Brussels Airport Poised to Become World’s First CEIV Pharma Certified Community

Geneva – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the decision of Brussels Airport to become the first European hub for pharmaceutical freight using IATA’s global certification program for shipping cold-chain pharmaceuticals. The IATA Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV Pharma) is a standardized global certification program that trains and conducts onsite assessments to provide the expertise needed adequately to transport cold-chain pharmaceutical products across the world.

Brussels Airport is inviting a group of ten local stakeholders (ground handlers, freight forwarders, truckers and airlines) to undergo the CEIV Pharma training, bringing the cargo community together for the common goal of becoming certified. This will allow those Brussels-based stakeholders to offer pharmaceutical companies the competitive advantage of assuring cold-chain integrity to their clients.

Since the program goes beyond the Good Distribution Practices (GDP) covering air transport requirements, it is particularly attractive to forward-looking stakeholders who value the extra confidence this certification brings to their pharmaceutical clients. In February, SATS Coolport (Singapore)--which handled more than 15,200 tonnes of pharmaceuticals in 2013—received its CEIV Pharma certification. 

The pharmaceutical industry has relied heavily on the airline industry for its speed and efficiency in transporting high-value, time- and temperature-sensitive cargo. However, until this year, there were no global certification standards that could be internationally recognized and implemented.

“IATA has been working very hard with our stakeholders to ensure product integrity for these types of shipments,” said Tony Tyler, IATA Director General and CEO. “The CEIV Pharma certification program provides participants in the air cargo value chain with the tools to ensure that they are operating to the highest standards for the transport of what in many cases are life-saving drugs and medicines. And it will give pharmaceutical companies confidence and assurance that their cold-chain logistics requirements are being met through an independent certification process.”
 
The global pharmaceutical industry will spend $8.36 billion on cold chain logistics in 2014 and is expected to expand to more than $10 billion by 2018 (1). 

“Brussels Airport is aiming to strengthen its position as a leading gateway for the handling and transportation of pharmaceutical freight in Europe,” said Steven Polmans, Head of Cargo at Brussels Airport. “We hope that our leadership in being recognized as a CEIV Pharma certified community will persuade other airports to do the same. It is important that cold-chain pharmaceutical products can be transported in a standardized, sanitary and secure way throughout the world.” 

Joint Statement on Travel and Transport in Relation to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Outbreak

The current Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak is believed to have begun in Guinea in December 2013. This outbreak now involves community transmission in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and recently an ill traveller from Liberia infected a small number of people in Nigeria with whom he had direct contact.

On 8 August 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in accordance with the International Health Regulations (2005).

In order to support the global efforts to contain the spread of the disease and provide a coordinated international response for the travel and tourism sector, the heads of the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Airports Council International (ACI), International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) decided to activate a Travel and Transport Task Force which will monitor the situation and provide timely information to the travel and tourism sector as well as to travellers.

The risk of transmission of Ebola virus disease during air travel is low. Unlike infections such as influenza or tuberculosis, Ebola is not spread by breathing air (and the airborne particles it contains) from an infected person. Transmission requires direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected living or dead persons or animals, all unlikely exposures for the average traveller. Travellers are, in any event, advised to avoid all such contacts and routinely practice careful hygiene, like hand washing.

The risk of getting infected on an aircraft is also small as sick persons usually feel so unwell that they cannot travel and infection requires direct contact with the body fluids of the infected person.

Most infections in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, are taking place in the community when family members or friends take care of someone who is ill or when funeral preparation and burial ceremonies do not follow strict infection prevention and control measures.

A second important place where transmission can occur is in clinics and other health care settings, when health care workers, patients, and other persons have unprotected contact with a person who is infected. In Nigeria, cases are related only to persons who had direct contact with a single traveller who was hospitalized upon arrival in Lagos.

It is important to note that a person who is infected is only able to spread the virus to others after the infected person has started to have symptoms. A person usually has no symptoms for two to 21 days (the “incubation period”). Symptoms include fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, and in some cases, bleeding.

The risk of a traveller becoming infected with the Ebola virus during a visit to the affected countries and developing disease after returning is very low, even if the visit includes travel to areas in which cases have been reported.

If a person, including a traveller, stayed in the areas where Ebola cases have been recently reported, he/she should seek medical attention at the first sign of illness (fever, headache, achiness, sore throat, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain, rash, red eyes, and in some cases, bleeding). Early treatment can improve prognosis.

Strengthened international cooperation is needed, and should support action to contain the virus, stop transmission to other countries and mitigate the effects in those affected.

Affected countries are requested to conduct exit screening of all persons at international airports, seaports and major land crossings, for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola infection. Any person with an illness consistent with EVD should not be allowed to travel unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation. There should be no international travel of Ebola contacts or cases, unless the travel is part of an appropriate medical evacuation.

Non-affected countries need to strengthen the capacity to detect and immediately contain new cases, while avoiding measures that will create unnecessary interference with international travel or trade.

The World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend any ban on international travel or trade, in accordance with advice from the WHO Ebola Emergency Committee.

Travel restrictions and active screening of passengers on arrival at sea ports, airports or ground crossings in non-affected countries that do not share borders with affected countries are not currently recommended by WHO.

Worldwide, countries should provide their citizens traveling to Ebola-affected countries with accurate and relevant information on the Ebola outbreak and measures to reduce the risk of exposure.

Strategic Opportunities for Vietnam Aviation

Hanoi – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on the Vietnamese government to work with the air transport sector to strengthen the country’s economy through global air connectivity. IATA identified three broad strategic areas to focus on:  infrastructure, passenger experience and cargo.

“Vietnam is a dynamic and rapidly growing aviation market. The successful development of aviation will pay big dividends to the Vietnamese economy. It must be treated as a strategic asset and handled correctly,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO in his keynote address at the Vietnam Aviation Day organized by IATA and Vietnam Airlines. Aviation contributes $6 billion to Vietnam’s GDP and supports over 230,000 jobs. Between 2008 and 2013, Vietnam’s passenger traffic grew by 96%.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is a critical component of the air transport sector which needs improvement. Vietnam ranks 82nd in the Infrastructure Index of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. Among the ten ASEAN states, Vietnam is ranked sixth. Vietnam is addressing these low rankings with significant investments. It has announced an aviation master plan to have 26 airports by 2020. Expansion programs are underway at Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh airports, with the new Long Thanh International Airport to be ready by 2020.

While encouraged by the positive steps taken to improve Vietnam’s infrastructure, IATA urged careful planning and industry consultation leading to a well-thought-out regulatory structure in advance of any change to the current structure and ownership of Vietnam’s airports. Vietnam has indicated plans to open its airports to foreign investment and management, and to privatize the Airports Corporation of Vietnam. “While airport privatization can provide access to the capital needed for infrastructure programs, we have seen enough spectacular examples of unintended negative consequences to urge caution. The most common being unjustified increases in charges or under-investment in the CAPEX plan as the private operator tries to squeeze out profit,” said Tyler.

“To balance the market power of privatized airports, Vietnam needs to establish an effective independent economic regulator that is in line with well-established international norms. That should bring about fair charging schemes aligned with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) policies. Lower charges will also improve the viability of routes and allow Vietnam to reap the benefits from enhanced connectivity and increased traffic,” said Tyler. ICAO’s policies on charges are based on the principles of non-discrimination, cost-relatedness, transparency, and consultation with users.

Passenger Experience

Tyler identified the implementation of IATA’s Fast Travel program and the easing of visa requirements to improve the passenger experience in Vietnam.

Fast Travel: Tyler encouraged Vietnam to make it a priority to implement the six Fast Travel initiatives covering check-in, self-tagging of baggage, document check, flight rebooking, self-boarding and bag recovery. “Passengers have told us through the IATA Global Passenger Survey that they want to be able to do more things themselves. As Vietnam develops its airport infrastructure, it has the opportunity to build them around the self-service expectations of travelers,” said Tyler. He cited Doha’s Hamad International Airport, which opened this year with five of the six Fast Travel initiatives.

Easing Visa Requirements: Tyler urged a review of the visa requirements to enter Vietnam. “Tourism is important to Vietnam. Every tourist that decides to have a holiday in a neighboring country because of Vietnam’s visa process is a lost economic opportunity. Easing visa requirements can boost tourism,” said Tyler.

Cargo

While air freight accounts for a very small amount of Vietnam’s trade by volume, it represents 25% of Vietnam’s trade by value, or $29 billion. E-freight will help to improve the efficiency of Vietnam’s air cargo industry.

“A key step to implementing e-freight is the adoption of the e-Air Waybill (e-AWB). While Vietnam Airlines has been able to use e-AWB for domestic freight, it is unable to do so internationally as Vietnam has yet to ratify the Montreal Convention 99 (MC99). I urge Vietnam to ratify MC99 quickly so that greater efficiencies can be achieved in Vietnam’s air cargo sector,” said Tyler. MC99 provides the legal framework for the use of electronic document of carriage, paving the way for freight forwarders and airlines to use the e-AWB.

Ebola

In his keynote remarks at the Aviation Day, Tyler also addressed the concerns regarding the potential spread of Ebola by air.

“Ebola is a terrible disease.  But it is very different from SARS, which had a devastating impact on aviation in Asia. The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised that the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel or even when visiting an affected country is low. Having dealt with several outbreaks of communicable diseases over the years, the air transport industry is prepared,” said Tyler. Guidance materials have been developed by WHO, ICAO and IATA. IATA has specific guidance materials on communicable diseases available for maintenance crew, cabin crew, cleaning crew, and passenger agents.

“IATA is working closely with WHO and ICAO in a task force to ensure effective coordination of efforts in areas affecting civil aviation. WHO is the global expert. We will continue to follow WHO’s advice and encourage governments to do so as well,” said Tyler.

Passenger Innovation Awards 2014

Passenger Innovation Awards 2014

The Passenger Innovation Awards is an initiative that aims to ignite new ideas in the passenger world. The ideas should meet at least one of the following objectives:

Improve passenger experience - anywhere in the process from shopping to travel, including ground experience Reduce or drive improvements to simplify existing processes or decrease costs Create an innovative product or service that falls under the Simplifying the Business (StB) scope and at least one of the five StB goals (pdf). Visit the Passenger Innovation Award 2014 page.

World Passenger Symposium 2014

The World Passenger Symposium 2014 will focus on how industry collaboration can trigger innovation and drive value through innovation for the benefit of customers. It will cover the transformation currently taking place in the industry in the areas of Distribution, Customer Experience and Airport Design.

Event highlights

• New Feature: CIO & IT Executives ForumThis forum, themed “Digital Business for the Airline Chief Information Officer (CIO)” will bring together Airline CIOs and senior IT executives to present the current aviation technology trends.  The session will provide an exclusive environment to meet your CIO counterparts from other airlines to discuss and learn about technologies relevant to the airline industry .

This forum will be jam packed with hot topics:

• Digital Business in Aviation
• Innovation Product Development
• How to leverage Big Data
• How to operate in a high volume low margin business
• Paperless Aircraft Operations 
• CIO versus Chief Marketing Officer, and the Chief  Digital Officer?

A Revolution in Distribution?

From central reservation to global distribution systems; from airline websites to online travel agents, travel metasearch and business travel agents, distribution has never stopped being a key topic for airlines and their partners. Is New Distribution Capability (NDC) the next frontier for airline distribution? Will it bring radical changes to the distribution to end-consumer or is it a natural evolution for an industry that is lagging behind in terms of product retailing?

The Millennial CustomerLearn about the “millennials" - the next generation of travellers. How will they change the game? Learn about the multiple expectations throughout the journey and how empowering customers  will allow them to dynamically design their own experience. Will the customer interact in real time with their airlines and airports? What role will social media play in 25 years?

Airport 2025
Listen to discussions on how we can create a better experience while at the same time assuring security and border control. Learn how airport design anticipates infrastructure changes in new airport development but also in refurbishing existing airports.

Autopsy reveals Kenya Airways staff found dead in Kileleshwa was strangled

A Kenya Airways employee who was found dead in a car in Kileleshwa, Nairobi was strangled to death, according to a postmortem report.

The chief government pathologist Dr Johansen Oduor said the only injuries found on the late Jacquelyne Wairimu Muturi were on the neck.

"She was strangled using bare hands," he said.

Officers on patrol found the body of Ms Muturi at the back seat of a vehicle along Mamlaka Road Tuesday morning.

Kilimani OCPD Peter Kattam said that they had launched investigations into the death.

“We suspect the intention was to murder her since nothing was stolen from her,” he said.

The officers saw the vehicle parked and on checking found the body that had injuries on the neck.

The deceased, who lived in South B estate, had left Kileleshwa where she had gone to visit her sister.

Meanwhile Dr Oduor ruled out any foul play in the death of an American who also died in Kileleshwa on Tuesday night.

He said the postmortem conducted on the body of Mr Andrew Johnson 52, had shown that he died of heart attack.

Mr Johnson was in the country to visit her daughter, who is the country director of Farm Africa, when he collapsed and was later pronounced dead by doctors.

Tullow announces new Kenya oil discovery

Oil Company on Thursday announced a discovery of oil at the Etom 1 exploration well that it said extended the already proven South Lokichar basin “significantly northwards”.

Tullow said in a statement that the well, drilled 6.5 kilometres north of the previous Agete-1 discovery, had an estimated 10 metres of net oil pay.

The discovery is the northernmost to date in the South Lokichar basin, Tullow said.

It said that following the success of the South Lokichar basin, the site would be extended to cover a further 247 square kilometres in this northern area.

APPRAISAL WELLS

The company said appraisal wells in the Ngamia 3 field encountered 150 metres of net oil pay in both the Auwerwer and Lokone reservoirs, while the one at Amosing 1 encountered up to 30 metres net oil pay.

“Continued success in appraisal of the Ngamia and Amosing fields reinforces our belief that the South Lokichar basin holds very considerable potential which we hope to replicate in additional basins,“ said Angus McCoss, Tullow’s exploration director.

He said opening tests in the neighbouring Kerio basin would start in September.

“The next basin-opening test will be in the neighbouring Kerio Basin, with the Kodos-1 well expected to spud in early September," said Mr McCoss.

In the oil and gas industry, "net oil pay" is the thickness of a rock that can deliver hydrocarbons to the well bore at a profitable rate.