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AI could cut eight hours off air cargo collections, says handling chief

Artificial intelligence could save around eight hours per air cargo shipment, by allowing truck dispatch and collection planning to begin before the traditional release-order trigger. At Aviation Connect in Athens last week, CHI Cargo Group CEO Kai Domscheit said the air cargo industry was generating vast quantities of operational data, much of which remained trapped in emails, PDFs, scans, spreadsheets, and other unstructured formats. "The future of air cargo is not going to be a single platform," he said, arguing that the SaaS model was "dead". "It'll actually be an ecosystem, with AI bots speaking to each other." But Mr Domscheit urged that the first step towards meaningful automation was not deploying AI, but making the underlying data usable. "You need to get unstructured data structured. You need to put a context layer over it. Then you can start predicting. And once you've done that, only then you can start playing around with automation." The scale of the problem was illustrated by a single ULD, which Mr Domscheit said could generate more than 100 information flows at different stages of its journey, involving airlines, handlers, forwarders, airports, and other parties. He highlighted several examples at Frankfurt, including release orders that indicated cargo was ready when operational checks had not been completed; unclear information about whether cargo was loose or in a ULD; and multi-master shipments where not all the necessary release forms were available. The resulting inefficiencies included additional storage charges, empty truck runs, and wasted time, he said. Mr Domscheit said handler CHI had analysed the sequence of events around import cargo at Frankfurt and found information was available well before the release order. Under the current process, the release order acted as the trigger for dispatch, but he said AI could allow operators to anticipate the shipment, aircraft arrival, unloading and breakdown stages, and begin planning in parallel. "We could take this and move it [up to] 10 hours," he said. "We can work in parallel." However, despite these promising advances, Mr Domscheit cautioned against viewing AI as a straightforward replacement for people. "We still have the human in the loop," he said, adding that employees who embrace AI could become substantially more productive. The presentation also struck a more cautious note on physical automation. Humanoid robots may eventually play a role in air cargo, but Mr Domscheit said the industry should focus first on preparing its operations and data. "Treat data as a strategic asset, and prepare them properly - because it's all about data."

CH Robinson to purchase RXO in multi-billion dollar deal

Blockbuster tie up on the cards here: CH Robinson has agreed to buy RXO in a deal with an "implied value" of $5.8bn, with shareholders pocketing a healthy 29% premium in the process. Combining CH Robinson's global forwarding and multimodal network with RXO's North American truck brokerage operation and expedited and last-mile businesses, the buyer is hoping the merger will deliver $300m in annual savings - and that it will happen within two years of the deal closing. Subject to regulatory and shareholder approval - which will see CH Robinson taking on additional debt and putting share buybacks on hold as it pays down the deal cost - it is all expected to be wrapped up before H2 next year.

Mister Air launches its own-operated cargo flights with Boeing 757 lease

AerSale Corporation, a US-based supplier of aftermarket commercial aircraft, engines, and proprietary engineered solutions, has leased a Boeing 757-200PCF aircraft to Mister Air Transport, a Romanian-based cargo carrier. The converted freighter is expected to enter revenue service this month (October). Delivery of the 757-200PCF freighter marks the launch of Mister Air's own flight operations, flying under its own certificate and crews rather than chartering capacity from other carriers. The aircraft is to be the first of more, as Mister Air seeks to build a dedicated medium-haul freighter fleet. The Boeing 757-200PCF freighter's combination of long range, high payload capacity and operational reliability is well suited to Mister Air's strategy of targeting the 'middle-mile' markets, AerSale said. That strategy is expected to connect major production and e-commerce gateways across Central and Eastern Europe, offering services where the use of larger widebodies would be uneconomic. Craig Wright, AerSale's senior vice president & head of asset management, observed: "The 757 remains one of the most capable and sought-after platforms in its segment, and this transaction reflects both the strength of that asset class and AerSale's ability to deliver flight-ready aircraft to operators pursuing ambitious growth." Ireneusz Dylczyk, chief executive of Mister Air, remarked: "This Boeing 757-200PCF marks an important milestone in Mister Air's growth and the launch of our own flight operations. "The 757's range and payload make it the ideal aircraft for our customers. AerSale proved to be a professional and responsive partner throughout the process. This aircraft lays the foundation for the additional freighters we intend to introduce as we scale our network." Operating under a Romanian air operator certificate (AOC) but based at Lódź Władysław Reymont Airport (LCJ) in Poland, Mister Air is a cargo charter airline providing scheduled and ad-hoc freighter services focused on express e-commerce and parcel cargo between Asia, the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe. Its operations are managed by Lódź-headquartered AerCommerce, which provides cargo charter and brokerage services, and Mister Air is to deploy the aircraft on behalf of AerCommerce's established cargo customer base.