British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia may have to give up take-off and landing slots for their Oneworld transatlantic alliance to go ahead, the Financial Times reported. The airlines had planned to deepen the pact to take advantage of the US/EU “Open Skies” agreement, with the focus on routes between the United States, Mexico, Canada, the EU, Norway and Switzerland. But earlier the EU regulators said the plan may violate antitrust rules on restrictive business practices. … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: BA, AA, Iberia may have to give up slots

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), part of Volga-Dnepr Group, is launching a new B747 freighter service from one of its European gateways at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Tokyo, Japan. ABC said that the new B747-400 all-cargo flight has been launched in response to demands for capacity on the route from its freight forwarding customers. The Russian carrier will open the new weekly route as part of its 2009/10 winter schedule and will fly via AirBridgeCargo’s main hub at … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: AirBridgeCargo expands network to Tokyo

On 24 November 2009 Kuban Airlines is launching a scheduled air service from Krasnodar to Dubai (UAE). Kuban Airlines is an airline based in Krasnodar, southern Russia and operates domestic schedules within Russia, along with international charters. Its main base is Krasnodar International Airport and started operations in 1932 as a division of Aeroflot. It was privatised in 1992 and is now owned by the state (51 per cent) and the airline employees (49 per cent). … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Kuban Airlines Opens Air Service to Dubai

Lufthansa Cargo has seen the toll of the collapsed cargo market leave a trail of red ink across the group’s Logistics Division with profits over the first three quarters crashing from a 2008 profit of €160 million to a 2009 loss of €200 million. According to Stephan Gemkow, Lufthansa Group’s chief financial officer, capacity utilisation recovered in the third quarter of the year, “but this was only possible at considerably reduced rates”. … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Lufthansa Cargo posts bleak results

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), part of Volga-Dnepr Group, is launching a new Boeing 747 freighter service from Amsterdam, one of its European gateways, to Almaty, Kazakhstan. The weekly flight commenced on 5 October and operates via ABC’s hub at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. Almaty is a new destination for AirBridgeCargo and the carrier says it sees significant potential in the Kazakhstan market and expects to attract a wide range of cargo shipments, including high value, … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: New Amsterdam, Almaty service for ABC

From January to September, Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport handled 196,175 tonnes of air cargo, a drop of 23.9 per cent compared with a year earlier, according to the Israel Airports Authority (IAA). During September Ben Gurion airport handled 21,452 tonnes, a 15.8 per cent drop compared to the same period last year during which 25,476 tonnes were handled. Belly cargo flown by passenger aircraft amounted to 12,091 tonnes in September – import 5,151 tonnes and export … [Read more...] about MIDDLE EAST: Israeli air cargo volumes follow trends