Total revenue across the three carriers of the Group - Volga-Dnepr Airlines, AirBridgeCargo Airlines and ATRAN Airlines, is up by more than 40%. The Group says that this was achieved with a combination of quick response to market situations, the adaptation of strategy towards a new reality and interim changes of the carriers’ business models with a focus on charter programmes.
Despite more than 18% and 19% drops in the overall market tonnage and freight tonne-kilometres respectively, the Group managed to hold steady at 5% and 10% decreases. FTKs have shown a slight decline as most of the flights were operated as charters transporting low-density PPE. Nonetheless, for the first six months of 2020, the Groups’ share in FTKs has demonstrated a 5% increase year on year.
Volga-Dnepr Group has also increased its tonnage across certain industries, concentrating on COVID-19-related cargo transport. From January to June, Volga-Dnepr’s freighters delivered over 25,000 tonnes of PPE, medical beds and mattresses, artificial lung ventilation apparatus, as well as oversized and heavy sterilization vehicles. The Group has additionally invested in disinfection of the fleet and cargo onboard to accommodate vital biosafety requirements.
“E-commerce and pharma shipments have become the biggest growth drivers and have demonstrated almost three and two-and-a-half-fold increase respectively, tipping the point of 30,000 and 35,000 tonnes,” notes Konstantin Vekshin, Chief Commercial Officer, Volga-Dnepr Group. “The cargo was delivered both through charter and scheduled operations. Industry-wise, we have more than doubled our oil and gas operations and reached over 20% surge in aerospace operations onboard unique ramp freighters – An-124-100/150 and Il-76TD-90VD.
“Whereas a lot of projects have been frozen following a pandemic, major manufacturers managed to keep their operations. It is also noteworthy that this crisis situation pushed the development of online cargo bookings, not only through our own website channel but also through our partners’ platforms, like WebCargo and cargo.one. In our tech-savvy world omnichannel approach is the key to successful customer relations and overall customer experience enhancement.”
The Group’s Chief Operating Office, Tatyana Arslanova, added, “We would like to thank our customers and partners for their support during the tough period at the end of 2019 – the beginning of 2020. Their trust has become the key factor which allowed us to overcome the challenges, introduce necessary changes and feel confident about the Group’s future under new normal.”
