AIRBRIDGECARGO APPOINTS AIRLINK CARGO AS NEW GSA TO GROW U.S. PACIFIC NORTHWEST MARKET

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) is continuing to build its presence in the Americas with the appointment of Airlink Cargo LLC as its GSA in the Pacific-Northwest region of the United States.

The airline has achieved strong growth in the U.S market since the introduction of its first route in North America in 2011 linking Moscow and Chicago. This year, ABC has doubled its weekly Boeing 747 freighter services to and from Chicago and opened a second route to Dallas/Fort Worth. This winter it will operate seven flights a week from Chicago and three services a week ex Dallas/Fort Worth.

ABC is celebrating 2014, the tenth anniversary of its first flight, with its best-ever performance figures and its success has been significantly boosted by growing U.S cargo volumes. In the first nine months of this year, ABC’s achieved a 55% increase in traffic from North America. This also contributed to ABC’s record start to 2014 with its overall 16% growth in tonnage in the first six months to 188,354 tonnes, and an average load factor across its global network of 72%.

Increasing its sales presence in the Americas comes as growing consumer confidence in the U.S. and steady month-on-month growth in the market indicates a strong end to 2014 and a positive outlook for 2015.

Based in Portland, AirLink will represent AirBridgeCargo in seven northwest states; Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada). Its team will provide dedicated sales and customer service support for ABC’s flights from the U.S. to Europe, Russia and Asia. AirLink will leverage its seven years of sales and trans-oceanic export/import experience to provide personalized and timely services for ABC’s customers in the growing northwest market.

"Airlink Cargo is a dynamic and highly customer-oriented organization, and we are very pleased to have them join the AirBridgeCargo team in the Americas,” said Hendrik Falk, the airline’s Vice President, North and South America. Jim Reeves, President of Airlink Cargo, added: "We are thrilled to represent such a quality-driven and fast-growing all-cargo carrier and look forward to providing customers in the region with the highest possible service levels."

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About AirBridgeCargo Airlines

AirBridgeCargo Airlines, part of Volga-Dnepr Group, is one of the world’s fastest-growing all-cargo airlines with its yearly tonnage compound growth rate of 39%. It connects the world’s largest cargo flows from Asia to Europe and the United States via Russia using a modern and efficient Boeing 747 all-cargo fleet of 12 aircraft, and maintains a high level of on-time performance averaging 78%. As an all-cargo carrier, ABC has the ability to temperature-control each of the Boeing 747’s four cargo compartments to between 4-29°C, ensuring a flexible, safe and reliable transportation environment for high value pharmaceuticals. ABC is member of IATA, the Cool Chain Association, TAPA, and Cargo 2000.