AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has extended its delivery network in Russia with the launch of a new weekly flight from Amsterdam to Yekaterinburg and a direct service from Frankfurt to Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.

The new routes are the next step in ABC's network expansion plans in Russia. Following the creation and development of its Moscow Sheremetyevo hub, the airline is now starting to develop new destinations in Russia. Yekaterinburg's unique geographical position has seen it become a popular and important transport and logistics centre on the Trans-Siberian route. The city is at the heart of main transport roads that position Yekaterinburg at the center of key routes from Central Russia to Siberia, adjacent to the Siberian to and the Trans-Siberia railway.

As well as Yekaterinburg, the new route allows ABC to offer deliver solutions to destinations such as Tyumen, Nizhnevartovsk, Surgut, Nefteyugansk and South of Ural (Chelyabinsk) using road feeder services. From Yekaterinburg, ABC's customers will have the possibility to deliver cargo to Hong Kong and other Asian destinations within its current network.

ABC is initially serving the Russian city with a weekly B747F scheduled charter flight from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

The launch of the new Domodedovo freighter services from Germany on May, 30th will mark the start of a weekly B747F flight every Sunday. ABC will offer the only freighter connection between Frankfurt and Domodedovo having previously served the Moscow airport from other points in Europe. The new route reflects an increase in volumes and customer requirements.

ABC operates 28 flights a week from Europe (Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Maastricht, Zaragoza and Milan) to Russia, including three weekly frequencies to Domodedovo.

“AirBridgeCargo offer exclusive air cargo solutions to the Russian market using its modern fleet of Boeing 747 freighters. This has been increased to nine airplanes in the last month. We have identified sufficient customer demand to support the launch of our new routes to Yekaterinburg and Domodedovo. Koltsovo Airport is one of the major airports in Russia and is equipped to handle all types of cargo,” said Tatyana Arslanova, Executive President of AirBridgeCargo Airlines.

ABC is the biggest Russian cargo carrier and is the schedule cargo airline of Volga-Dnepr Group.