ANA Aviation Services, an air management company based in London, decided to base its cargo fleet at Liege Airport in Belgium beginning May 29.
There will be five flights per week on a regular basis, in addition to charter and humanitarian flights. Nordic Global Aviation and Atlas Air will operate flights to and from Liege with two MD-11s and one B747-400.
For Liege Airport, these operations represent an increase in volume by at least 30,000 tonnes per year, or a growth of over 5 percent. Imports will essentially be perishable products such as flowers, fruit and vegetables.
The arrival of ANA will lead to the creation of 80 direct jobs and at least 200 indirect jobs.
Handling of ANA operations will be provided by Liege Air Cargo Handling Services, which, in addition to the new jobs, will invest in additional equipment.
Most of the flights will be operated toward Central and Western Africa.
“For many years, we have been prospecting the African market because it represents a major import-export potential. After Ethiopian Airlines, AV Cargo and Qatar Airways, the arrival of a major operator such as ANA Aviation confirms our leadership in Africa for cargo,” Luc Partoune, general director of Liege Airport, said. “The quality of the services we can offer to the cargo community and the complementary links between airline networks are increasingly attracting players in this sector to us.”
One of the strong points for ANA is the fuel cost. Liege Airport is connected to a NATO pipeline and can thus offer companies the possibility of choosing suppliers, together with the capacity for major stocking and fueling facilities available 24 hours a day.