OREANDA-NEWS. May 03, 2011. AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), Russia’s largest scheduled cargo airline, has launched services to its first destination in North America with three flights a week to Chicago, becoming the first all-cargo airline with regular flights from the USA to Russia.

The new route will operate from ABC’s hub in Moscow to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport via Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. AirBridgeCargo will serve Chicago with a Boeing 747-400 freighter offering over 100 tons of cargo capacity per flight.

ABC, part of Volga-Dnepr Group, says it has chosen “the windy city” as its first destination in North America as Chicago is the biggest transport hub in the United States and conveniently situated at the intersection of major international air cargo routes.

“The addition of North America to our growing international network is another key milestone in the history of our company. With this new service, we are ready to offer our customers a truly worldwide service and the opportunity to deliver their cargo inter-continentally. We also become the first all-cargo carrier to offer regular services from the United States to Russia, which can only help trade links between the two countries. As such an important market, the USA has always been on our strategic radar screen as we have increased our aircraft fleet and capability and we are extremely confident it will reinforce our position as a strong, international scheduled cargo airline,” said Tatyana Arslanova, Executive President of ABC.

AirBridgeCargo’s network covers major markets in Asia (China, Japan and Korea), Europe (the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) and now North America (Chicago, USA). All flights are operated via ABC’s hubs at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports. The airline has paid particular attention to its choice of ground and cargo handling agents and appointed Menzies Aviation and Swissport respectively at O’Hara International Airport. Since last year, AirBridgeCargo has been represented in the US market by GSSA partner, Network Cargo Systems, and is planning to open its own office in the US by the end of 2011.