Fort Lauderdale-based Amerijet International signed a long-term lease agreement with Rickenbacker International Airport (LCK, in Columbus, Ohio) for a 20,000 square foot facility, which it will use as the eastern hub in a new US domestic express freight network. The western hub will be at Reno/Tahoe International (RNO, in Reno, Nevada), and Amerijet will offer six weekly 767-200F frequencies connecting the two hubs beginning 7 July this year.
Amerijet will combine the Columbus/Reno air link with road feeder service at both ends to connect the Eastern and Western US.
Amerijet’s Sr. V.P. Business Development Pamela Rollins said, “Amerijet’s dedicated B767 freighter service will provide our customers with additional options for expedited and heavyweight domestic freight. We believe this product fills the need for select services once the mainstay of companies such as Burlington Air Express, Kitty Hawk, Emery and other all cargo carriers who did not survive the economic turmoil of the last decade. Our new freighter service is ideal for shipments moving on long-haul lanes over 1,500 miles, especially those in need of time-critical and high-value, temperature controlled or hazardous material shipments.”
As Ms. Rollins points out, there was once no shortage of airlines offering scheduled US domestic heavyweight freight service, but one-by-one they have gone out of business. Many observers concluded from this that such service is no longer needed, but, obviously, Amerijet thinks differently.
