AviancaTaca has a lofty goal: By 2015, air cargo will account for 25 percent of the group’s revenue, Victor Mejia Rivas, Avianca’s vice president of cargo, recently estimated. Freight traffic will initially be boosted by the free-trade agreements recently signed between the U.S. and Latin American countries; the carrier will also achieve its target by adding new services in its core markets of Colombia and Miami, but by also expanding into Brazil, Peru and Mexico, he told Air Cargo World. read more
Airfreight industry veterans have established a new charter company that nixes communication with shippers/end users and deals exclusively with freight forwarders. The Frankfurt-based company Neo Air Charter is also in expansion mode, with new offices planned for gateways in Singapore and the U.S. read more
In a landslide vote, members of the U.S. House of Representatives have voted to prohibit U.S. carriers from participating in the European Union emissions trading scheme. The passage of H.R. 2594 on October 24 has raised the ire of numerous EU officials — especially Jo Leinen, chair of the European Parliament’s environmental committee. The ETS is currently set to go into effect on January 1. read more
Although LAN Airlines experienced an 11-percent, year-over-year, drop in net income in the third quarter of 2011, the Latin American carrier reported double-digit cargo gains. Freight revenue, which surged 22.5 percent from 2010, was driven by increased capacity and load factor, LAN Airlines executives revealed. read more
