ABC Shows its Flag in Vietnam

Back in 2004, Volga-Dnepr’s line-haul arm ABC has first started serving the Asian markets. Ever since, the Moscow-headquartered carrier has increased its presence in the buoyant region, offering line-haul flights to various destinations in China, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan.

Next logical step
On April 1, a further mosaic stone was added to the carrier’s route map in the APAC region. “Hanoi is our 8th online station in Asia and we aim to become a trustworthy partner that will benefit the Vietnamese airfreight industry for both exports and imports,” states Joanna Li, ABC’s APAC Vice President. For decades the world has witnessed how East Asia has emerged as the world’s largest manufacturing engine, while it has simultaneously become one of the fastest emerging global consumer markets as result of fast spreading buying power. Therefore, entering the Vietnamese market is a logical next step in developing the strategically important Asian region, holds ABC.
“Vietnam’s market development is another bright example of the region’s strength and continued potential and we are excited to start serving our customers there. We are confident that the new Hanoi service will complement our existing network and that this will benefit our clients,” said Robert van de Weg, ABC’s Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing.

13th Wings of Russia Award
In the meantime, the Volga-Dnepr Group which AirBridgeCargo is part of, has been honored with a special award to mark its ‘Contribution to the development of Russian air transport’ in the annual Wings of Russia Awards to recognize excellence in commercial air transport.
It’s already the thirteenth Wings of Russia award to be presented to the Group. Its charter airline, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, and its scheduled cargo airline, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, have previously won the ‘Airline of the Year - Cargo Carrier on Domestic and International Routes’ award. Volga-Dnepr Airlines has been honored seven times and AirBridgeCargo on four occasions since the awards began in 1997.
This is the first time the Wings of Russia Awards has included a category to acknowledge a company’s outstanding contribution to the development of Russian aviation. Volga-Dnepr’s most recent award, prior to this latest success, came in 2013 when it won the ‘Best Business Project in Russian Civil Aviation’ category.
Volga-Dnepr Group has a total headcount of 3,300 around the world and operates a fleet of 13 Boeing 747 freighters, including six of the latest generation B747-8Fs, 10 Antonov An-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ freighters, five modernized IL-76TD-90VD and two Boeing 737-400Fs. Part of the wide-spread Volga conglomerate is also their aircraft maintenance and repair unit, Volga-Dnepr Technics.

Heiner Siegmund