AirBridgeCargo ceases operations at European hub

Volga Dnepr Group’s (VDG) scheduled cargo airline, AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), and its affiliate, Atran, on Sunday ceased operations at Liege Airport (LGG) in Belgium, which serves as the former’s European hub as a consequence of the ban imposed by European countries on Russian carriers. [caption id="attachment_95919" align="alignright" width="450"] AirBridgeCargo 747 freighter (Photo/AirBridgeCargo)[/caption] A spokesperson for the Liege Airport authority said that ABC was operating around 10 flights per week at the Belgian air cargo hub, and Atran between four and six flights per week on behalf of ASL Airlines/FedEx. “The Volga-Dnepr Group’s [VDG] shareholders and management monitor the situation, the course of events and response of countries’ governments where the Group operates to guarantee fulfilment of its obligations towards customers, suppliers and employees considering the current circumstances and tackling the issues as and when they arise,” an ABC spokesperson told Air Cargo World . EU airlines associated with Volga-Dnepr — Cargologicair in the U.K. and Cargologic Germany — continue to operate normally, according to one report, and all aircraft are currently in the EU or U.K. In July 2020, VDG expanded its freighter partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s logistics subsidiary, Cainiao Network, in response to growing demand from cross-border e-commerce shipments that has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The two companies, which had been working together since 2018, opened up a new cargo route from China to Europe “to accelerate cross-border logistics.” This saw ABC operate its first regular Hong Kong (HKG) to Madrid (MAD) two-way flight for Cainiao with a 747 freighter carrying more than 100 tonnes of parcels, all of which contained high-tech products and consumer goods exporting from the sellers on AliExpress e-commerce platform. Starting as a weekly frequency, provision was made for the flights to be gradually increased to three per week, with the flights also connecting via LGG. A primary consequence of ABC withdrawing from the market in Europe is that a significant amount of capacity has left the market, which is likely to trigger a hike in air cargo rates on routes to Asia. ABC’s fleet consists of 18 Boeing freighters (four 747-400ERFs, three 747-400Fs, and eleven 747-8Fs), whereas Atran has three 737 freighters in operation. The combined network of both carriers covers more than 40 destinations worldwide, with all the flights being operated into international cargo hubs. European carriers also affected On Sunday, Europe closed its air space to Russian-owned or controlled planes. On Monday, Russia announced airlines from 36 countries will be banned from using its airspace, in retaliation to Western sanctions. Russia had already barred U.K. airlines from flying to and across the region after Britain imposed a ban on Russian national carrier Aeroflot from landing in the U.K. British Airways (BA) normally operates three weekly round trips between London Heathrow (LHR) and Moscow Domodedovo International Airport (DME). Flightradar24 data showed BA and Virgin Atlantic taking southern routes between Delhi (DEL), Islamabad (ISB) and London (LHR) in order to avoid Russian airspace. Virgin Atlantic's cargo-only flights between LHR and Shanghai (PVG), which normally operate four times per week, is reported to have been suspended. The countries now banned from Russia's airspace are: Albania, Anguilla, Austria, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark — including Greenland, the Faroe Islands—, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. Lufthansa-owned Swiss International Airlines said that it had cancelled flights from Zurich (ZRH) to DME despite Switzerland not appearing on Russia’s list of banned countries. Meanwhile, Lufthansa Cargo tweeted that “due to the ongoing dramatic developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” it will no longer use Russian airspace. Passenger airline flights to Russia will be suspended. Lufthansa Cargo will fly around Russian airspace via a southern routing.” In a statement, Finnair said it had joined “many other European airlines and suspended its flights in Russian airspace for one week. With this action, Finnair prepares for the possible upcoming regulatory changes.” Finnair has cancelled its passenger and/or cargo flights to Seoul (ICN), Osaka (KIX), Tokyo (NRT), PVG and Guangzhou (CAN) in Asia, and to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO) and St. Petersburg (LED) in Russia between Feb. 28 and March 6. Flights to HKG had already been cancelled until the end of March. “Finnair continues to operate passenger and/or cargo flights to Bangkok [BKK], Phuket, Singapore [SIN] and [DEL] but reroutes the flights to avoid Russian airspace. This lengthens the flight times by approximately one hour.”

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