AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) continued its momentum with a 13% upsurge in total cargo carried in 2017, delivering more than 700,000 tonnes throughout its international network and demonstrating 10% growth rates in FTK, one percent up on the overall market rate. ABC's load factor rose 4% YOY to approximately 71%.
The carrier's success is being spearheaded by the effective realization of its fleet expansion strategy, the development of solutions for special cargoes, and the introduction of new destinations and the upgrading of existing ones as ABC continues to respond proactively to the capacity and service requirements of its customers worldwide.
With robust and solid air cargo growth, ABC witnessed distinct business improvements in all major markets across its global network. The airline's performance was also enhanced by the refinement and reinforcement of its sales structure, which has seen the development of a centralized sales structure complemented by regional expertise.
"In 2017 we concentrated our efforts on the development of special cargo transportation, fine-tuning our internal procedures and processes, aligning our organization structure and going on the path of digitalization, steps which boosted our volumes of special commodities, with temperature pharma heading the list (+150%), followed by off-size & heavy (+33%), and e-commerce (+26%). We have also initiated a number of projects aimed at ameliorating service quality – including the introduction of our new Control Tower to monitor consignments of special cargoes and to proactively respond to service disruptions if any, Envirotainer QEP certification for ABC stations, cooperation with Sky Fresh for automated notifications, and other industry-related initiatives with tech-savvy solutions which helped to sharpen ABC's performance. Our commitment to continuous improvement and strong customer relationships will continue to serve as a pillar for ABC's development in 2018 and beyond,"
highlighted Sergey Lazarev, General Director of AirBridgeCargo Airlines.
In 2018, ABC will beef up its service quality with the main focus on further enhancement of special cargo solutions, not only providing its customers with a wide range of products but also offering digital solutions to make the process of airfreight delivery as transparent and easy as possible. Finding new areas for digital penetration to benefit its customers' experience will be the main driver of ABC's development, based on partnership with forward-thinking trustworthy companies, optimization of internal processes and organizational structure, and customized solutions for certain industries, notably the pharmaceutical, aerospace and oil and gas sectors and others.