AIRBRIDGECARGO ADDS MUNICH TO ITS GROWING LIST OF EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS

NEWS RELEASE

Please find here a news release issued today by Volga-Dnepr Group:  
Media contact: Jamie Roche, JRPR
Date: 30 April 2014
T:  + 44 (0) 1344 631880/1/3
E:  jamie@jamierochepr.co.uk

Effective from May 9th, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, the largest Russian scheduled cargo airline and part of Volga Dnepr Group, is expanding its services in Central Europe by introducing direct services to and from Munich with a Boeing 747 freighter.

The new Munich flight to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport will be in addition to the four existing weekly Boeing 737 flights operated by Atran Cargo Airlines, also part of Volga Dnepr Group. The B747 all-cargo flight between the Bavarian capital and ABC’s hub in Moscow operate every Friday at midday, providing an ideal end of the week departure time for European customers.

"As Southern Germany continues to be a major industrial growth area, the decision to expand our services by introducing a direct Boeing 747 flight from Munich to Moscow was a logical step for us. This will increase ABC’s ability to offer customers in Germany fast connections to and from the Russian market as well as to the airline’s international network via its Moscow hub,” said Andrey Andreev, Head of ABC Business Development in Europe.

"Being able to offer connections to the largest Asian gateways such as Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo-Narita will make ABC a top product for the Bavarian air cargo community, and the direct freighter link between the Bavarian capital and Russia will add attractiveness to our product," added Walter Morris, Head of Business Development of ABC in Southern Germany.

"Our main strategy, as it has always been, is to be flexible in introducing new routes and destinations to our customers. We pay particular attention to market changes and are constantly searching for new markets and destinations. Our decision to introduce the new service was motivated by increased customer demand for cargo services from Germany to Russia and to Asia. In the first quarter of 2014, we increased export traffic from Germany to Russia by 51%, way above market trends, and we also recorded strong demand on our routes from Germany to Asia," says Denis Ilin, Executive President ABC.

Germany has always been one of the most important markets contributing to ABC’s growth over the last decade. Earlier this year ABC launched scheduled B747 services to and from Leipzig, extending the Group’s strong association with the airport, where it has invested in a modern aircraft maintenance and repair facility to serve a variety of aircraft types.

AirBridgeCargo’s scheduled network covers major markets in Asia (China, Japan and Korea), Europe (the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden) and North America (Chicago, Dallas). The airline’s fleet is one of the youngest in the industry and includes 12 Boeing 747: four Boeing 747-400ERF, three B747-400F and five brand new Boeing 747-8F. The average fleet age is about 4 years. The airline is capable of transporting any type of cargo, including shipments requiring special handling or a temperature-controlled environment.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines is member of IATA, the Cool Chain Association, Cargo 2000 and TAPA. In 2014 the airline turned 10 years.

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VIRGIN ATLANTIC TAKES HOME ‘CARGO AIRLINE OF THE YEAR’ AWARD

NEWS RELEASE

Please find here a news release issued today by Virgin Atlantic Cargo  
Media contact: Jamie Roche, JRPR
Date: 30 April 2014

T:  + 44 (0) 1344 631 880/1/3

E:  jamie@jamierochepr.co.uk

Virgin Atlantic Cargo has been named ‘Cargo Airline of the Year’ in the prestigious annual awards organised by Air Cargo News, based on votes from its 54,000 readers globally.

John Lloyd, Director of Cargo at Virgin Atlantic, was presented with the award by Mark Whitehead, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) at a gala awards dinner in London attended by over 500 air cargo industry leaders from around the world.   

John said: “We are extremely proud to have been voted ‘Cargo Airline of the Year’ by the readers of Air Cargo News in the year when we celebrate our 30th anniversary. On behalf of everyone at Virgin, I want to thank all of our customers that took the time to vote for us. We are really passionate about customer service and we instil this in everyone in our business. To win this award where we are judged alongside the world’s leading air cargo carriers, is therefore very special indeed.”

Cargo Airline of the Year is the world's oldest air cargo awards event having started 31 years ago. Each year, customers across the industry are invited to vote for their favourite carriers based on their efficiency, service and ease of use.

Winning the award comes just days after Virgin Atlantic Cargo reported better than expected results for 2013 with a turnover of £225.3m. During the year, the airline achieved a 5% increase in tonnage to 224,500 tonnes as well as its highest-ever cargo load factor of 76%, up 6% year-on-year and well ahead of the industry average.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo has won 13 industry awards since 2002 for the quality of its customer service and operational performance.

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AIRBRIDGECARGO STARTS ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR WITH A RECORD START TO 2014

NEWS RELEASE

Please find here a news release issued today by Volga-Dnepr Group:
Media contact: Jamie Roche, JRPR
Date: 28 April 2014
T:  + 44 (0) 1344 631880/1/3
E:  jamie@jamierochepr.co.uk

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), Russia’s largest cargo airline, has commenced its 10^th anniversary year with the strongest first quarter in its history, with tonnage up nine per cent in Q1 to 86,500 tonnes.   

ABC says its growth reflects market improvements in Russia, Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific as well as the success of its own sales activities. Freight ton-kilometres in the first three months of 2014 rose by 13%, far exceeding the industry average of 4% growth in the months of January and February.

Load factor for Q1 was 71%, again considerably higher than the industry average.  

Continuing its network growth in the first three months of 2014, ABC added Dallas, Leipzig and Malmo as new on-line destinations and increased its frequencies to and from Chicago. The additional operations strengthen ABC’s position in the European and North American air cargo markets. By adding new destinations and improving connectivity with its Moscow hub, ABC is able to offer an increased choice of routes and connections for its international customers.

The airline’s continued focus on improving its performance levels led to further gains in Q1, increasing its Delivered-As-Promised performance to 78%.

AirBridgeCargo celebrated the 10^th anniversary of its first commercial flight on 23^rd April 2014. Its maiden flight in 2004 was between Moscow’s Domodedovo airport and Beijing. ABC started as a Volga-Dnepr Group project and over its subsequent 10-year journey has earned its place among the world’s major international cargo airlines.

When Volga-Dnepr Group launched ABC in 2004, it was the first Russian all-cargo scheduled airline. In those early days the airline operated a single B747-200 and served five destinations but now ABC is proud to operate a fleet of 12 Boeing 747 freighters (5 Boeing 747-8 and 7 Boeing 747-400), one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the air cargo industry, and serves 23 on-line destinations all over the world.

Its route network connects the largest cargo flows on Asia-Russia-Europe-USA tradelanes. By optimising its route network ABC offers its customers freight deliveries within 48 hours on almost all of its routes, an offer considered highly attractive by clients all over the world.

In 2013, AirBridgeCargo Airlines carried 340,000 tonnes and flew 2,609,000 FTKs, achieving an average load factor achieved of 72%, considerably above the industry average. ABC is recognised as the air cargo leader in the Russian market with a market share of over 30% on major routes into Russia. For several years, ABC has also earned a leadership position on other routes all over the world.

ABC has delivered on its commitment to constantly finding ways to improve the airline’s quality and performance results. On time performance of ABC services has been constantly improving over the decade which led to increase of its Delivered-As-Promised index. ABC is also adopting Cargo 2000’s quality management system and has been accredited for meeting the international compliance standards of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA).

ABC today is an important part of Volga-Dnepr Group’s ‘cargo supermarket’ portfolio and plays a significant role in the global air cargo market. Despite or possibly even due to the harsh economic market conditions, ABC has achieved year-on-year growth and development thanks to the hard work of its highly-skilled international team as well as its flexibility, open minded customer relationships and its continued drive to serve its client.

Denis Ilin, Executive President of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, said: “Today is a proud milestone for our company and a tribute to all of the members of the ABC team around the world and our parent Volga-Dnepr Group for enabling us to achieve our strategic goals over the first 10 years of our development. Most of all we say thank you to our customers for their support and trust in us. We value long-term partnerships and look forward to achieving further growth together.”  

  

   

ABC is targeted for another prosperous decade of its development with future plans of increasing modern freighter fleet, route network covering more countries in the world committed to provide further quality products to the clients who rely on ABC services and to the new potential customers.

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VIRGIN ATLANTIC CARGO EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS WITH £225.3 MILLION REVENUES IN 2013 AND RECORD LOAD FACTORS

NEWS RELEASE

Please find here a news release issued today by Virgin Atlantic Cargo  
Media contact: Jamie Roche, JRPR
Date: 24 April 2014

T:  + 44 (0) 1344 631 880/1/3

E:  jamie@jamierochepr.co.uk

VIRGIN ATLANTIC CARGO EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS WITH £225.3 MILLION REVENUES IN 2013 AND RECORD LOAD FACTORS

Virgin Atlantic Cargo today reported a healthy turnover of £225.3m for 2013, exceeding expectations in a challenging global market.

The year ended December 31^st 2013 saw the airline achieve the highest ever average cargo load factor in its 30-year history of 76%, up 6% year-on-year and well ahead of the industry average.

Tonnage carried by Virgin Atlantic was 5% higher at 224,500 tonnes in 2013 in a market that declined 0.5% overall. Revenues were down 3% compared to the previous year, reflecting the airline’s 7% reduction in capacity over the year.

John Lloyd, Director of Cargo for Virgin Atlantic, said: “Our 2013 results show that we outperformed the market for a second consecutive year and increased our share by 5% at a time when many of our major competitors’ businesses were in decline. The excessive amount of cargo capacity that started to return to the market in 2013 continued the downward pressure on yields but we have clearly been more successful in managing this challenge than many other carriers.”  

Asia Pacific produced Virgin Atlantic’s biggest cargo gains in 2013 with a 12% increase in tonnage and a 3% rise in revenues. Tonnage on its Americas network was 5% higher and the Europe, Middle East and Africa region grew 3%.

Virgin Atlantic Chief Executive Craig Kreeger commented: “Virgin Atlantic has made good progress in 2013. Our cargo business has again made a valuable contribution to the airline and demonstrated its ability to grow despite a continued stagnation in the global freight market.” 

During the year Virgin Atlantic achieved particularly strong gains on its Mumbai-London route with year-on-year gains of 24% and 44% in November and December indicating increased growth potential for 2014. Garment shipments were higher and the airline saw increased pharmaceutical and perishable shipments to and from India. Other strong contributors to the airline’s cargo performance were its ex Caribbean routes during the first quarter of the year and flights from Newark to the UK. Services from London to Boston, Miami and Vancouver also reported above-average tonnage improvements.

Shipments of fresh salmon to destinations including New York, Shanghai, Dubai and Johannesburg and the carriage of perishables from the U.S., Australia and South Africa in the first six months of the year contributed over 16,000 tonnes of cargo toward Virgin Atlantic’s total 2013 uplift. 

Virgin Atlantic says its key priorities for 2014 will be its e-AWB and Cargo 2000 quality programmes as well as increasing the development of its joint venture with Delta Cargo to benefit customers on both sides of the Atlantic. “In the future we hope our customers will be able to benefit from enhanced frequencies on some of the most popular routes, new destinations, new products and services and more convenient joint drop-off and collection points,” John added.  

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Virgin Atlantic Cargo Supports the World's Most Stylish Charity Easter Egg Hunt

NEWS RELEASE

Please find here a news release issued today by Virgin Atlantic Cargo:

Media contact: Jamie Roche, JRPR
Date: 22 April 2014
T:  + 44 (0) 1344 631880/1/3
E:  jamie@jamierochepr.co.uk

To download this article as a pdf click here

VIRGIN ATLANTIC CARGO SUPPORTS THE WORLD’S MOST STYLISH CHARITY EASTER EGG HUNT

Giant Easter eggs designed by handpicked British artists such as Ronnie Wood, Marc Quinn and Ben Shine touched down in New York City courtesy of Virgin Atlantic Cargo for the annual Big Egg Hunt, which is raising money for disadvantaged children and endangered wildlife.

Virgin carried 11 eggs from London free of charge to support the event sponsored by Fabergé, the iconic artist jeweller, and created by Elephant Family. The charity initiative is supported by leading artists and designers and the 2012 hunt in London raised more than £1 million for good causes and found its way into the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest Easter egg hunt.

The eggs, measuring up to 110 cms in height and weighing between 15 and 30 kilos, were hidden around New York City. Saatchi & Saatchi NY developed a smartphone app to help explorers in their search for 270 eggs in total, which also included designs by Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Carolina Herrera and Tracey Emin. The airline also designed its own bespoke egg sculpture entitled 'The Frying Lady', created by its award-winning in-house design team and representing a playful interpretation of Virgin Atlantic’s famous flying lady, who features on its aircraft's livery.

Egg ‘finders’ win a variety of special treats based on the eggs’ corresponding location.

Three lucky winners will take home Fabergé prizes of specially designed jewellery egg pendants with a combined retail price exceeding $125,000.

After going on display at the city’s famous Rockefeller Center, the eggs will be auctioned through online site Paddle8, and Sotheby’s in New York, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to help disadvantaged local children and endangered wildlife. This year the proceeds will be presented to Elephant Family, a charity which is committed to working with local parties in Asia to help save the endangered Asian Elephants from extinction, and Agnes Gund’s Studio in a School arts-based non-profit organisation which enriches the lives of young people in New York through various arts projects.

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