AirBridgeCargo Adds Kabul; Reports Volume Increases

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) will operate Tuesday service to Kabul, arriving Wednesday morning in the Afghan capital. The weekly 747 freighter service will add 100 tons of capacity to the lane.

“Despite the fact that volumes are down worldwide, the Middle East is still a vast and attractive marketplace for the Group,” said Dennis Gliznoutsa, Volga-Dnepr’s Group Commercial Director (Charters). “During these unpredictable times, we believe operating from Europe to Kabul will provide new opportunities for ABC.”

The first flight carried armored vehicles which were offloaded on arrival by Ariana, the local handling agent in Kabul.

In other news, half-year 2009 traffic figures for Volga-Dnepr Group, the Russian charter and scheduled cargo airline operator, showed a 5% drop to 835,000 ton/kilometers for the six months ended June 30th, 2009. Volga-Dnepr says other Russian carriers faced an average decline of between 19% and 23% in domestic and international operations over the period.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines, the Group’ s scheduled cargo airline, saw its turnover increase for the half year by 5% to achieve 551,000 ton/kilometres. Over the six-month period, AirBridgeCargo transported 65,100 tons of freight, a year-on-year increase in performance of 4.6%. AirBridgeCargo Airlines also added three new European destinations to its network during this time; Maastricht (Netherlands), Milan (Italy), Zaragossa (Spain).

Total cargo tonnage delivered by Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ АN-124-100 freighter fleet increased by 1.2% to achieve 37,800 tons. The percentage of the Group’s turnover from long-term contracts reached 61%.