Welcome back to the AirFreight.com blog for our regular look at recent important news stories and articles that are trending within the air freight and air cargo industry. These updates complement our regular blog updates and will provide some of the other facts, figures and opinions that help to build a stronger understanding of the overall health of the air freight industry today. Within each summary piece click on the blue link(s) to read more.
DHL Global Forwarding celebrated the opening of a brand new facility in Chicago last week. The $35 million three-story building brings 491,000 square-feet of combined office and warehouse space, a major new development which makes it the largest free standing DHL building within their global network. Full details are available at the Herald Online.
New York's JFK Airport has announced that next year will see the arrival of 'The Ark' a 178,000 square foot rehab of the vacant Building 78 - the building will be the world's first privately owned animal handling cargo terminal (images above). The project will include an air cargo wing, a 24-hour veterinary hospital, a main lounge and animal-handling area, climate-controlled bedrooms, pet boarding area in addition to an animal import and export center.
We wrote last week about Emirates returning to 'all-in' pricing for air freight beginning in February for Europe and globally in March. Qatar Airways have rapidly followed this decision by announcing the same transition for their pricing options, it remains to be seen if fuel surcharges could now be removed by other large freight carriers as a result. Read more at The Loadstar.
Wichita Mid-Continental Aiport (ICT) was officially renamed Dwight D. Eisenhower airport back in November but the changes haven't been that apparent at the airport itself. The airport was renamed after our 34th President who was raised in nearby Abilene, KS from the age of twelve and considered it his hometown. The name change took place earlier than scheduled due to an FAA deadline but the facility will be updated to reflect its new official title early this year.
Huntsville International Airport (HSV) has spent over $16m upgrading its east runway over the last nine months. The project has now been completed and the runway reopened, the work was required to handle freight forwarder Panalpina’s dedicated 747-8 freighter operations. This increased commitment to air freight now sees Huntsville as the 14th largest handler of air cargo in the nation. Read more at aircargonews.net.
That's it for today but if you have stories you’d like to share or comments about these please get in touch via the comments section, our Twitter account or Facebook page. You can also read volumes one, two, three & four of Air Freight News updates to stay current.