Jettainer celebrates a world first with its new pallet made of composite materials

Jettainer, the international service partner for outsourced ULD management, is developing an innovative lightweight pallet that weighs just 70 kilogrammes. Compared to a traditional PMC aluminium pallet, the new lightweight version developed by Jettainer is a full 32 kilos lighter. It is made of a composite material that is being used in the aviation sector for the very first time.

The weight savings of more than 30 percent make it possible to significantly reduce the fuel consumption of aircraft. In the past, manufacturers only managed to make pallets lighter by user thinner aluminium bases. As a result, they had to be specially reinforced when transporting fairly heavy items. All traditional aluminium bases shared this drawback in the past. The particularly tough and stable material used for the new kind of pallet, which is manufactured with a sandwich design, is suitable for most cases without the need to use heavy-duty bases to stabilise the load. This ensures that the total weight is once again significantly lower.

Jettainer is exclusively working with several partners in the development of the new lightweight pallet. The initial trial phase has already been completed. A long-term test is taking place in March within the context of selected road feeder services – initially in trucks with a roller bed – in order to obtain as realistic load results as possible.

“Our innovative products are being comprehensively tested in real conditions so that we can even use our customers’ feedback during the development phase,” says Carsten Hernig, Managing Director of Jettainer GmbH. He adds, “In the end we want to offer our customers a globally unique and perfect product that will only be available from Jettainer.”

Certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is due to take place in mid-2015. After this, the new lightweight pallets will create significant fuel savings in the aviation sector.

Jettainer is also continuing to introduce innovations in its existing products. The company recently introduced an upgrade for the company’s own IT solution, Jettware, which makes it possible to manage customers’ ULDs in a professional and transparent manner. The new version, Jettware 2.0, promises to provide a higher degree of user-friendliness, improved data quality and therefore greater efficiency. It will therefore be possible to continue reducing ULD fleets and tap into additional savings potential. New features are also being developed for the mobile application JettApp, which will continue to simplify management processes for the containers and pallets.