JANUARY
Boeing and AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) celebrated the delivery of the airline’s fifth 747-8 Freighter. “ABC has already experienced the outstanding payload and operating economics of the747-8 family,” said Denis Ilin, Executive President of AirBridgeCargo Airlines. “We are really excited to receive our fifth 747-8 Freighter”.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines delivered 40 tons of video broadcasting equipment to Sochi supporting the opening ceremony of the 22nd Winter Olympic Games at the Fisht Olympic stadium. The airline carried the equipment from Vatry in France onboard one of its IL-76TD-90VD freighters. The shipment included display stations, projectors, power supplies and supporting equipment. In 2013-2014 Volga-Dnepr Group has transported over 1800 tons of air cargo for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, including broadcast, lighting and sports equipment. Overall, over 30 charter flights were operated by the fleet of AN-124-100, IL-76TD-90VD, B747, B737 and AN-12 freighters.
FEBRUARY
Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ AN-124-100 aircraft carried a 103-ton rotor from Frankfurt/Hahn (Germany) to Yekaterinburg (Russia). As part of the end-to-end carriage, the company arranged for all necessary special ground equipment, authorizations and procedures to ensure safe delivery of the rotor right to the installation site.
In the lead-up to St. Valentine’s Day AirBridgeCargo Airlines transported 1,400 tons of flowers from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Moscow (Russia), representing a 18% increase of demand for such cargo over the same period in 2013.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines operated its 1,100th flight for the oil and gas industry delivering 45-tons of seabed drilling equipment on board IL-76TD-90VD aircraft from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to Prestwick (England).
Volga-Dnepr Airlines supplied end-to-end logistics services, including proprietary crane and craneless loading solutions, for transportation of a 6 m wide and 2.4 m high turbine ‘runner’ weighing 73 tons from Sankt Pölten (Austria) to Bratsk (Russia) for modernization of Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station.
MARCH
Four helicopters bound for Heli Expo in Los Angeles (USA), the world’s largest helicopter show, have crossed the Atlantic on board one of Volga-Dnepr’s AN-124-100 freighters. The helicopters were loaded at Italy’s Milano Malpensa Airport.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines launched flights linking Dallas/Fort Worth (USA) with Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Moscow (Russia). New flights from Dallas/Fort Worth will operate to Amsterdam Schiphol and Moscow Sheremetyevo airports. The airline also increased its current frequencies to Chicago by introducing direct flights from Frankfurt.
APRIL
Volga-Dnepr Group celebrated AirBridgeCargo Airlines’ 10-year anniversary. ABC has commenced its 10th anniversary year with the strongest first quarter in its history, with tonnage up nine percent in Q1 to 86,500 tonnes. Denis Ilin, Executive President of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, said: “Today is a proud milestone for our company and a tribute to all of the members of the ABC team around the world and our parent Volga-Dnepr Group for enabling us to achieve our strategic goals over the first 10 years of our development. Most of all we say thank you to our customers for their support and trust in us. We value long-term partnerships and look forward to achieving further growth together.”
Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ AN-124-100 aircraft delivered Luch-5V and KazSat-3 telecommunications satellites from Krasnoyarsk in Russia to Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome. The time definite requirement required the aircraft and all of the external loading equipment to be ready for loading the satellites as soon as they arrived at the airport in Krasnoyarsk from their production site in the city of Zheleznogorsk. Following the safe arrival of the aircraft and its cargo to Baikonur, Volga-Dnepr delivered the satellite container back to its manufacturer in Krasnoyarsk.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines expanded its presence in Europe with new routes linking Moscow (Sheremetyevo Airport) with Malmo, Sweden and Leipzig, Germany.
MAY
Effective from May 9th, AirBridgeCargo Airlines introduced direct Boeing 747 freighter services to/from Munich (Germany) and Moscow (Russia). The new flight became in addition to the existing 4 weekly Boeing 737 flights operated by Atran Cargo Airlines.
Volga-Dnepr Group has provided a total logistics solution for a mobile inspection system of the Russian company Algont on its way to a counter terrorism exhibition in London. In order to provide the customer with a timely and cost effective delivery of the exhibition equipment from Kaluga in Russia to London in England and back again, Volga-Dnepr team arranged a multimodal carriage by road and air.
As part of its participation in the ILA 2014 air show in Berlin on May 20-25, one of Volga-Dnepr Group’s AN-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ aircraft provided a unique venue for the 7th European Air Cargo Transport Congress. A range of topics was discussed including air logistics, factors that influence and form today’s European cargo transport market and the prospects of airport development in Germany.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines operated its first flight for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology organization, moving a SaudiSat-4 satellite made in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to its launch site in Orsk, Russia. The flight was operated onboard one of the airline’s IL-76TD-90VD aircraft from Riyadh with an intermediate stop in Ulyanovsk.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines has seen a big increase in shipments for the aerospace industry with 22 flights moving space satellites over a 12-week period to the end of May. One of its latest shipments was the Express AM6 Russian satellite from Krasnoyarsk in Russia to Baikonur, Kazakhstan onboard AN-124-100. Further eight satellites, produced in the UK, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and Spain, were carried on a single IL-76-TD-90VD cargo flight from the Czech city of Pardubice to Orsk, the Russian spaceport.
JUNE
A documentary film “Welcome to Paradise” about Volga-Dnepr Group participation in a gas processing plant construction project in Papua New Guinea was named the “The best Nonfiction Film” of the VI International Festival of Films and TV Programs also known as “With All My Heart” annual film festival organized in Ulyanovsk, Russia in memory of the famous Soviet and Russian TV anchor Valentina Leontyeva.
Volga-Dnepr Airlines delivered a mobile 24-meter high drilling rig onboard its AN-124-100 Ruslan from Novy Urengoy to Mirny, Russia for a gas condensate field.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines was named the ‘Best All Cargo Carrier’ in the 28th Asian Freight & Supply Chain Awards (AFSCA).
Two 9-ton artificial grass machines Desso GrassMaster used to create sustainable sports stadium pitches have arrived in Maastricht in the Netherlands from Singapore onboard a Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ IL-76TD-90VD.
JULY
An-124-100 and IL-76TD-90VD freighters from Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ fleet were called into action to deliver more than 80 tons of oil and gas equipment to Cape Town in South Africa.
AUGUST
Volga-Dnepr Group’s international competition to design an ‘Advanced Transport Aircraft of the 21st Century’ inspired aircraft engineers and aviation enthusiasts from 22 to 74 years of age to put forward their ideas and was won by three students attending the Moscow Aviation Institute.
SEPTEMBER
The French Trade Commission UBIFRANCE, responsible for export promotion, has paid a visit to Volga-Dnepr Airlines in Ulyanovsk to gain a better understanding of its unique air logistics capabilities.
OCTOBER
Chapman Freeborn Airchartering and Volga-Dnepr Airlines have helped Argentina’s aerospace industry deliver a piece of history by transporting the first-ever space satellite manufactured in the country from San Carlos de Bariloche Airport to its launch site in French Guiana.
Volga-Dnepr Gulf (VD Gulf), Volga-Dnepr Technics Subgroup branch in the Middle East, passed all required procedures to receive EASA approval (European Aviation Safety Agency) to perform maintenance of western-made aircraft at the Sharjah Airport. EASA Part-145 certificate allows to perform the aircraft line maintenance of Boeing 737 CL&NG, Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A320 Family, as well as to provide services in components repair (С4, С5, С8, С14, С20 ratings) and non-destructive check (D1).
AirBridgeCargo Airlines recently celebrated the delivery of its next brand new 747-8 Freighter.
NOVEMBER
A Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ An-124-100 freighter has transported a Sukhoi Superjet 100 fuselage as well as the aircraft’s wings and tail section from Komsomolsk-na-Amure in Khabarovsk krai to Zhukovsky, southeast of Moscow.
DECEMBER
AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Russia’s has successfully delivered a horizontal stabilizer for a Boeing 737 from Shanghai to Chicago on its way to the Boeing aircraft factory in Seattle. The component’s five individual pieces were delivered onboard two Boeing 747 freighter flights from China to the U.S. over the course of 24 hours. On arrival in Chicago, the cargo was delivered to Seattle by truck.