SynX Blog

Two ground workers were involved in an accident which took place on February 7th, 2020 at Bangkok Don Mueang airport, where one person was killed and another injured.

A Nok Air aircraft which was being towed to a bay to board passengers violently hit an aircraft tractor, causing the death of Thanisorn Oncha-am. It seems that, while the plane was being pulled to the gate, the bar connecting it to the tow truck became loose and broke. The driver instantly hit the brakes but the aircraft continued its movement and hit the tug.

Nok Air is now under investigations to establish if the accident could have been avoided and if incomplete vehicle checks or poor GSE maintenance might have been the cause. The aircraft involved was grounded and the flight delayed. Thanisorn Oncha-am was rushed to hospital but later died from 'severe injuries sustained in the crash'.

Thailand has two airports serving the capital Bangkok. The country's flagship Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakan province handles international flights while the smaller, older airport Don Mueang that it replaced in 2006 now handles low-cost, domestic and regional flights in Asia.  

The annual Transport Manager Seminar, organised by the Freight Transport Association Ireland (FTAI) will as usual host representatives from the logistics industry to share best practices on sustainable transport operations.

This year's edition is scheduled for 25 March 2020 at the Johnstown Estate Hotel in Enfield, County Meath, and will focus on the landmark European Green Deal, recently passed through the European Parliament.

During a one-day programme, the seminar will also include an update from Secretary General of the Department of Transport, Tourism &Sport, Graham Doyle, on the work the Department is undertaking to help industry transition to more sustainable operations. The event is sponsored by Brigade Electronics, Bridgestone, The Harris Group, Enprova and EMO Oil with Fleet Transport magazine is once again as official media partner.  

Bookings for the event are now open to both FTAI and non FTAI members. If you wish to learn more on the event, call 01 8447516, contact info@ftai.ie or check the website at http://ftai.ie/events/.

In times like these, when we are approaching a future with less resources but increasing demands, sustainability has become of paramount importance. Airports are no exception and sustainable actions aimed at reducing environmental impacts, maintaining economic growth and helping local communities are now on the to-do list of every airport organisation.

An interesting and extremely innovative measure has been recently announced by Calgary International Airport, the implementation of a new high-tech, low-carbon concrete de-icing pad installation, the East Deicing Apron.

The facility was built during the months of August and September of year 2019 and the local aircraft has now started to use it. The apron was build with a special concrete with reduced carbon. The manufacturer, CarbonCure, has adopted a special process which injects waste carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured by industrial gas suppliers into concrete during mixing, enabling the production of stronger, more sustainable concrete. 

Around 25,000m³ of reduced-carbon concrete have been used for the construction of the East Deicing Apron at Calgary Airport, representing 160 tonnes of reduced carbon emissions, equalling 209 acres of forest absorbing CO₂ over the course of a year.

The parents of a man killed in August at Charlotte International Airport in a luggage cart accident has initiated a lawsuit against American Airlines.


The death of Kendrick Hudson dates back to August 2nd, 2019, when the ground worker swerved to avoid a piece of luggage which was on the tarmac and his vehicle rolled over it. The lawsuit was filed recently, after the subsidiary of American Airlines responsible for the ground worker, Piedmont Airlines, was in January 2020 found guilty of different violations by an inspection conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States.

During the inspection, the OSHA cited the following infringements:

An autonomous electric bus testing started on January 22nd at Haneda International Airport, in Japan, as the result of a joint project carried out by All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, SoftBank Corp., Advanced Smart Mobility and BYD. 

The test of the vehicle, which can host 57 passengers, has the aim of starting a trial later in the year. ANA selected a specific course for the trial, with the bus set to travel the same 1.9km (1.18 miles) segment of restricted area in Haneda Airport multiple times throughout the testing period. During the test, the bus will be evaluated based on its ability to perform the conditional automation with little human oversight.

The development of this autonomous electric bus is an example of how ANA is studying the latest technology to improve passenger convenience and comfort, especially when considering the approaching of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Once implemented, the autonomous electric bus will facililate a more convenient transit experience for passengers of Haneda airport and improve ground services efficiencies.

Promoting technological innovations such as electric-powered autonomous transportation and creating the intelligent airport is an urgent task for the aviation industry, which is facing pressure to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Munich Airport has been awarded the Leadership Level together with an A rating in the "Climate Change" category of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) for its efforts in reducing emissions.

CDP is an organisation collecting data on climate change measures taken by companies and evaluating them assigning ratings between "A" and "D", with a total of 8,361 companies around the world submitting data in 2019.

With its A rating, Munich Airport is now included in the top 8% in its category: a score well above the average.

Munich Airport plans to reduce its total emissions by 60% by 2030. The other 40% will be eliminated through what the Munich Airport refers to as offsetting measures - probably climate protection projects in the airport region. The efforts of Munich Airport to reduce emissions translate in an investment of €150M in its climate protection programme. The target is to reach a zero emissions level by 2050 - a resolution shared with Airport Council International Europe in line with the Paris Agreement and the EU climate neutrality target.

Reducing emissions in Airport Handling and Operations is possible - get in touch if you want us to help you with that.

We have reached the end of the month for January 2020 and also the end of our fleet management glossary—the A to Z of fleet management.

With this post, we are simply making all the links available for everyone as a resource to continue to apply the best fleet management strategies or provide some food for thought for the year 2020. Hope you are going to enjoy it!

The A to Z of fleet management and driving for work: A is for Acceleration

B is for Breakdown: the most feared issue in the A-Z of fleet management

The A-Z of fleet management: C is for Compliance—how is it impacting on fleets?

D is for Drivers: an essential ingredient in the alphabet of Fleet Management

The A to Z of fleet management: what about E for Excess?

The A-Z series: F for fuel—the biggest expense in fleet management

A-Z series: G is for GPS vehicle tracking—how technology changed the fleet sector

The A-Z series: H for Health and Safety, essential or forgotten?

The A-Z of Fleet Management: I is for Idling and why it should never happen again in your fleet

The A-Z fleet management series: J for Journey planning

Fleet management Key Performance Indicators: chapter “K” in our A-Z series

The A-Z series of fleet management: L is for Logistics

A-Z series: M is for Maintenance—a key element of fleet management

N for No: why is disagreement the latest chapter in our A-Z of fleet management series?

The A-Z series of fleet management: O for Odometer—a key piece of the puzzle

The A-Z series: P for Planner—why Fleet Managers rock at the art of planning

The A-Z fleet management series: letter Q for Questions

The A-Z series: R is for Replacement—when is it the right time to replace a fleet vehicle?

The A-Z series: S is for Strategy—why do I really need strategic fleet planning?

The A-Z fleet management series: T for Technology—the best companion of fleets and vehicles?

The A-Z series: let’s talk about U for Uptime

The A-Z series: V for vehicle data, one of the most powerful resources for any fleet

The A-Z series: W is for Workforce—staff is your best asset

The A-Z series: X for X-ray—what do telematics and X-ray have in common?

The A-Z series: Y for You—only you are ultimately responsible for your GSE fleets

A-Z: letter Z is “the end”. How many “ends” do you see as a fleet manager?

And here we are; we have finally reached the letter Z signifies the end of our A-Z series of fleet management. “The end” is going to be our topic for today as Z is the last letter of the alphabet. What are the different “ends” that fleet managers experience in their activity, and how do they face them?

#1 - End of life of a vehicle. It is definitely something fleet managers have to face. It doesn’t mean a vehicle is completely unusable if it has come to the end of its life: for fleet managers it is actually a phase when the spend for a vehicle is no longer justifiable, whether that be because it is underused or because of excessive wear and tear and it is no longer convenient for the fleet to maintain nor justify the fuel consumption. Fleet data made available from tracking software is an invaluable resource if you are thinking of replacing a vehicle with a new one or reallocating it.

#2 - End of a working relationship. It can be with a vendor; but quite often lately due to the shortage of specialised staff or to a decrease in vocational workers, it has become hard to retain drivers as the positions available have become quite numerous. But despite what could be the end of a working relationship, you can actually get to know if there is something you should change in your relations with staff. Make a wise use of exit interviews and make sure you enjoy open communication with your workers.

#3 - End of ... pen and paper. If this is something you still haven’t experienced, you might actually be invested too heavily in the old fashion way of doing things or you might spend too much time on tasks that could potentially be done in a different and quicker way. Pen and paper is no longer the tool used to manage fleets and the same is valid for spreadsheets. If you still aren’t at the end of the line regarding the pen and paper era and might need some motivation to let go ... come and talk to us.

#4 - End of the day. Well, this might actually sound obvious: every day you come to the end of the day, and you probably feel relieved that all the tasks have been performed correctly. But there is no real ... end to the duties of a fleet manager, and vehicles need to be protected as well as drivers, who need to drive safely 24/7—we know one pair of eyes that can always be kept on your assets!

Are there any other “ends” in your daily life as a fleet manager that you would like to add to the list?

We are down to the very final articles in our A-Z series of fleet management and the penultimate letter—Y for You. If you operate a fleet—whether that be GSE or not—you may actually not be considering yourself when it comes to an honest assessment of what could be done to improve the performance of your fleet or you might be turning a blind eye to unsafe practices or stuck in a routine mode of operating that maybe isn’t in the best interests of your fleet.

Let’s discuss you as a potential issue for your fleet—‘you’ is something you cannot ignore!

#1 – You spend too much time on reports and paperwork. It is certainly one of the duties of fleet managers among the other numerous responsibilities including making sure customers are satisfied, drivers are motivated and vehicles are in good working order. But unfortunately fleet managers often spend too much time bogged down in this chore while they should be relying on reports and statistics that could reduce the amount of paperwork and free you up for tasks that contribute more to the commercial development of your business.

#2 – You never assess your maintenance schedules. It might be because you do not have the time, because you still work with manual methods or simply because you are under the misconception that things will always tick along one way or another. If you are actually in possession of fleet data via different platforms or sources, you will quickly come to the realisation that different circumstances can lead to different results and that you should analyse your results on a regular basis in order to stick with the same strategy or deviate from it.

#3 – You do not compare costs and operations. Although this is something apparently uncommon today, it can be that you are using the same vendors for the same type of service or the same drivers for trips. You might be surprised how analysing costs or activity can offer us useful material to digest and assess whether to switch to another vendor or whether one driver rather than another might be more suitable for a particular route—he might actually thank you for the change; and a degree of satisfaction can definitely improve performance.

#4 – Not using failure analysis. We know the work of the fleet manager is hard and that fleet managers are often asked, although only human, to behave like machines. But we also know mistakes happen. Now, mistakes can have within them the seeds of something positive, but only if we investigate how they happened in the first place and take corrective measures to ensure they don’t happen again. So, even if you are a proud perfectionist, put that attitude out of your mind when it comes to making the most of failure analysis—you might be surprised how this might actually work for you!

According to a new report by Fact.MR, recently published in Airport Catering Trucks Market, continued demand for aircraft ground support has stimulated growth in the sector and provided opportunities for stakeholders. This is due to an increase in infrastructure investment by airport authorities and airline companies, which has stimulated demand for airport catering trucks globally.

The new study indicates that the ongoing construction of new airports in developed and emerging economies is expanding the market for airport catering trucks at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7%.

The majority of demand comes from within developed economies, North America and Europe, where the volume of sales in terms of airport catering trucks is specifically focussed in the USA, Germany, the UK and Russia. North America is very much at the forefront, with Europe in second place and a burgeoning market for air travel is also contributing to global demand.

Increased focus on airport infrastructure enhancement and expansion in the number of airports in developing economies such as China and India is motivating sales in regional markets. There will be a substantial increase in demand for airport catering trucks in China as a result of the government’s plan to construct 136 new airports by 2025. Sales in India and Oceania are also expected to surge.

Refrigeration is integral to the transportation of perishable goods and always a major consideration. However, with refrigeration comes higher costs which are passed on to the price of the airport catering truck. As a consequence of this, there is usually a higher demand for non-refrigerated trucks. There is no foreseeable reason that this position will change between the assessed period covering 2018-2028.

Fact.MR reports that hybrid catering trucks are the preferred asset of choice for end-users. The market for these types of truck are 19 times that of electric catering trucks. It is the demand for flexibility in fuel consumption and economy along with engine power and durability that make hybrid airport trucks so economically viable for end-users. This market position, however, may shift significantly toward electric catering trucks as a result of Environment Protection Act (EPA) regulations on carbon emissions and from environmental pressures, heralding a higher value CAGR, albeit from a low base.

The reports also states there is an increased emphasis on launching electric catering trucks to meet the growth in demand. Manufacturers are keen to consolidate their position in the airport catering trucks market, both within developed and emerging economies given the anticipated growth in the latter. 

The report finds that participants are focusing on to fulfil their increasing demand. In addition, manufacturers are aiming to, particularly in the emerging economies given their significant potential for growth.