on its famous promise, the company says.

FedEx, surprised that the decision happened without warning, wrote a letter to Federal Aviation Administration administrator Marion Blakely last week, taking the agency to task for proceeding “without a formal review” and saying the impact “to our ‘absolutely, positively overnight’ service cannot be understated.”

The letter, signed by James Parker, senior vice president of air operations, says FedEx’s daytime landing efficiency will drop from 88 landings an hour to 68 landings when winds are out of the south.

The FAA starts its formal review at the airport today with agency officials from Washington, Atlanta and the Memphis air traffic control tower.

The goal, she said, is to see if the suspended procedure can be “mitigated” in a way that doesn’t affect safety “and has little impact on capacity.”

FedEx, which says it has never recorded a safety incident in the configuration, questions why the FAA would halt a long-used practice that the agency itself said was safe in 1999.

Since last week, controllers have been instructed to stagger landings on the runways when the wind is out of the south. The FAA said winds call for the landing configuration here 17 percent of the time.

National Weather Service records over 40 years show the wind blows out of the south in Memphis more than 42 percent of the year. In April, May, June and July, it is closer to 50 percent.

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time:matters Enters into Partnership with Scandinavian Sameday Market Leader Jetpak

Posted by | Apr 18, 2007 | |

time:matters is now offering its customers a sameday delivery service to and from the Scandinavian region. The new service is a result of a close partnership recently established between time:matters and Jetpak, the market leader for sameday services in Scandinavia.

Due to the new partnership, approximately 100 additional destinations for urgent incoming and outgoing shipments are available in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. The new destinations include North European commercial centers such as Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen as well as cities like Göteborg and Billund. The new partnership reduces delivery times between the most important business centers and in Scandinavia and in Europe. For example, the shipment of urgent documents or goods between cities like Göteborg and Düsseldorf takes only three hours, and only four hours from Stockholm to Zurich and vice versa. “Business relations between Scandinavia and the other European countries are continuously increasing, which means there is a rising demand for rapid and individual logistics solutions. Thanks to the new partnership, we are optimally able to fulfill these needs,” says Erik Lautmann, CEO of Jetpak.

The broad range of services are based on exclusive and customized dispatch and transportation solutions developed jointly by time:matters and Jetpak as well as on the integration of the tight and high-frequency networks of the two partners. Other benefits of the new partnership for customers include the long opening hours of the Jetpak drop-off and pick-up locations – including early morning and late night hours, which gives customers maximum flexibility in their timing.

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UPS plans air hub in China

Posted by | Apr 13, 2007 | |

United Parcel Service, the world’s largest package-delivery company, will spend an initial USD20 million to build a new hub in Shanghai to raise air deliveries in China.

The hub, to be located at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, is to start operating in 2008, according to an agreement UPS signed with Shanghai Airport Group on Thursday.

The hub aims to serve a logistics market that grew 14 percent last year, spurring UPS and other overseas companies to add facilities. UPS has invested USD600 million in China in the past five years and now ships to more than 330 cities in the country with 4,500 employees.

”We will continue to make appropriate investment in China to meet our customers’ demand,” said Ken Torok, president of UPS Asia Pacific. ”This new international air hub is a critical milestone in our goal to maximize our air network infrastructure in this country.”

UPS in August opened its first two retail centers in mainland China. The company, based in Atlanta flies Boeing MD-11s and 747s to China and plans to add more 747s. The hub will be serviced by eight 747-400s.

The Chinese logistics market grew to 3.84 trillion yuan, or USD500 billion, last year, according to the Chinese government. The Chinese domestic air cargo market grew 28 percent to 21.3 billion yuan, the planning agency said March 15.

The new hub is designed to handle 17,000 items an hour by 2012, in a 96,000-square-meter, or one-million-square-foot, facility with plans for ”rapid expansion,” UPS said. The hub could employ more than 1,000 people by 2010.

Deutsche Post’s DHL Global Forwarding said Jan. 26 that it had become the first overseas company to offer domestic airfreight forwarding in China. It will initially offer services in 17 cities, a number that may rise to 70 within five years, it said.

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UPS and Shanghai Announce first-ever U.S. Air Hub in China

Posted by | Apr 12, 2007 | |

UPS and the Shanghai Airport Authority conducted a formal signing ceremony in another step toward construction of the UPS International Air Hub at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. Presiding over the ceremony were U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and Vice Mayor of Shanghai Yang Xiong.

The UPS International Air Hub, scheduled to open next year, will be the first constructed by a U.S. carrier and will link all of China via Shanghai to UPS’s international network with direct service to the Americas, Europe and Asia. It also will connect points served in China by UPS through a dedicated service provided by Yangtze River Express, a Chinese all-cargo airline.

The establishment of the UPS International Air Hub is a significant step in making the Shanghai Airport an international cargo hub, promoting the development of the Shanghai transportation center and upgrading the service functions of the city of Shanghai. Under the 2004 Air Services agreement, UPS will find it easier to expand its international and Chinese networks in the future while immediately gaining new flexibility in the way it schedules its flights now.

The hub project is the latest in a series of strategic initiatives to expand UPS’s operations and brand presence in China. In 2005, the company took direct control of its operations, serving more than 330 cities in China representing 85 percent of the country’s international trade activity. UPS also expanded its air operations in China throughout 2006 and now flies to more points in China than any other U.S. airline, freight or passenger. The company has grown its China workforce to more than 4,500 employees while also constructing a large logistics infrastructure that includes more than 60 distribution centers.

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FedEx Express to acquire Flying-Cargo in Hungary

Posted by | Apr 6, 2007 | |

FedEx Corp. announced today that its FedEx Express unit signed an agreement to acquire its Hungarian global service participant, Flying-Cargo Hungary Kft. The transaction, which is the latest step in the company’s Eastern Europe expansion strategy, will give FedEx a wholly-owned operation in one of the region’s dynamic markets.

Flying-Cargo, a privately-held company, has been the FedEx global service participant in Hungary since 2003 and has a proven track record of providing high-quality service. All of Flying-Cargo’s day-to-day operations are expected to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future, and the company will function as a wholly-owned business of FedEx Express.

“Since the mid 1990’s, Hungary has proven to be one of the standout economies in Eastern Europe, with import and export growth rates of up to 7% projected until 2009,” said Robert W. Elliott, president of FedEx Express, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Indian subcontinent.

FedEx has expanded its network throughout Eastern Europe by introducing a series of new flights and country offerings over the past three years. Michael L. Ducker, president of FedEx Express International added that “Central and Eastern Europe, which is growing at nearly three times that of Western Europe, presents significant opportunities for our customers.”

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