Solidifying its reputation as one of the fastest-growing air cargo carriers in the world, AirBridgeCargo had a strong November, with a 27 percent year-over-year tonnage gain, compared to the previous November.
Last month, ABC transported more than 50,000 tonnes of cargo across its global network, which includes Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. For the first 11 months of 2015, the all-cargo carrier’s lift is up 20 percent, y-o-y, totalling 439,000 tonnes of goods.
Without providing more detail, ABC said freight tonne kilometers (FTK) for 2015 so far this year have had average growth of 25 percent.
“In 2015, ABC has continued following its growth strategy, which is based on a combination of operating a highly efficient fleet, network expansion to the points of production and consumption, developing niche destinations with limited belly capacity but stable cargo flows, and a high level of service quality delivered by skilled air cargo professionals,” said Denis Ilin, AirBridgeCargo’s executive president. “This year we have successfully leveraged our internal strengths and external opportunities, and this continues to boost our optimistic outlook to the year-end.”
ABC took delivery of two 747-8Fs this year, the first to arrive as a result of the carrier’s memorandum with Boeing, signed in June at the Paris Air Show. The two aircraft are on lease from Boeing and were “white-tails,” or aircraft leftover from a cancelled order. With this addition, ABC now has eight of this aircraft type. ABC plans to take delivery on two 8Fs every year through 2020 to enhance its service, in addition to increasing connectivity via its Moscow hub.
In September, ABC demonstrated delivered-as-promised performance of 87 percent, becoming one of the top three airlines to reach this level of service. The carrier’s growth this year was also marked by adding more prime cargo routes, such as services to and from Singapore and Hanoi, for a total of nine routes in the Asia-Pacific market. In Europe, it launched service to Helsinki, while in North America, ABC added Los Angeles and Atlanta.