Air Cargo News.

Cargo executives from many of the global airlines recently raided by cartel investigators have pledged to cooperate in the investigation into price-fixing. Carriers, including British Airways, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific and Korean Air, are under investigation by US, Asian and European authorities over allegation they secretly set freight costs. The investigators are trying to establish if the carrier colluded on fuel prices and other aspects of cargo operations. Mar 12, 2006

IATA reported that the world's airlines continued their momentum into the new year as international passenger traffic rose 6.2% in January while airfreight grew 5.3%, suggesting that the world economy may be heating up after last year's second-half slowdown in FTKs. Total passenger capacity climbed 4.6% and cabin factor was 74.6%. Cargo capacity kept pace with the rise in traffic with ATKs up 5.2%. Mar 6, 2006

Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Cargo's ATKs were up 12.9% to 9.88 billion but load factor dipped 1.7 points to 67% and yield eased 0.6%. The airline launched new cargo service to Dallas and Atlanta in 2005 plus overnight express operations on behalf of DHL to Shanghai, Beijing and Nagoya. Mar 9, 2006

Qantas

Qantas said current fuel prices and "the unavailability of suitably fuel-efficient aircraft for lease" were the main reasons for the decision. However, there have been concerns about the direction in the air cargo market, which slowed to 3% FTK growth last year. While China and a recovering Japan continue to underpin higher growth in regional freight traffic, the longer-term outlook is uncertain due to the impact of fuel and rising freight rates. Mar 7, 2006

SAS Cargo

SAS Cargo said it had its best-ever result last year as it reported a pretax profit of SEK68 million ($8.6 million), up from SEK14 million in 2004, on revenues of SEK3.3 billion, up 17%. EBIT jumped to SEK83 million from SEK35 million. Improvement was achieved in spite of a 5.4% decline in yield. Mar 6, 2006

UPS

UPS announced yesterday that it will retrofit much of its fleet with Boeing's Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag. The program will begin with 107 757s and 767s operated by the express package and expedited freight provider. UPS said the effort is believed to be the first of its type attempted by any airline, cargo or passenger, "and basically reflects our belief that this technology is ready and should be applied to jets now in service," according to VP-UPS Airline and International Operations Bob Lekites. The company said it intends to "quickly add a variety of software applications once the devices are installed, beginning with SafeRoute developed by Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems." SafeRoute uses ADS-B to provide pilots with enhanced situational awareness during taxi and in-flight. Mar 9, 2006