Some good news from Russia and Ukraine

Since the start of the unrest in Eastern Ukraine, relations between Ukraine and Russia have deteriorated rapidly. However, Ruslan International, the joint venture between Ukraine-based Antonov Airlines and Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Airlines has so far kept above the fray.

There may be little love between Russia and Ukraine, but in an interview with Cargo Facts’ European editor Alex Lennane, Ruslan’s Business Development Manager Michael Goodisman said “The joint venture between Antonov Airlines and Volga-Dnepr carries on. There are no issues, including for operations in and out of the US.” Ruslan markets the capacity of the seventeen An-124 freighters operated by the two airlines, and while the drawdown of US military involvement in the Middle East has cut into its military charter work, Mr. Goodisman said commercial work was on the rise, “probably reflecting the general cargo market.”