Three years ago, 19 April 2006 Aeroflot-Cargo CJSC was legally registered by Russian authorities. Since that day a new company, 100% subsidiary of JSC Aeroflot started its cargo operations. After half of a year 18 October 2006 the company obtained Certificate of Operator and was licensed as a carrier. 1 November 2006 Aeroflot-Cargo started its operations on passenger fleet of mother company. 15 December 2006 first all-cargo airplane DC-10-40F operated the first flight under its own flight number RCF-963 on route Moscow – Hong-Kong. We would like to thank everyone who made a contribution to our business during this period – airline staff, business partners, passenger side colleagues, aviation community representatives... The whole history

Further development

New company succeeded to keep Aeroflot leading position on the world market. Moreover this position has been significantly improved. Large passenger network new business was mainly based on allowed our company to offer a new quality and competitive product to the major markets. Our customers value our passenger capacity quite high because of time-definite and scheduled services of Aeroflot. Proactive policy of selling passenger belly holds has brought a good result. In 2007 cargo volumes on passenger flights increased by 9 per cent which exceeded revenue target by 5 percent. Revenue of cargo operations on passenger flights increased by 20 per cent. In 2008 our airline was keeping the same volumes of cargo despite of global crisis that affected the industry at the end of the year.

From the very beginning of the independent activities our special attention was focused on operations. We were developing ground infrastructure in the main airports and setting up standard operating procedures. In order to improve customer service we opened our own representative offices in key regions. Their number currently totals 13: New York, Helsinki, Frankfurt-Hahn, Prague, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Seoul, Tokyo, Novosibirsk, Khabarovsk and Sochi. The main hub of Aeroflot-Cargo is located at Sheremetyevo airport of Moscow – the main hub for mother company. We have close contacts with cargo terminals  - Airport Moscow and Sheremetyevo-Cargo.

The main European hub which houses cargo fleet of Aeroflot-Cargo is Frankfurt-Hahn in Germany. There are one to two daily cargo flights being operated from this airport. Daily frequency between Europe and CIS and Asian destinations allows us to offer highly demanded service – regular carriage of big shipments between key markets: Europe – Russia, Europe – Asia, Asia – Europe. We can also deliver outsized and heavy cargo from and to Europe and Kazakhstan, Asia and Kazakhstan, Asia – Indian subcontinent and India – Eastern Europe.

Another European airport where Aeroflot-Cargo operates to is Helsinki. Russian – Finnish air service agreement allows up to 14 cargo flights per week on aircraft of any capacity. Being a nominated carrier between Moscow and Helsinki Aeroflot-Cargo remains the one and the only cargo airline carrying freight between Russia and Finland on regular basis for years.

Aeroflot-Cargo as an independent carrier needed to solve the whole complex of issues related to commercial rights and permissions of regular services to every country where Aeroflot used to operate its cargo flights. As a result in 2007 airline operated its cargo flights to the most developed world markets: Hong Kong, People’s republic of China, Republic of Korea, Japan, Germany and Finland. In years 2008 and 2009 the list was extended with other countries – B-737-300F operated flights to more European destinations. Further network was developed to meet market demand and airline customers’ requirements.  

Aeroflot-Cargo as an independent carrier needed to solve the whole complex of issues related to commercial rights and permissions of regular services to every country where Aeroflot used to operate its cargo flights. As a result in 2007 airline operated its cargo flights to the most developed world markets: Hong Kong, People’s republic of China, Republic of Korea, Japan, Germany and Finland. In years 2008 and 2009 the list was extended with other countries – B-737-300F operated flights to more European destinations. Further network was developed to meet market demand and airline customers’ requirements.

Aeroflot-Cargo currently operates cargo flights to Finland, Germany, Kazakhstan, India, Hong Kong, PRC, Republic of Korea, and Japan using traditional transit routes between Europe and Asia via Russian territory. Year 2007 saw a launch of domestic regular service on route Moscow – Khabarovsk two times a week, in year 2008 Yakutsk was added to the route. This was demanded unique service which allowed delivering foodstuff, pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods to remote areas of Russian North and Far East where these goods were desperately needed. Domestic flights were integrated in our international cargo network. At the same time extended passenger network of our mother airline gives us more opportunities in combining traffic of cargo, distribute inbound freight across Russian regions, and deliver smaller parts of freight to those destinations where cargo flights are not available.

We consider cargo fleet refurbishment by leasing three freighters McDonnell Douglas MD-11F with a payload exceeding 90 tons as a key event in our company history. This process was unfortunately too long and pretty challenging. In 2006 Aeroflot-Cargo started cargo operation with fleet comprising of four DC-10-40F aircraft with a payload of 60 tons. The fleet was gradually rendering by mother company during year 2007. It was initially planned that end of 2007 would see delivery of three modern and fuel efficient freighters MD-11F with payload of 90 tons. However the process has taken a longer time than it was expected and our airline has faced tough challenge…

In January 2008 our cargo fleet received two medium-range Boeing-737-300F with payload of 16 tons. These aircraft operate flights from Moscow to some European destinations. Their operation has been ceased at the end of 2008 due to economic reasons.

4th June 2008 a remarkable and long waited event of Aeroflot-Cargo timeline has finally happened – MD-11F (registration VP-BDQ) landed in Moscow departing from Helsinki. 16th June 2008 the same aircraft MD-11F operated the first regular flight on route Hahn-Moscow-Almaty-Moscow-Hahn. Another two aircraft were received during July and August and these deliveries allowed our company to operate the whole network with aircraft of a new type. At the same time airline was gradually withdrawing DC-10-40F. 25th December 2008 we said “good-bye” to the last fourth DC-10 with words of thanking to those who deal with this airplane during the recent ten years. 

All this time Aeroflot-Cargo flight safety is being supported on the world standards level: safety rate was 99,993 per cent in year 2007 and 99,982 per cent in 2008. Flight Safety Management System (FSMS) was introduced in year 2009 to meet ICAO safety requirements.
Airline management considers this area of business operations as a priority one focusing on flight planning and flight management. Flight safety is a key performance indicator of the carrier.

Current network

Aeroflot-Cargo currently operates to the following destinations: Almaty, Hong Kong, Moscow, Mumbai, Novosibirsk, Beijing, St.Petersburg, Seoul, Tokyo, Frankfurt-Hahn, Helsinki, and Shanghai. (Domestic flight are temporarily suspended) In hard economic conditions airline is not only trying to reduce costs but seeking for new ways of increasing its profitability. The market is changing dramatically and new solutions are required. Aeroflot-Cargo is expanding to new neighboring markets and keeping its position on existing ones. Effective from summer schedule we are operating new regular flights. 5th April 2009 a new flight on route Hong Kong – Mumbai – Moscow – Frankfurt Hahn was launched to operate on day 2 of week. Aeroflot-Cargo has got all the necessary rights to operate every segment of the route. Every Sunday there is another flight ex Hong Kong via Mumbai was introduced to deliver cargo further to Moscow and Hahn.

One of the key reasons of launching this service was Aeroflot passenger flights suspension due to low passenger demand on the route. We used to ship freight in passenger belly holds on this route. New flight has been launched in response to our customer requirements to increase cargo capacity on the route.

11th April 2009 a new flight between Frankfurt Hahn and St.Petersburg was introduced. This flight is to be operated every Saturday. We are aiming to decrease time of delivery from Germany to St.Petersburg, Leningrad region and neighboring areas. We are expecting freight volume growth on this route.

In March and April 2009 when market goes live our airline has resumed a frequency of flights to China and Hong Kong. 2nd April 2009 the third weekly flight to and from Hong Kong was added to our schedule. The flight is operated on Thursdays on route Hahn – Moscow – Almaty - Hong Kong - Karaganda (tech. stopover) – Moscow – Hahn. Saturday flight departs Hahn for Hong Kong via Moscow and Almaty and returns to Moscow via Mumbai. Tuesday flight operates from Moscow to Hong Kong direct and then again goes to Mumbai. Since 4th April 2009 cargo flights were resumed to and from Beijing to operate route Hahn – Moscow – Beijing – Moscow – Hahn twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The third flight to and from Shanghai was opened on 8th April 2009 to operate route Hahn-Moscow-Shanghai-Novosibirsk-Hahn on Wednesday, another flight on the same routes are operated on Monday and Thursday.

We have noticed load increase from Japan and Republic of Korea where we operate flights twice a week on Thursday and Saturday on route Novosibirsk-Tokyo-Seoul-Moscow-Hahn. March and April saw full load of our aircraft returning from Seoul.

Services and Products

Aeroflot-Cargo continues to introduce new enhancements of cargo business. During the last year we offered our clients some innovations – multimodal bonded carriage and web-based reservation of such carriage. “Air + truck” scheme allows us to generate more freight and to reduce costs for our customers.

In 2008 Aeroflot-Cargo opened a new Customer Support Unit – customers can now receive necessary information regarding their shipment status and assistance is provided to prepare essential paperwork. This unit operates 24/7 and available for customers either by e-mail or by phone.

We are also developing our sales techniques. We are looking for any change to receive incremental revenue at reasonable cost.
We can now offer our direct sales facilities worldwide either to freight forwarders or to single shippers. We guarantee a world class service to our customers.  

Summary

In 2008 Aeroflot-Cargo carried 150 304 tons of freight and mail on passenger and cargo aircraft which is exceeding year 2007 load by 10,7%. 86 395 tons of freight and mail were carried in passenger aircraft belly holds – increase only of 1, 01 per cent. But Freighters uplifted 63 910 tons of freight – increase of 27, 2 per cent.

As per IATA and own statistical data Aeroflot-Cargo is a leader of market of the following regions:
Europe-Russia, North America – Russia and Asia – Russia where airline market share exceeds 35 per cent. We have to notice that domestic market figures are decreasing less than transit market ones.

We have to admit that Russia remains imports dependant country. Combination of geographic situation and size of the country will support further demand for air freight. Russia needs a strong national carrier that focused on needs of domestic market.