OREANDA-NEWS. AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Russia's largest scheduled cargo airline and part of Volga-Dnepr Group, has been named 'Best All Cargo Carrier' in the 28th Asian Freight & Supply Chain Awards (AFSCA).

Several hundred top transport, logistics and supply chain executives from around the region gathered at The Peninsula in Shanghai on June 17, 2014, for the presentation of the awards, organised by Cargonews Asia. The AFSCA are highly prized in the industry as only shippers can vote for logistics service providers.

The criteria for the 'Best All Cargo Airline' award identified that the winning airline should have clearly set performance standards and clear communication of these standards to shippers, and demonstrate satisfactory and timely resolution of problems should these standards not be met. As well as providing a broad international network, other criteria for the award included the importance of damage-free handling of cargo and the effective use of IT and customer service systems.

Accepting the award in Shanghai, Denis Ilin, Executive President of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, said: “We are honoured to have won this award and especially proud that this recognition should come from our customers as ABC celebrates its 10th anniversary. This is a tribute to the hard work of our teams in Asia and around the world, the support of our parent, Volga-Dnepr Group, and our constant drive to improve the quality of our services. Asia is a vitally-important market to AirBridgeCargo and we look forward to further growth in this dynamic region. This award, which has judged ABC alongside other high quality international cargo airlines, will deepen our commitment to building a world class cargo service and more air bridges between major cargo market across the globe.”

2013 was a record year for AirBridgeCargo Airlines as it carried 340,000 tonnes of cargo and flew 2,609,000 FTKs, achieving an average load factor of 72%, considerably above the industry average. ABC also reinforced its position as the air cargo leader in the Russian market with a market share of over 30% on major routes into Russia. ABC currently operates scheduled cargo flights to 25 destinations in 12 countries, including Hong Kong, China, Japan and Korea, and connects the largest flows of cargo on Asia-Russia-Europe-USA trade routes. The airline also operates one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the air cargo industry with 12 Boeing 747 freighters (5 Boeing 747-8s and 7 Boeing 747-400s).

ABC started its tenth anniversary year with its strongest ever first quarter with tonnage up 9% to 86,500 tonnes in Q1, 2014.

ABC has delivered on its commitment to constantly finding ways to improve the airline's quality and performance results. On-time performance of ABC services has been constantly improving since its launch, which has resulted in a continual increase of its Delivered-As-Promised index.

“We could not have won this award without the loyal support of our customers in Asia,” said Joanna Li, Vice President Asia & Pacific Region. “Motivated by this award, we will continue building long-term relationship with our clients and strive for excellence in providing high-quality air cargo connections for the Asian market,” she added.

Asia, which is one of the largest cargo markets in the world, has always been the key market for AirBridgeCargo Airlines since the very start of its operations back in 2004. Since then the airline has successfully grown its market share in the region and forecasts more growth and development over the next decade, with future plans for more new freighter aircraft and more international cargo routes.