Turkish Airlines is now operational for new destination :Quito

Quito, Ecuador's capital is a new addition destination by Turkish Cargo.

Turkish cargo expanded its network with addition of Quito city which is majorly known for exporting flowers, textiles, food including sugar , cacao, banana, palm oil & coffee.

Turkish cargo will start its operating flights twice a week from March 7, using Boeing 777F freighters routing Istanbul - New York - Curacao - Masstricht.

This addition will add muscles to Turkish Cargo who is already operating to 300 destinations worldwide & serving 89 cargo destinations directly.

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European airports record growth in H1 2015, but only just

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European airports just managed to drag cargo volumes into positive growth for the first half of the year thanks to improved performance in June.
Figures from the Airports Council International (ACI) Europe show that freight volumes for the first half of the year increased by 0.5% against a year earlier.
The organisation was not too optimistic for the rest of the year.
ACI Europe director general Olivier Jankovec said: "For freight, the situation in Russia as well as slower growth in emerging markets is likely to keep constraining traffic performance."
The increase came as a result of an improvement in June when cargo volumes increased by 3% year on year.
June was the third month of the year to record an increase in volumes compared with the prior year, and it was also the highest increase recorded so far in 2015.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/airports/single-view/news/european-airports-record-growth-in-h1-2015-but-only-just.html 

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Brussels launches probe into FedEx’s proposed TNT takeover

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into FedEx’s proposed $4.8bn takeover of TNT Express over concerns the deal could reduce competition and push up prices.
The Commission said it had concerns that on a number of European markets for international express and regular small package deliveries, the merged entity would face insufficient competitive constraints from the only two remaining players, UPS and DHL.
This could lead to higher prices for business customers and consumers, it said.
Both TNT and FedEx described the probe as a phase 2 review and said it was a customeray part of the Commission’s investigation process.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy said: "Many businesses, and in particular e-commerce, rely heavily on affordable and reliable small package delivery services, and many consumers depend on these services to ensure rapid and safe delivery of goods they have bought.
“The Commission must therefore make sure that FedEx's takeover of TNT would not impede effective competition and would not lead to higher prices for consumers.”
A preliminary investigation conducted by the Commission indicated that DHL and UPS would be the only significant competitive constraint on the merged entity for most international express services, with a destination within or outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
As the proposed transaction would reduce the number of integrators competing in the EEA from four to three, the competitive constraint on the merged entity would be significantly reduced, leading to a concentrated market in several member states for international express delivery services to a destination within or outside the EEA.
The Commission's initial investigation also showed that the merged entity would have very high market shares for services to some destinations leading to potential competition concerns.
The Commission now has 90 working days, until 8 December 2015, to investigate the proposed acquisition and to determine whether initial concerns are founded.
FedEx said the transaction is also being reviewed by other antitrust agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) in China and Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE) in Brazil.
FedEx Express Europe president David Binks said: “We will continue to work together with TNT Express to meet the European Commission’s need for additional due diligence and are confident that the combination of both companies will increase competition and create benefits for customers.
“We continue to make progress on all of the necessary regulatory steps around the world that would allow us to complete this transaction in the first half of 2016 and unite two great teams that share a passion for customer service.”
TNT said it looked forward to the success of the intended acquisition.
“The company will continue to cooperate with FedEx and the European Commission with a view to a positive outcome,” it added. “During the transaction approval process, TNT remains focused on executing its Outlook transformation and turnaround strategy.”
FedEx had sought to assuage competition concerns by promising to sell the TNT air fleet of 54 freighter aircraft would be sold to a third party.
On announcing its half-year results, TNT said it expected the deal to be completed in the first half of next year.
The takeover of TNT is based on an all-cash offer by FedEx for all issued and outstanding ordinary shares, including shares represented by American Depositary Receipts of TNT Express for a cash offer price of €8.00 per share.
FedEx started the formal process to obtain merger control approval from the Commission by submitting the required filing to obtain regulatory clearance on June 26.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/airlines/express/single-view/news/brussels-launches-probe-into-fedexs-proposed-tnt-takeover.html

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We will do better, promise TNT management

TNT Express has outlined the steps that will return the parcels and freight operator to profit.
A core part of its strategy is to set up focused international Europe and domestic units, strengthening its management and accelerated investment in its transport and IT, along with improved service levels.
At a capital markets day conference this week in London, chief executive Tex Gunning and his senior management team sketched out the details.
TNT Express had earlier announced a €137m loss in the 2014 fourth quarter and a warning from Gunning that the company continues to face challenging trading conditions.
TNT was the subject of a failed takeover bid by UPS in 2013, and restructuring charges (€70m), goodwill impairments (€32m) and the costs of a re-launch (€22m) since then have compounded its financial woes.
Chief financial officer Maarten de Vries admitted that the company had suffered from a “structural underinvestment in infrastructure and IT” since the express arm of the company was demerged from the postal operations in 2011.
But since then, the company had invested to “drive operational excellence”. Further investments would, in 2018-19, further improve service reliability and lower the cost base, he said.
The company’s cost reduction programme - branded ‘Deliver!’ – had reduced worldwide headcount from 62,468 in 2012 to 58,292 he added. The target now was to generate €250m of cost reductions and realised €125m of net savings by 2018.
One of the ways this will be achieved will be by simplifying the current highly complex service portfolio – over 3,500 product codes – to a much more streamlined offering of four basic products with 75 options.
Maarten de Vries also said that processes and IT systems were much too complex and a centralised global IT organisation would be put in place.
A new ‘simplify and transform’ programme over the next three to five years would cut IT spending by €100m, although in the short term there would be IT cost increases and there would be a €70m investment in new IT systems.
Activities such as accounting, procurement, data management and customer contact centres, currently operated mainly on a country by country basis, could be consolidated through shared service centres, saving €100-150m by 2018.
The price to pay for these root-and-branch reforms would be restructuring charges of €250-300m over three years. However, these should diminish to no more than €25-50m by 2017, after hitting a peak of €125-175m in 2016.
Investment of €800-€900m in 2015-17 would, among other things, increase European air network capacity by 50 per cent, as well as improving productivity and reliability. Investment in hubs would include two new ones in the UK, three in Australia and modernisation and automation in France and Italy, added domestics managing director Marco van Kalleveen.
International Europe managing director Ian Clough pointed out that TNT was still a major player in the European global market, with 12 per cent of the total, third only to DHL (19 per cent), UPS (16 per cent) and well ahead of FedEx and Schenker’s five per cent each.
But he said that it was important to ditch the current “dysfunctional organisation” with its “heavy overhead structure” and create an integrated international European business.

Source : http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/we-will-do-better-promise-tnt-management.html

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European Airlines Freight Traffic

This is the monthly year-over-year percent change in overall freight traffic and Asia-Pacific freight traffic for European airlines. Asia Pacific fell in June 2014, and overall increased. Source: Association of European Airlines

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