OREANDA-NEWS. Effective from May 9th, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, the largest Russian scheduled cargo airline and part of Volga Dnepr Group, is further expanding its services in Central Europe by introducing direct services to/from Munich with a Boeing 747 freighter.

The new Munich flight to Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport will be in addition to the existing 4 weekly Boeing 737 flights operated by Atran Cargo Airlines, also part of Volga Dnepr Group. ABC B747 all-cargo flight between the Bavarian capital and ABC hub in Moscow Sheremetyevo will be on Friday midday, providing ideal end of the week departure time for European customers.

"As Southern Germany continues to be a major industrial growth factor, decision to further expand our services by introducing direct Boeing 747 flight from Munich to Moscow was a logical step for us. This will increase ABC's ability to offer customers in Germany fast connections to and from the Russian market as well as to the airline's international network via its Moscow hub', enthuses Andrey Andreev, Head of ABC Business Development in Europe.

“Being able to offer connections to the largest Asian gateways such as Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo-Narita will make ABC a top product for the Bavarian air cargo community, and direct freighter link between the Bavarian capital and Russia will add attractiveness to our product”, says Walter Morris, Head of Business Development of ABC in Southern Germany.

“Our main strategy, as it has always been, is to be flexible in introducing new routes and destinations to our customers. We pay particular attention to market changes and are constantly searching for new markets and destinations. Our decision to introduce the new service was motivated by increased customer demand for cargo services from Germany to Russia and to Asia. In the first quarter of 2014, we increased export traffic from Germany to Russia by 51%, way above market trends, and we also recorded strong demand on our routes from Germany to Asia”, says Denis Ilin, Executive President ABC.

Germany has always been one of the most important markets contributing to ABC's growth over the last decade. Earlier this year ABC launched scheduled B747 services to and from Leipzig, extending the Group's strong association with the airport, where it has invested in a modern aircraft maintenance and repair facility to serve a variety of aircraft types (Boeing 747-200/300/400/8 (CF-50/80, PW4000), Boeing 737CL.

AirBridgeCargo's scheduled network covers major markets in Asia (China, Japan and Korea), Europe (the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden) and North America (Chicago, Dallas). The airline's fleet is one of the youngest in the industry and includes 12 Boeing747: four Boeing 747-400ERF, three B747-400F and five brand new Boeing 747-8F. The average fleet age is about 4 years. The airline provides industry specific transport solutions by air is capable of transporting any type of cargo, including shipments requiring special handling or a temperature-controlled environment.