Interview Of Tatyana For Aircargo
AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), the scheduled subsidiary of Volga-Dnepr Group and
Russias largest international cargo carrier, added its fifth and sixth Boeing 747-400 freighters in April. This takes its total fleet to nine 747s, including two B747-200s and one -300.
ABC says the move will enable it to meet continued demand on key routes of its network and helps overcome the delay in the delivery of its new B747-8Fs. Volga-Dnepr Group has five of these on order. Boeing had been due to deliver the first of them this year, but it wont now arrive before February 2011.
Tatyana Arslanova, ABCs executive president, says: By the end of last year, we could see there were markets such as Shanghai that required increased capacity. We were operating nine times a week there, but the additional aircraft will enable us to increase our Shanghai frequency to double-daily.
ABC increased its liftings by more than 20 percent last year, carrying more than 150,000 tonnes of
Air cargo shipment and improving its load factors despite conditions that remained difficult through the first eight months. We saw the market boom from September and tried to add capacity from October. We couldnt do it until this year, but the upturn has continued strongly, Arslanova says.
The carriers main Moscow hub is Sheremetyevo, but it also operates three services a week to Domodedovo Airport, improving connectivity with passenger airlines. It has a secondary hub in Krasnoyarsk, opening up Russias far east.
The first two European airports on the schedule from Moscow were Frankfurt (from where ABC also operates a direct Krasnoyarsk service without reloading) and Amsterdam. Last year a second Dutch airport, Maastricht, was added along with Zaragoza in Spain and Milan Malpensa.
ABC also flies to Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and is increasing its services to the former Soviet republics, the so-called Stans. Last year, twice-weekly services were introduced to Almaty, Kazakhstan, and weekly flights to Atarau, Kazakhstan, and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
In addition to its own network, ABC has interline agreements with Nippon Cargo Airlines, Air Canada, Emirates and Cargolux. But there is considerable expertise in-house and Volga-Dnepr Group operates what it calls a Cargo Supermarket, providing a range of solutions and services through the different equipment offered by ABC and its sister carrier, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, which serves the outsize and heavy cargo charter market with an Antonov and Ilyushin fleet. Completing the supermarket are back-up services such as insurance and maintenance.
This one-stop shop philosophy is best exemplified by the service to Afghanistan ABC added last summer, the first scheduled commercial flights since military operations began there in 2001. The carrier serves Kabul via Bishkek each week, carrying a range of supplies including construction materials to help Afghanistan develop its infrastructure. The service leverages 10 years of experience Volga-Dnepr Airlines has built up through its An-124 and IL-76s charters into the country.
In Europe, Wallenborn was appointed to look after ABCs distribution needs beyond its main hubs since January. The company scheduled trucking services to around 100 airports across Europe and its role looks set to grow, since Arslanova says ABC is looking to add new European destinations to its network following the expansion of its fleet
The idea increasingly is to transit Moscow, rather than rely on it as an O&D market. ABC was already connecting Europe with China 28 times a week before the arrival of the new freighters, and claims the most efficient transit times over Russian airspace.
Development of routes linking Europe, Moscow, central Asia and China not only helps correct Russias longstanding
airfreight imbalance, but also enables ABC to deploy its 747 Classics more efficiently. Arslanova says: We will gradually replace them as they have higher fuel and maintenance costs, but meantime try to find the most appropriate work for the Classics. They are more focused on shorter, European routes and charter work.
The imbalance in Russian airfreight imports and exports remains significant because Russias main exports are unsuited to
air transportion, except for specialized industrial equipment, exhibition materials and so on. ABC is overcoming this with its expanding network linking Europe, Russia, central Asia and China, and is seeing load factors increase.
In the longer term, Arslanova believes Russian manufacturers can switch towards high-tech goodsnot mobile phones, but proucts like automotive and aviation parts. But poor regional airport infrastructure and outdated systems continue to hamper domestic airfreight development.
Regional Russian airports are not ready to handle transit or export cargo. Volumes internally are 10 times less than in the US or Europe, Arslanova says.
Were trying to build relationships with other carriers, but if youre going on from Krasnoyarsk to the oilfields of Sakhalinsk, for example, you have to charter an Antonov or Ilyushin because it cant handle 747s.
Infrastructure will only develop when there is enough demand. If you need to move cargo through Ulyanovsk or Samara, handling and Customs procedures mean you can be almost as fast by truck as by plane. Russian airlines need to take risks, talk to potential customers and try to attract business from road, rail and even the rivers.
by: carla
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