Schiphol at Center of Airbridgecargo’s Growth Strategy

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport will be at the heart of AirBridgeCargo Airlines’ (ABC) development strategy as it plans to build on a record year in 2008, the company says.

Results for the first nine months of the year show an overall 68% increase in ABC sales network-wide increase to US$344.1 million. ABC and its parent, Volga-Dnepr Group, will have their best ever year for revenues in 2008, building on three previous consecutive years of record growth. The Group exceeded $1 billion in revenues last year while year-to-date 2008 Group results through September were $1,265 million.

ABC operates seven Boeing 747 all-cargo flights a week from Amsterdam to Moscow with onward connections to China (Beijing and Shanghai) and Hong Kong.

“Amsterdam is one of our main gateways in Europe and we are experiencing strong growth there,” said Robert Song, Global Commercial Director for ABC. “We are still a relatively new airline but we have worked hard to achieve service reliability and to meet the demands of the scheduled cargo market. ABC is gaining strong support from the forwarding industry in the Netherlands for both our services to Russia and Asia and we value the partnerships we have established.” 

In the last six months, AirBridgeCargo has added three new B747-400ERF’s to its fleet which have been flying almost daily to Moscow. The airline has also placed an order with The Boeing Company for five next generation B747-800 aircraft with deliveries starting in 2010. It also has options for five more of this aircraft type.

This fleet expansion will support ABC’s objective of introducing daily B747 services from Amsterdam Schiphol to Moscow. ABC already offers a full Russian network for on-forwarding from Moscow, including the ability to handle special cargoes. It ensures full visibility of shipments as they travel throughout the Russian Federation using a security product that is fully rated and supported by the most stringent and measurable KPIs.