newstodate.aero

May 05, 2020 (newstodate): Managing European all-cargo flights with passenger aircraft into China is no plain sailing, says one Lithuanian air cargo professional with year-long experience in the business.
   -The situation is indeed getting more and more difficult and demanding, says Jan Hyttel, Hoptrans Member of the Board.
   -The Chinese legal system is not tuned to handling of all-cargo flights by passenger aircraft. One challenge is that we are not allowed to carry dangerous goods, even if the aircraft is not carrying any passengers.
   -Overall, the Chinese authorities do not meet new issues with the same pragmatic approach as experienced with authorities in other countries.
   -Also, rules, control systems and regulations are constantly changed, which may result in short-shipping  booked cargo as flight operational windows are also tightly controlled and aircraft must anyway leave on the specific time allocated.
   -Taken together, all this contributes to incalculable risks, costs and rates making times even harder for an industry already hurt by many other challenges, says Mr Hyttel.
   Even so, Hoptrans by late April set up a scheduled all-cargo service from Beijing and other Chinese airports to Kaunas operated with six weekly flights by converted passenger aircraft chartered from various Russian and East European airlines.