GSAsSnapShot Kales handles the pressure
Dutch GSSA Kales Airline Ser- vices celebrated 15 years of co-operation with Air China with the carrier’s inaugural direct flight into Amsterdam on 12 September. While the Chi- nese carrier had been a frequent visitor to the gateway with ad hoc services, this marked the first regular service with a five times a week service from its home country. Kales will be selling capacity
from Amsterdam back to Tian- jin and Shanghai on the B747-400 freighter services, explains the GSSA’s founder and CEO, Peter Kales. He noted: “We have also become the agent for Centurion in Austria and in addition been
Kales: “I expect the last quarter of 2012 to be very strong”
appointed the cargo GSSA for Malaysian Cargo in Norway, Finland and Sweden.” Moreover: “Besides that we
will be cargo GSSA for LATAM Airlines in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia which will boost our business tremendously. In South America we have started the first flights of Evergreen into Bogota and Quito for which we will sell with our own established offices all cargo space on the twice weekly 747F.” Kales added: “With all the
new contracts in place, I expect the last quarter of 2012 to be very strong and 2013 will turn
most likely into the best ever year of Kales in terms of volumes and revenues.”
Upward momentum at ECS
Adrien Thominet, the chief operating officer of general sales advisor ECS, is pleased with his company’s perfor- mance in 2012, especially when considered in the face of continuing economic uncertainty with the Euro- zone crisis and slowdown in China set to last. “We are posting figures
which are 10 percent up on 2011, and this year’s revenue is proving much stronger,” said Thominet. This year has seen the
company consolidate and expand with the addition of new offices across the Indian sub-conti- nent and the Far East. Three new stations were launched earlier this year in China, while ECS’s operation in India
almost doubled as it opened two new offices - increasing its presence in this region to five. Despite remaining tightlipped on details, Thominet was willing to divulge that at next week’s TIACA event in Atlanta, the company would be announcing a new partnership in Italy. Thominet was also pleased with progress in the Middle East and Africa, “It (Africa) remains a
prime market for ECS, and while Europe and the rest of the world is on an uncertain economic footing, Africa remains somewhat protected from the troubles.” Other strong offices included France, the Netherlands and Italy. Meanwhile, the company has expanded its portfolio of handled shipments, with an unusual
load from France’s Chateauroux-Déols airport to Mongolia: helping out with the movement of 180 cows. EFIS Air chartered a B747 freighter for the flight to Ulan Bator, which carried 150 limousins and
30 montbéliarde cattle to help with a breeding programme in Mongolia. Alain Boussard, managing director of EFIS Air, said: “Moving livestock requires great care and attention to ensure the welfare of the animals and to meet all of the regulatory requirements.”
BidAir Cargo expands into Tanzania
South Africa-based BidAir Cargo is expanding its network with a partnership with Precision Air in Tanzania. Te carrier’s cargo division has been contracted out to BidAir Cargo including sales and handling of all cargo on the Precision Air network. Precision Air operates scheduled passenger
air services between Dar es Salaam and eight other airports in Tanzania and also maintains scheduled services to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia within Africa, and internationally to Comoros. Its main base is Julius Nyerere International Airport, Dar es Salaam with hubs at Kiliman-
jaro International airport and Mwanza airport. Te airline was established in 1991 and com-
menced operations in 1994. It began as a crop sprayer, and then expanded to serve the growing tourist market. Scheduled services started in November 1999. Other BidAir Cargo partners include 1Time,
Air Malawi, Air Uganda, BAWC, RwandAir and Zambezi Airlines, all of them an integral part of the BidAir Cargo African network. BidAir Cargo, a subsidiary of the Bidvest
Group, has similar operations in Uganda having partnered with Air Uganda in that country and with Zambezi Airlines in Zambia.
GSA welcomes Turkish carrier
According to Gert-Jan Lantrock, managing director at Amsterdam Schiphol headquar- tered GSA, AviationPlus: “Business is strong for us, we are seeing a growth over 15 percent compared to last year.” AviationPlus, despite its young age, repre-
sents a variety of airlines including MNG, CAL, Norwegian, Air Namibia and ICAR. “We will start soon with TAAG Angola Air-
lines in the Netherlands, this is a perfect addition to our portfolio,” Lantrock added. “We have a tight relationship with MNG,
they have proven their service in the European market and is growing week by week. We have four freighters a week from Cologne Bonn and one a week from Amsterdam Air- port Schiphol but this might change soon in a positive way,” Lantrock explained. Looking ahead, Lantrock outlined plans to
open a second operations office in Amster- dam “we are a young and dynamic company with a big ‘plus’ which stands for going the extra mile for our airlines and our customers,” he concluded.
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1 October 2012
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