newstodate.aero
Nov 21, 2014 (newstodate): Sweden's PostNord is soon to launch an official tender for postal flights within Sweden.
The details of the tender are still to be finally settled after which the official tender will open for all potential bidders, domestic or international.
And it is no small business in a Scandinavian context: the tender will comprise about 180 departures every week, requiring 14 aircraft to serve 12 airports.
-The bidders may offer to cover all flights or parts of them, and the successful winner of the tender may sub-contract parts of the total network to other parties, says Tomas Granmar, PostSweden project coordinator.
-What is new, compared to earlier tenders, is the integration of both mail and parcel logistics which calls for this tender as the parcel logistics is in competition with other providers in the market and thus exposed to free pricing.
-The postal flight operation is rather complex as the domestic airport system comprises airports of all sizes and operational conditions requiring specific aircraft types probably not in the fleet of any single airline company.
-Also payload weight is seldom an issue as the mail and parcels will be carried in special containers that require volume rather than tonnage.
-The tender period must therefore be long enough to sustain the investments by the selected providers - at least three years while this is also still to be decided upon.
Post Sweden operated its own carrier, Falcon Air until 2006 when the flights were taken over by Amapola that has held the main contract for postal flights since then - and is sure to be among the participants in the coming tender process.
The details of the tender are still to be finally settled after which the official tender will open for all potential bidders, domestic or international.
And it is no small business in a Scandinavian context: the tender will comprise about 180 departures every week, requiring 14 aircraft to serve 12 airports.
-The bidders may offer to cover all flights or parts of them, and the successful winner of the tender may sub-contract parts of the total network to other parties, says Tomas Granmar, PostSweden project coordinator.
-What is new, compared to earlier tenders, is the integration of both mail and parcel logistics which calls for this tender as the parcel logistics is in competition with other providers in the market and thus exposed to free pricing.
-The postal flight operation is rather complex as the domestic airport system comprises airports of all sizes and operational conditions requiring specific aircraft types probably not in the fleet of any single airline company.
-Also payload weight is seldom an issue as the mail and parcels will be carried in special containers that require volume rather than tonnage.
-The tender period must therefore be long enough to sustain the investments by the selected providers - at least three years while this is also still to be decided upon.
Post Sweden operated its own carrier, Falcon Air until 2006 when the flights were taken over by Amapola that has held the main contract for postal flights since then - and is sure to be among the participants in the coming tender process.