While many of the world’s major cargo carriers are reporting low, or even negative, growth in air freight demand, Russia-based AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) continues to go from strength to strength.
The carrier, the scheduled-service subsidiary of the Volga-Dnepr Group, said cargo volume in August was up by more than 14% y-o-y to 39,000 tonnes. For the first eight months of 2015, ABC’s volume was up 17% to 300,000 tonnes. Cargo traffic for the period (measured in freight tonne kilometers flown) was up 22%, as the carrier continued to add longer routes, particularly to North America.
AirBridge’s fleet includes six 747-8Fs, five 747-400ERFs, three 747-400Fs, one 747-400BCF (operated on an ACMI basis by Air Atlanta Icelandic), and three 737-400Fs. However, parent Volga-Dnepr signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Boeing at the Paris Air Show this year for up to twenty more 747-8Fs, so the composition of the fleet will change dramatically over the next few years. Cargo Facts believes Boeing will deliver the first of the twenty 747-8Fs (60117) to the Russian carrier later this month or early October, with a second (60118) reportedly to follow later in October, and a third (60119) at an as yet undetermined date.
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