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Ruslan International, the joint venture
between Volga-Dnepr Airlines and Antonov
Airlines to market AN-124 freighter
solutions for heavyweight and outsize
cargo, has operated some 250 flights since
its launch in July 2006, generating sales
revenues of nearly $80 million.
Valery Gabriel, President of Ruslan International, said: “The objective in bringing
together the AN-124 fleets of Volga-Dnepr
and Antonov Airlines was to provide better
management of our combined 124 fleet of 17
aircraft and to achieve increased efficiency and
flexibility for our customers. This is at a time of
increased demand for long-term contracts for
the AN-124. Of course, we have had some
teething problems in areas such as internal
scheduling and planning procedures but our
joint team has worked hard to manage this.”
The two airlines’ decision to form the new
marketing venture followed the end of
Antonov Airlines’ marketing agreement with
Air Foyle HeavyLift.
Under the terms of their agreement, Volga-
Dnepr and Antonov Airlines will continue to
operate as separate and distinct businesses.
Co-operation between the two airlines has
been driven by the need to continue to serve
both the ad hoc market and a number of
existing long-term contracts that require the |
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allocation of a significant portion of both
aircraft fleets. These existing long-term,
independent contracts will continue to be
served directly by the respective airline.
The development of Ruslan International is a
response by both Antonov Airlines and Volga-
Dnepr to ensure that their ad hoc commercial
clients continue to receive the high levels of
service they have come to expect while also
enabling both airlines to maintain efficient
pricing based upon aircraft location. Joint fleet
management under the Ruslan International
structure will enable both airlines to reliably
service the ad hoc charter market while at the
same time performing long-term commitments
to corporate and governmental customers.
This project follows the successful launch in
February 2006 of Ruslan Salis by Volga-Dnepr
and Antonov Airlines for the provision of
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AN 124-100 operations in support of NATO
and the EU’s Strategic Airlift Interim Solution
project (SALIS). Ruslan Salis is a joint project
that provides clear customer advantages by
allowing, for example, for a fast fleet build-up
in response to crisis situations around the
world, while saving budget during periods
of low activity.
Ruslan International, along with Ruslan
Salis, will allow for further economies of
scale, including joint pools of spare parts
and loading equipment. The initiative will
also support the efforts of both companies
to restart production of the Antonov
AN-124 aircraft to ensure the long-term
future availability of this unique aircraft in
the global market.
Meet the Ruslan International
commercial team
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the movement of oil and gas equipment from
Texas to Sakhalin Island off the coast of
Russia. ABC operates two IL-76 freighters a
week from its hub in Krasnoyarsk to serve
Sakhalin’s booming oil and gas industry and
has now opened its own office on the island
to manage its services and future
development. |
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AirBridge Cargo has signed an interline
agreement with Continental Airlines.
The agreement supports the ambitions of both
airlines. The US airline has stated its plans to |
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enter the Russian market while AirBridge
expects the Houston-based airline to provide
an important link into its network, notably for |
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AirBridge Cargo (ABC) has been awarded
an Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC) by the
Russian Government, a key milestone in
Volga-Dnepr Group’s strategic
development plan to operate financially
independent and operationally strong
scheduled and charter cargo airlines.
Stan Wraight, Vice President of Volga-Dnepr
Group, responsible for scheduled operations,
said: “AirBridge has been working towards
obtaining its own AOC as part of Volga-
Dnepr’s long-term strategy of having two
core businesses each with its own business
model, dedicated management team and
transparent P&L. As well as ensuring clarity
and focus within our scheduled business,
this development also demonstrates
greater business transparency to industry
partners, such as aircraft suppliers,
financial institutions, government authorities
and, of course, most importantly, our
customer base.”
AirBridge Cargo commenced operations in
May 2004 and is the first Russian all-cargo
airline to operate scheduled services in
Europe, Russia and Asia – and soon in
North and South America. It expects to carry
more than 80,000 tonnes of cargo in 2006,
generating sales revenues in excess of
US$230 million. |
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Volga-Dnepr Group is to sponsor the
British International Freight Association’s
(BIFA) first ever Project Forwarder of the
Year Award, to be presented in London
in January 2007.
Dennis Gliznoutsa, Group Commercial
Director, said: “As the market leader in the
global movement of heavyweight and
outsized air cargo, we are delighted that
BIFA is recognising the vital role project
forwarders play in the supply chains of
businesses all over the world. This award will
help to promote the knowledge and expertise
of these organisations and reward overall
service excellence.
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With its current fleet of four Boeing 747
freighters, ABC offers 10 flights a week ex
Frankfurt and four per week ex Amsterdam to
Russia, providing daily and twice daily services
to Moscow (SVO and DME) and five flights a
week to Krasnoyarsk. ABC also operates
seven services a week to and from Shanghai
and four flights a week to and from Beijing in
China in addition to four services a week from
Nagoya to Russia and Europe and three
flights serving Hong Kong from Frankfurt
and Amsterdam.
ABC will take delivery of three more Boeing
747s in 2007. Two Boeing 747-200Fs will join
its fleet in January and March. In time for its
winter schedules, AirBridge Cargo will also
take delivery of its first new-build Boeing 747-
400ER Freighter. The airline has two 400ERFs
on order with a list price of US$450 million.
The second -400ERF will enter service in 2008. |
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One of Volga-Dnepr Group’s IL-76 fleet is
now permanently based in Krasnoyarsk
to satisfy growing demand for AirBridge
Cargo’s services on routes to the Russian
Far East and the increasing number of
flights to the oil and gas industry on
Sakhalin Island.
AirBridge Cargo is currently the market leader
for scheduled flight operations to Sakhalin.
The IL-76 will provide customers with distinct
advantages especially for urgent cargo
delivered from any point worldwide to
Khabarovsk, Irkutsk and other Russian Far
East and Siberian cities through Krasnoyarsk.
Specific cargo such as oil and gas equipment
for the Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 projects will
be delivered to Krasnoyarsk by ABC’s Boeing
747 services and then transported to Sakhalin
on board the IL-76. This provides for fast and
efficient cargo transportation between Europe,
Asia, the USA and Sakhalin.
Since March 2005, AirBridge Cargo has
operated weekly flights from Frankfurt and |
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“With our fleet of 10 AN-124-100 freighters,
four Boeing 747Fs – operated by AirBridge
Cargo, our scheduled cargo airline – and the
world’s first ICAO Chapter 4-approved
IL76TD-90VD for global operations,
we work closely with project forwarders all
over the world on a daily basis. Together, we
provide solutions to what often first appear
to our customers as ‘impossible’ logistics
challenges. These solutions are on behalf of
a wide range of business and government
sectors, including aerospace, aviation, heavy
construction, oil and gas, automotive,
telecommunications, humanitarian and
peacekeeping operations. We believe this
new BIFA award will demonstrate to these
and other industry sectors the value of
working with professional project forwarders
and their transport partners.”
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Amsterdam to Sakhalin. In 2006, AirBridge
Cargo increased the frequency of its flights
to twice a week and has opened an office
in Sakhalin. |
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Andrew G. Morch has joined AirBridge
Cargo as Regional Director and Area
Manager for The Americas to spearhead
the next stage of the airline’s route
development programme. |
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Volga-Dnepr Group’s scheduled and
charter airline operations transported
a record 95,000 tonnes of freight in the
first nine months of 2006, establishing
the Group as Russia’s largest all-cargo
airline.
Group sales for the period to September
30th 2006 were also the highest in Volga-
Dnepr’s 16-year history, rising 55% over
the same period a year earlier to
US$462 million. Revenues generated by
Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ AN-124-100 and
IL-76 cargo charter services rose 14% and
129% respectively during the nine months
while the Group’s schedule cargo airline,
AirBridge Cargo (ABC) saw its sales
increase to $158.8 million, a year-on-year
increase of 134%.
Volga-Dnepr Group’s development plan
for the final quarter of 2006 should see
sales for the year as a whole of at least
$600 million.
The Group expects to further strengthen
its charter business by increasing its
participation in long-term contracts and
by actively promoting use of its new IL-76
aircraft. It also intends to implement further
fleet and network expansion for AirBridge
Cargo and promote the federal network
development project for cargo hubs
in Russia. Full story |
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Andrew previously held
the post as Director of
Operations, Americas,
for KLM Cargo. In his
new role based in
ABC’s Chicago regional
headquarters, he
manages the airline’s
existing interline and |
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GSA partner relationships in the United States,
Canada and South America and will be
responsible for the launch of AirBridge Cargo’s
own Boeing 747F services from the US to
Russia and Europe in 2007.
AirBridge plans to launch its own Boeing
747ERF services from the Americas in the
fourth quarter of 2007 using the trans polar
routing to Europe via Krasnoyarsk. It will
initially commence all-cargo flights to and from
Houston and New York via Europe to Russia
and beyond. ABC plans to commence with
three services a week, increasing to six flights
a week in early 2008 with the arrival of its
second B747-400ERF.
Stan Wraight, Vice President of Volga-Dnepr
Group responsible for scheduled cargo
operations, said: “The Americas is a very
important market in terms of our future
development strategy and in Andrew Morch,
we have appointed a regional director with
some 20 years’ experience of managing airline
operations, projects and finances and with a
track record of achieving outstanding results.
He is well known to our client base and
partners and his appointment is the first step
in developing AirBridge into a household name
in the Americas.
“We have already started to successfully
develop the Americas market with the help of
our interline partners and we will be reinforcing
these relationships with the introduction of our
own services from major cities in the US to
Russia and beyond. The Russian economy
is extremely vibrant, stimulated by the
tremendous growth in the oil and gas, mining
and consumer goods sectors so we expect
to see strong traffic flows when we start ABC
flights next year.”
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AirBridge Cargo pulled out all the stops
to deliver 193 tonnes of stage equipment
including a giant one tonne glass sphere
from Moscow to Japan for Madonna’s
‘Confessions’ tour following the singer’s
performance at the city’s Luzhniki Stadium.
Madonna appears from the glass sphere at
the beginning of the show.
“AirBridge was chosen to transport this
unique cargo and given only four days |
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notice to plan the shipment, that involved two
of our four Boeing 747F aircraft. We rose to
the challenge and the cargo arrived in good
time for Madonna’s next concert,” commented
Stan Wraight, Vice President, Volga-Dnepr Group. |
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The movement of
freight shipments
onboard ramp loaded
all-cargo aircraft has
been one of the air
cargo industry’s fastest
growing sectors for
more than a decade
and this is set to
continue, Alexey
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the air cargo industry since 1992. AN-124
business over this period has increased by
between 10-12% per annum compared to
an overall global market gain of 6.3%.
Speaking alongside Ulrich Ogiermann,
President and CEO of Cargolux, and Scott
Dolan, President of United Cargo, Mr Isaikin
said the volume of cargo transported on ramp
loaded freighters currently accounts for 1.5%
of the total $59 million air cargo market but
this, he forecast, will grow to 7% or $7.2
billion by the year 2030.
Growth in business from the oil and gas
sector, heavy and light industries, aerospace
companies and aid and relief operations will
all contribute to the development of the
market, supported by the creation of new
aircraft and transportation technologies. |
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AirBridge Cargo is the first Russian
company to join Cargo 2000’s programme
to improve the quality of performance for
the buyers of air cargo services.
Based on detailed customer research and
with the assistance of leading IT companies,
Cargo 2000 has re-engineered the air cargo
transportation process from shipper to
consignee through the creation of a ‘Master
Operating Plan’. This sits at the heart of an
industry-wide process control and reporting
system that in turn drives data management
and corrective action systems. |
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Isaikin, President of Volga-Dnepr Group,
has told an audience of over 500 business
executives.
Addressing The International Air Cargo
Association’s (TIACA) Air Cargo Forum in
Calgary, Canada, Mr Isaikin demonstrated
how growth in the AN-124 freighter market
has continually outpaced average growth for |
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Construction work has commenced on a
new 6,000 square metre cargo terminal
at Yemelyanovo Airport in Krasnoyarsk,
the latest step towards turning the airport
into a world class cargo hub.
Stan Wraight, Vice President of Volga-Dnepr
Group, joined other executives from the
Administration of the Krasnoyarsk region,
Kras Air, Swissport and Nippon Cargo
Airlines at a special ‘ground breaking’
ceremony to mark the launch of the
construction project. The first stage of
the cargo terminal will open in 2007.
ABC has served the airport since 2004.
Full story |
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By reducing the number of individual
processes in the air cargo supply chain
from 40 to just 19, Cargo 2000 is less labor
intensive and improves the processes for
managing shipments in a paperless
environment. It substantially reduces time
spent managing irregularities, such as service
failures, cuts the time required for manual
track and trace procedures and leads to a
reduction is service recovery costs. |
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Cargo 2000’s members include many of the
world’s biggest airlines, logistics organisations,
ground handlers, truckers and IT providers.
Ron Cesana, Project Director of Cargo 2000,
said: “We are delighted that AirBridge Cargo
has recognised the value of joining Cargo
2000. This is a sign of the airline’s
commitment to the quality of its customer
service. Cargo 2000 will eliminate
fragmentation in the worldwide air cargo
industry and deliver a common platform that
brings together reliability, predictability and
proactive shipment management with reduced
costs and improved customer satisfaction.” |
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Operations using Volga-Dnepr’s IL-76
cargo fleet grew 129% in the first nine
months of 2006, boosted by the arrival of
the first new generation IL-76TD-90VD
freighter, currently the only IL-76 to meet
ICAO’s Chapter 4 noise regulations and
be approved for worldwide operations. |
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Volga-Dnepr expects a second IL-76TD-90VD
to join its fleet in October 2007 and forecasts
demand for the 50 tonnes capacity freighter
will require its fleet to grow to at least 17
aircraft of this type by 2011. |
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The decision by AirBridge Cargo to appoint
other airlines as GSA partners in key
markets such as Japan, Australia and
Canada is proving highly successful,
according to Denis Ilyin, Managing Director
of ABC.
ABC has appointed Nippon Cargo Airlines as
its GSA in Japan, Korea and Singapore,
Qantas Airways in Australia and New Zealand
and Air Canada in Canada. The move has
generated healthy traffic flows from all markets
for ABC’s freighter services.
“The concept of using high quality airlines as
GSAs is to expand our reach through strategic
alliances with these carriers in order to extend
ABC’s position as a global carrier. The results
to date are extremely encouraging and we
expect this to continue.” |
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Congratulations to Martin Ziegler of
Chapman Freeborn in Germany who got the most correct |
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answers in our World Cup
2006 Predictions
competition. |
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Martin won a ootball shift of his choice plus an
official World Cup 2006 match ball. |
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Three runners-up also received
football shirts; Slava Frolov of UPSSCS
(CIS) in Ukraine, Justin
Lancaster of Air Charter Service in
London and Youri Busaan of Vatry
International Airport in France.
Thank you to everyone who entered. |
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AirBridge Cargo (ABC) has awarded Volga-Trucks a contract for
ground cargo deliveries within Russia. The contract was signed in
September 2006 and the first assignment, on September 22nd,
was successfully completed from Moscow to Chelyabinsk,
via Nizhny Novgorod.
AirBridge Cargo and Volga-Trucks are both affiliated companies within
Volga-Dnepr Group. The contract between ABC and Volga-Trucks is
designed to work closely with ABC’s third-party Russian trucking
suppliers, who will now support Volga-Trucks as ABC’s primary
supplier. Volga-Trucks, established in 1994, operates a fleet of 17
heavy goods vehicles and has carried cargo on behalf of customers
such as Nestle, Coca-Cola, Volzhanka and Peter-Line.
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Volga-Dnepr Group wishes to congratulate our old friend,
RAF Wing Commander, Andy Green, and the JCB team that
achieved a new world landspeed record for a diesel powered
vehicle of 350.092 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA. |
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The JCB Dieselmax car shattered the
previous record for a diesel powered car
of 235mph set in 1973.
It is the second time Andy has made
the record books. In 1997, Volga-Dnepr
Group was one of the biggest sponsors
of the Thrust SSC team that smashed
the world landspeed record. Thrust SSC
achieved a staggering 763mph in
Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, making
Andy the only driver to have driven at
supersonic speed.
As part of the record-breaking team in
1997, a Volga-Dnepr AN-124 freighter
transported Thrust SSC and all of its
support vehicles and equipment to
speed trials in Jordan and, subsequently,
to and from their successful world
record attempt in the USA. |
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Denis Ilyin, Managing Director of ABC, said:
“To offer our customers a ‘door-to-door’
service is a vital component of our sales
strategy. The contract with Volga-Trucks will
enable our customers to track their freight
into Russia using far more advanced IT
systems than we were able to offer before.”
ABC now also offers customers trucking
solutions for shipments ranging from 1.5 to
20 tonnes from Krasnoyarsk to the Eastern
regions of Russia.
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