Cargolux officials said the latter merit, in particular, provides them with greater flexibility with their operations in Ecuador — the majority of which involve flower transportation. In the press release, they also pointed out that Cotopaxi airport’s cargo facilities feature cool rooms with space for several wide-body freighters. Plus, they added, “The excellent roads that connect the flower producers with the airport will make cargo operations on the ground faster, safer and easier for all players involved.”
A favorable infrastructure for cargo is also a key reason why the Luxembourg-based carrier began flying to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2007, Cargolux’s Ian Morgan told Air Cargo World. Unlike the booming flower exportation business in Ecuador, however, Cargolux was attracted to Atlanta’s strong presence in the automotive and manufacturing sectors.
“Geographically, Atlanta is very well-located,” Morgan said. “And it’s been an airport that has been easy to communicate with — the infrastructure there and the people at the airport are readily accessible.” He said it’s competitive from a cost standpoint, as well.
“And the reason an airline flies anywhere is because there’s demand from the customer base,” Morgan added. “This has definitely been the case in Atlanta.”
He also revealed to Air Cargo World that Cargolux is “constantly reviewing” its flight schedule to Hartsfield-Jackson to determine whether more than thrice-weekly service is needed. “I mean, the market is very volatile at the moment, but it’s one of the airports that is definitely high on the list of seeing how we can increase capacity,” Morgan said. “We can increase capacity by increasing capacity on the existing forum or we can increase flights into Atlanta; both of those are very viable options for us at the moment.”