Turkish Cargo starts weekly perishables service between Istanbul, Liège

One of Europe’s most cargo-friendly airports is now seeing traffic coming from one of the continent’s fastest-growing cargo operations. Starting today, Turkish Cargo will begin weekly service, using an A330-200 freighter, between Istanbul and Liège, thanks in large part to Europe’s growing appetite for perishables.

According to Liège Airport (LGG), the carrier, a subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, will transport mostly perishable goods for customers in France, Germany, Belgium and other European markets. Ground handling operations will be conducted by Aviapartner.

The addition of Turkish is part of a broad cargo strategy at Liège. “Priority is given to companies specializing in cargo,” said Steven Verhasselt, commercial vice president of LGG. “We transported 717,000 tonnes in 2017, which was a record for us, and we aim to exceed 800,000 tonnes in 2018. The Turkish market is very important and is ideally situated at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa”.

İlker Aycı, CEO of Turkish Airlines, said that Turkish Cargo already serves 80 destinations and much more expansion is planned. “Our ambition is to link 120 countries,” he added. “We aim to join the top five companies in the world for our cargo subsidiary with 1.5 million tonnes transported by the end of 2018.”