AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has transported over 80 tonnes of livestock from Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) in Moscow to Vladivostok (VVO) on a Boeing 747-8F charter flight.

Some 719 elite breeding Duroc pigs were safely loaded in double-deck wooden containers and delivered by trucks from Voronezh (Russia) to Sheremetyevo International Airport, before being flown to Vladivostok following strict temperature requirements.

AirBridgeCargo said this is the first in a series of 17 flights under the charter programme which will last until spring 2021. The charter flights will transport pigs coming from Voronezh, Tambov and Bashkortostan.

Nikolay Glushnev, general director of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, commented: “It is great to see the recovery of traditionally strong sectors within our country and we are proud to be part of this major project assisting with our dedicated fleet and experienced logistics practitioners.

“Together with our long-standing and reliable ground handling partner, Sheremetyevo Cargo, we are able to leverage this charter programme, consisting of 17 flights, and guarantee the well-being of the animals within the airport premises, on the apron and during the whole flight.”

Vladimir Teterkin, operation director of Sheremetyevo-Cargo JSC, noted that it is very important for the company to provide a full cycle of ground handling operations at the airport.

“We are glad that our experience in handling large shipments of live animals allowed us to quickly and efficiently prepare the flight for departure. Organizing work in a variety of business—from specifications of packaging materials to strict timings for ground handling operations—we, together with our partner AirBridgeCargo, were able to achieve significant synergy. Of course, the whole process of work was controlled by our own systems of objective telecontrol—this is a feature of our company, which is well known in the aviation industry,“ he added.