ABC’s expansion paves way for improved results, already 15pc up yoy January-October
AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), has reported it carried more than 575,000 tonnes of cargo in the first 10 months of 2017, 15 per cent up year-on-year (yoy).
The company said the performance was across all major markets and it expects a positive outlook through the end of the year. Complementing the gains, ABC’s load factor rose four per cent year-on-year, entering Q4 at 71 per cent.
ABC attributed the growth to its fleet expansion strategy, the development of ‘special cargo’ services and the introduction of new destinations.
“The company’s volume growth was facilitated by increasing bi-directional trade flows on the Europe-Asia lane, where exports from Europe to Asia were nearing the level of volumes from Asia to Europe at 36 and 37 per cent respectively,” said Sergey Lazarev, general director for AirBridgeCargo Airlines.
“The freight corridors demonstrating significant growth rates for this period were South-East Asia-North America, South-East Asia-Europe, Europe-Japan/Korea and Europe-North America, which saw 53, 52, 49 and 23 per cent increases respectively, not only for general cargo but for special commodities as well. Some lanes stood out in terms of special cargo transportation demand, specifically automotive spare parts from Europe to North America and aerospace equipment from South East Asia to North America.”
Apart from market recovery and economic upturn, a major part of ABC’s growth is due to the refinement of its sales structure. During the year, ABC continued the development of its centralised sales structure, complemented by regional expertise, instead of relying on a GSA network in the regions where ABC has a footprint, transforming this into a competitive advantage through 24/7 availability.
“The carrier has reaped the rewards of its focused product development strategy, which has been at the forefront of ABC’s operations for the last year,” said Lazarev. “We achieved strong gains in ‘special cargo’ volumes, with temperature-controlled pharma shipments heading the list (+153 per cent), off-size and heavy (+32 per cent), e-commerce (+22 per cent) and dangerous goods (+10 per cent). Throughout the whole year, ABC has been developing product structures with dedicated and qualified staff at all levels - sales, customer service, operations, and procurement - which has helped to reinforce handling procedures and control processes required.
“We have approached peak season and Q4 well prepared in terms of fleet availability, with recently-deployed brand new B747-8F equipment ensuring sufficient capacity to accommodate additional volumes. Our well-balanced network and newly-integrated destinations provide extensive transportation connections and cater to the needs of our customers world wide, with connectivity options through our hub in Moscow Sheremetyevo airport.”
ABC reported 15 growth in the first 10 months of 2017.
AirBridge Cargo posted good payloads all year.
