Last chance to enter the ACN Awards!

The final deadline for entries to the 2026 Air Cargo News Awards is fast approaching, but there is still time to submit an entry. The entry deadline has been extended to 17:00 BST on Friday, 12th June, so why not see if your company can join the air cargo elite by winning an Air Cargo News Award. The entry process is straightforward and there's no restriction on company size or turnover, we want to hear from everyone! This year, there are 10 highly regarded categories that reflect the diverse and dynamic nature of airfreight, with finalists and winners gaining recognition at the Awards ceremony on Wednesday 21 October at the Royal Lancaster London hotel. As well as information about the criteria for each award category, the Air Cargo News Awards website includes a downloadable, comprehensive entry guide. For further information about the awards please visit the awards website FAQs page. We now have just three sponsorship opportunities left. For information, packages and rates, please contact Richard Perry at richard.perry@aircargonews.net More information about sponsorship opportunities can also be found in the downloadable sponsorship guide. Catch up with the latest updates on the Air Cargo News Awards via social media using #ACNAwards2026.

Kale and e-Smart Logistics partner to offer airlines better shipment visibility

Kale Logistics Solutions (Kalé) will combine its cloud-based air cargo technologies with e-Smart Logistics' (e-SL) capabilities to offer airlines greater shipment visibility. Announced at TIACA Executive Summit in Warsaw, the partnership will improve real-time visibility and transparency at piece or stock-keeping unit (SKU) level and make it easier for airlines to provide end-to-end visibility for e-commerce and high-value vertical products, said Kale. e-SL works with airlines to deliver integrated, end-to-end logistics solutions for e-commerce shipments, increasing the scope of their networks and control across shipment flows. This capability extends to other verticals, including healthcare, aerospace, automotive, and valuables. The partnership will integrate Kalé's AvSys cross-border e-commerce platform launched earlier this year, which enables piece-level tracking and supports operational compliance. "E-commerce and high-value shipments continue to be growing verticals for the air cargo industry, and shippers are demanding more visibility for each package," explained Amar More, co-founder and chief executive, Kale Logistics Solutions. "This partnership provides airlines with the tools to enhance their product portfolios, allowing them to compete for traffic by offering the piece and parcel-level visibility demanded, and the service quality shippers expect." "Global airlines are competing in an increasingly complex environment where product portfolios must be developed to meet expectations around speed, transparency, quality, compliance, and cost effectiveness," said Denis Ilin, co-founder and chief executive at e-SL, part of the e-Smart Group of companies. He added: "These demands continue to rise, with all becoming non-negotiable requirements for shippers and authorities. "This partnership will help airlines meet these requirements and achieve end-to-end capabilities through a 'virtual integrator' solution powered by Kalé and e-Smart Logistics." He further stated: "Airlines must know on a piece level what they are carrying to stay safe and fully compliant with current and future regulatory requirements. "Kalé's technology, combined with e-Smart Logistics' expertise, will allow air cargo carriers to reach a new level of operational sophistication with greater control and compliance."

LatAm-North America: Washington's badly timed own goals

Until last week, airlines moving between Latin America and North America were looking forward to the football world cup tournament in happy anticipation of surging passenger numbers and augmented cargo flows - but then Washington injected a heavy dose of uncertainty into the picture. First, Markwayne Mullin, the new head of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), threatened to withdraw customs and immigration personnel from Newark Liberty International Airport, because of the city's 'unsupportive stance" on his department's campaign to remove illegal immigrants. Reducing airport security personnel at one of the major US gateways (and a hub of United Airlines) threatened to cripple flows of passengers and cargo into the region and set off alarm bells across the travel and air cargo industries. Moreover, the announcement caused worries that the DHS would repeat the exercise at other "sanctuary cities", including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Philadelphia. After strong protests from airlines, tourism organisations, and business lobbies, Mr Mullin u-turned on Monday, declaring he saw no need to reduce DHS personnel at Newark any longer. after some concessions from New Jersey state officials. But on the same day, US trade representative Jamieson Greer announced that Brazil was in violation of Section 301 of the Trade Act and proposed a 25% tariff on a number of imports from the South American nation. Some strategic products are excluded, but Brazilian forwarders and shippers again face uncertainty how business with the US is going to develop. In the southern hemisphere, airline and travel industry executives in Peru scored a partial victory on 2 June when the nation's Transport and Communications Ministry and Lima Airport Partners agreed to scrap a controversial transit tax for passengers moving through Lima's Jorge Chávez Airport. However, they only cancelled the charge on domestic flights, and maintained the $11.86 levy on international travellers, despite protests from interest groups including IATA, which warned that it could reduce passenger transits by 11%, which could translate into the loss of thousands of flights a year. The measure is somewhat ironic, as the Peruvian government has been one of the more proactive in the region in pursuing open skies with other countries, most recently with Panama and Australia. Critics of the transit tax have blamed it for a 10.8% drop in passenger numbers on the Lima-Santiago route in April, a sector that had shown consistent growth in recent years. Reduced flight activity on the route would reduce options for Chilean exporters, notably salmon shippers, to move their fish to international markets. Chile exports over $6bn worth of salmon to over 100 markets around the globe, and the industry has been frustrated with constraints at Santiago's Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport. Industry groups accuse the airport of funnelling all investment into passenger development and neglecting cargo, arguing that this has undermined the airport's competitive position vis-à-vis other air cargo gateways in South America through high operating costs and congestion during peak shipping times. The airport slipped one notch in the Latin American cargo rankings last year, overtaken by Quito's Mariscal Surcre International Airport claiming fourth place behind El Dorado (Bogotá), Guarulhos (Sao Paulo) and Felipe Angeles (Mexico City). Quito's tonnage, 92% of which was flower exports, grew 11% last year. The airport's connectivity to the US grew in April, after Avianca Cargo signed an agreement with Amazon to take over northbound capacity on five new weekly flights of the e-commerce giant's freighter arm, between the Ecuadorian capital and Miami. It was the second arrangement of this kind between them, following a capacity agreement on the Bogotá-Miami sector last year. The deal gave Avianca additional capacity to haul flowers to the US for Mother's Day. Last year the carrier added two weekly flights from Quito via Miami to Maastricht and Zaragoza. According to the most recent data from WorldACD, tonnage from Central/ South America to North America fell 20% between 11 and 24 May from the preceding fortnight, reflecting the end of the Mother's Day flower rush, which sent rates 13% lower. The region's global export volume in the 11-24 May window was down 13% from the prior fortnight, but 6% higher year on year, while rates declined 5%, but were up 10% year on year. Shippers and carriers in the region must hope they will be spared more sudden policy announcements from Washington while they are moving passengers and cargo to the host nations of the football event.