Kalitta Air files complaint over slot allocation at AMS

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) reported a 2.5% decline in freight volumes and 10.4% drop in full freighter movements year-over-year for 2018, as freighter traffic at the airport has been challenged since 2017, when AMS began enforcing a rule requiring operators to keep to scheduled operational time “slots” 80% of the time or risk losing them. […]

• Caryn Livingston
• January 31, 2019

Freighter aircraft transactions through 15 December 2017

Every week in Cargo Facts Update, we include a list of recent freighter aircraft transactions, and then a comprehensive summary in the monthly issue of Cargo Facts. Each reference to a freighter aircraft transaction (FAT) in our publications contains a unique FAT code linked to the FAT database on the CargoFacts.com website. This database is available to […]

• David Harris
• December 15, 2017

Should freighter flights be exempt from the 80:20 rule?

If you were to ask any of the foreign freighter operators calling to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS), the answer would unanimously be “yes!” In recent months, the 80:20 rule has become frustratingly relevant because Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) at AMS are expected to approach the government-mandated quota of 500,000 for any single year, beginning in […]

• Charles Kauffman
• October 23, 2017

Who is carrying all that European traffic?

According to IATA, cargo traffic flown by carriers based in Europe was up 12.6% year-over-year in September, their biggest gain in many years. This strong performance by European carriers has now been going on for six months. But who is carrying all that cargo? In the past, the answer would have been simple: Air France-KLM, […]

• David Harris
• November 4, 2016

Troubles continue for Europe’s big three

With the publication of its first-half results, Lufthansa issued a warning that, for the first time in many years, its cargo division was likely to post a full-year operating loss. We have come to expect losses at Air France-KLM Cargo, but Lufthansa? Lufthansa’s cargo operation had always seemed proof against increased competition and a deteriorating […]

• David Harris
• August 2, 2016

End of an era, Martinair retires its MD-11Fs

  In the last two weeks, Martinair, the all-cargo subsidiary of Air France-KLM, retired its last two MD-11Fs (48616 and 48757) [FATs 003346 – 3347]. Martinair now operates three 747-400Fs and one 747-400BCF. Founded in the Netherlands in1958 as a passenger carrier by Martin Schröder (as Martin’s Air Charter), Martinair gradually morphed into a major […]

• David Harris
• July 8, 2016

European cargo on the upswing?

The big three Western European carriers have all reported their January cargo results, and all three show improving performance. However, before you break out the Champagne, remember that neither January nor February data can be considered meaningful on their own. The timing of the Lunar New Year holiday in Asia can cause big shifts in […]

• David Harris
• February 15, 2016

Load it up, and fly it away

With no earthshaking news breaking in the air cargo world today, we thought it a good time to post a couple of videos. We start with one that shows, from a pilot’s perspective, that getting a big freighter into the air is mostly about waiting. This is one of the Air France-KLM 747-400ERFs operated by subsidiary […]

• David Harris
• January 28, 2016