The Week in brief
- Volga-Dnepr is to invest more than $400 million in modernizing the AN-124 cargo aircraft. Valery Gabriel, CEO of the group’s charter arm, Volga-Dnepr Airlines, said avionics and engines would be upgraded to comply with latest ICAO standards, beginning in 2013. Gabriel told a Russian media briefing that the company planned to buy 40 new AN-124-300 aircraft by 2030.
- CEIBA Cargo of Equatorial Guinea has selected Aero Cargo, part of the ECS Group, as an offline GSA for Germany. Aero Cargo said it was confident of generating healthy volumes in Germany based on the country’s close business ties with Equatorial Guinea, which has a large oil and gas industry. Cargo will be consolidated at Aero Cargo’s hub in Frankfurt for trucking to Vatry in France, CEIBA’s departure point for its A300 freighter services from Europe. ECS reported a more than 50 percent growth in Germany in 2010, with group businesses generating more than 4,000 tonnes of cargo thanks to new contracts with Bringer Cargo, Flybe, Garuda Indonesia, National Airlines and Navitrans as well as CEIBA.
- Arik Air has begun operating regional and domestic cargo services after being awarded its AOC by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. The carrier now plans to add an A330-200 service to Johannesburg to its current London Heathrow and New York JFK long-haul schedules. Arik Air claims the widest domestic coverage in Nigeria and also operates flights to Accra (Ghana), Cotonou (Benin), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Dakar (Senegal), Banjul (Gambia) and Monrovia (Liberia).
