Rickenbacker service grows with Colombo-Columbus charter

Sunday, June 19 represented a new milestone for Columbus-based Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK) in the United States when a 747-400 freighter arrived from Colombo’s Bandaranaike International airport in Sri Lanka. The Etihad Cargo plane chartered by New York-based Trinity Logistics is the first weekly flight from Colombo to commence operations directly into Rickenbacker.

The area around Columbus, Ohio, is well known as a fashion and retail distribution center for the North American market, which has fueled demand for direct freighter service into Rickenbacker in recent years. Weekly scheduled freighter flights operated by Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Cargolux already offer capacity from Southeast Asia into Rickenbacker via transfer hubs in Dubai, Hong Kong and Luxembourg. However, the direct flight from Colombo is a first, reflecting both Southeast Asia’s growing prominence as a textile manufacturing center, and the increasing appeal of Rickenbacker for airfreight imports.

Trinity Logistics president, David Pereira said that the deal with Etihad will include the operation of more than 35 charters into Rickenbacker between June and December 2016.

Growth at Rickenbacker is no longer limited to imports, 2016 has also seen export activity take-off. (See “Rickenbacker Revival.”)