OREANDA-NEWS. Five-year agreements will benefit freight customers at two of the largest airports in the northeastern United States.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo and Delta Cargo have entered a multi-year cargo handling agreement in which Delta Cargo will provide cargo handling for Virgin Atlantic at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Boston's Logan International Airport, effective Aug. 26, 2013 and July 15, 2013, respectively.

“We are delighted to be working with Delta because they are so well established at JFK and in Boston, and share our focus on delivering the highest standards of customer service,” said John Lloyd, Director of Cargo at Virgin Atlantic. “We will continue to offer full Virgin oversight at both facilities to ensure we provide a great customer experience and maintain the reliable and flexible service our customers expect from us. Both airlines are committed to making this partnership the best operational offering at the two airports. We want our customers to benefit from this move and to continue to make us their carrier of choice.”

“This cargo handling agreement with Virgin Atlantic at New York-JFK and Boston represents another facet of the expanding relationship between our two airlines,” said Tony Charaf, senior vice president and chief cargo officer for Delta Cargo. “We anticipate more growth potential from this innovative partnership.”

New York-JFK is Virgin Atlantic's biggest cargo gateway in North America, with four daily wide-body flights and annual cargo volume of nearly 10 million kilos.

Boston is another of Virgin's prime North American cargo markets, generating some 2.5 million kilos of freight annually.