AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has chosen Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) as its handling partner to accelerate its strategic partnership with Liege Airport ahead of the opening of the first phase of its new dedicated cargo area at the airport at the end of 2019.  

The cooperation is in support of the strategic partnership signed between ABC’s parent company, Volga-Dnepr Group, and Liege to significantly increase cooperation between the two companies, boosting AirBridgeCargo’s volumes to and from the Belgian airport and placing Liege among the top five cargo airports in Europe by 2020. 

This latest addition of Worldwide Flight Services to the project comes as the partners progress with the construction phase of new warehouse premises to support’s ABC’s fast-growing freight volumes. This work will be divided into two phases for completion by the end of this year and mid-2020 respectively. 

“Our close collaboration will facilitate the seamless and rapid building of the first 12,500 sqm of warehousing premises, which will be operational in November 2019. This will support our intention to increase ABC’s current schedule of eight weekly frequencies from Liege to our target of 30 flights per week by 2020 in line with our customers’ wishes and our vision of joint, intensified cooperation. This is a global project for AirBridgeCargo because, as well as representing a substantial enhancement of our cargo infrastructure in the region, it will allow us to increase our use of Liege Airport to leverage major international trade flows, including for special cargoes, and extend our ability to meet the needs of global businesses and consumers,” highlighted Andrey Andreev, Vice President, Europe of AirBridgeCargo Airlines. 

“From the start of our cooperation, AirBridgeCargo and Liege Airport have been a perfect match and WFS is now a welcome addition. We all share the same Cargo DNA. We are delighted with the new development, that confirms our freighters first strategy. All of the parties involved in this partnership are really committing to the future of Liege, not only on paper, but by investing millions of euros in a new state-of-the-art facility. We see the first phase nearing completion, while the second phase, another 12.500 m2 first line facility, will be ready in 2020. We welcome WFS as operator of the dedicated facility, as they bring more know-how and experience to Liege. The additional flights, operated by one of the newest, cleanest and most silent widebody fleets in the world, alongside the facility, are another driver for further direct and indirect job creation at Liege Airport,” stated Luc Partoune, CEO of Liege Airport.

Barry Nassberg, Group Chief Commercial Officer of WFS, commented: “We are extremely proud to be partnering with AirBridgeCargo and Liege Airport in this very exciting development, and to be expanding our long-time global relationship with ABC. As the world’s largest cargo handler, we’re also excited about entering the Liege market for the first time, which has been a strategic objective of ours. We’ll be bringing the unique WFS experience to the airport, along with our technology, systems, and security processes, and are confident in our ability to help accelerate ABC’s and Liege Airport’s growth ambitions.”    

In addition to new warehouse facilities, Liege Airport is also constructing additional aircraft stands for wide-body planes with access to the enclosed cargo handling areas through an easily accessible ramp zone.