We recently reported on the alleged start-up of operations by Air China Cargo into Hahn Airport. Now it seems that Hahn will have another freight carrier on the apron.
The new addition is actually an old friend and one which apparently will not be a regular guest at the Hunsruck airport.
Air Cargo Global, which is basically the old Air Cargo Germany, is said to be starting test flights and shortly after operations to and from the Far East within the coming days with one Boeing
747-400SF. “We have obtained all required permits,” confirms Head of Maintenance Peter Rippel of “the first Slovakian long-range cargo airline,” as the carrier presents itself.
Our information shows a strange operating modus.
ACG, which is now a Slovakian registered airline under new ownership and leadership plans to use the old Air Cargo Germany aircraft for future freight services.
We understand that the first aircraft has just finished its maintenance and flight tests and is ready for service. A total overhaul was performed by Haitec Maintenance, which are based at Hahn
airport.
As to, and when the second aircraft will join, is still an open issue, although rumors are that it will be as early as September of this year.
The Hahn operation is apparently only a weekly charter to and from Shanghai.
Or, will it be Zhengzhou?
It has been stated that the official ACG base is going to be at Frankfurt’s Rhine-Main airport, from where ACG will also operate flights to and from the Far East.
Who is meant to be using this aircraft from Rhine-Main, is still an open question.
Well known ACG faces
Could it be that the weekly operation out of Hahn is meant to be in cooperation with the WCCA group which was recently set up between Hahn airport’s management and the local Zhengzhou
government?
Does it really make sense for a carrier, which has just been reborn and only has two aircraft, to have a split operation out of both FRA and HHN?
The new ACG management is made up partly of some of the old Air Cargo Germany heads. Among them, well known names such as Alexander Kirichenko, Andrey Goryashko or the aforementioned Peter
Rippel.
Our colleagues at Loadstar also recently reported a possible tie-up between the new ACG and TransAVIA, which is a Belarus registered carrier operating a fleet of somewhat outdated IL-76F’s. It
was further stated that maybe TransAVIA will take the complete capacity on the ACG aircraft.
Could this be a means of ACG getting financial support through the Belarus government in order to keep these aircraft in the air? “No, we don’t. Instead, our TransAVIA relation is based on a
loose commercial cooperation, without any binding financial ties,” manager Rippel clarifies. He went on to say that at the beginning the carrier will operate only charter flights. “These we hope
to soon turn into scheduled services on routes between Europe and Far East.” The second aircraft, a Boeing 747-400 construction freighter, ACG expects to deploy in September. “Provider is an
airline which we have signed a lease contract with,” Peter states. By then, the carrier’s 747-400SF will be repainted and get its final Air Cargo Global look with a globe at the
rudder.
Will HHN welcome more all-cargo carriers soon?
The Air China Cargo operation into Hahn is still planned to start as of early September with three weekly flights.
We hear that Hahn’s cargo management is presently negotiating with other potential operators into Hahn.
Whether there is a tie in with these negotiations and Air China Cargo and Air Cargo Global services remains a tightly kept secret for the time being.
Still! - another aircraft operating from Hahn can only be good for the airport, which at least on the cargo side, seems to be getting things moving somewhat more positively forward.
John Mc Donagh / Heiner Siegmund
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