OREANDA-NEWS. April 29, 2010. AirBridgeCargo Airlines has extended its route network into Scandinavia with the launch of a new twice-weekly B747 freighter service from Malmo-Sturup Airport to Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow.

The first flight, operated on April 14th 2010, carried a full load out of Malmoe into Moscow. In Sweden, ABC has appointed Sturup Aviation and Menzies Aviation as its ramp and cargo handling partners.

"The new route is part of ABC’s network development strategy and is in response to commitments of support from customers in Scandinavia that require regular cargo capacity to Russia and onto AirBridgeCargo’s destinations in China, Central Asia and Japan" - pointed out Tatyana Arslanova, Executive president of AirBridgeCargo.

Peter Weinhandl, Director of Malmo Airport, said: “Air cargo development is something Malmo Airport has been strategically working on for a long time. The last 18 months have been rough for the cargo industry as a whole and also for the cargo development at Malmo Airport. We now see positive trends in the economic situation and it is very exciting for us to have AirBridgeCargo adding Malmo Airport to its network. I’m confident that ABC, an airline growing in size and with a clear focus of tomorrow’s business, has chosen a strong market in Malmo that not only covers the growing region of south Scandinavia but also northern European cargo market.”

In the past month, ABC has increased the size of its Boeing 747 fleet to nine aircraft to manage growth in demand for its services. It has taken delivery of two more B747-400 freighters, reinforcing its position as Russia’s largest international cargo carrier.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines is the scheduled cargo business of Volga-Dnepr Group.