newstodate.aero
Aug 25, 2006 (newstodate): The Estonian cargo GSA Sky Partners is seeing a healthy growth in Estonia's cargo volumes during this year's H1.
-The market has indeed developed positively with some five to ten percent's growth, says Kristo Vrager, Sky Partners managing director.
-The growth is driven particularly by Estonian and Scandinavian-owned companies in the high-tech electronics and communications industries exporting products to customers in the Far East and the American market.
-On the other hand the pressure on rates and yields remains strong, so we do indeed need higher volumes to compensate, says Mr Vrager.
-Most of the cargo export is trucked out of Estonia where the cargo uplift is very limited as carriers here operate only narrow-body aircraft and turboprops. These volumes are not included in Tallinn Airport's cargo statistics that are therefore not very indicative of the actual situation.
-Export customers' shipments are mostly time-sensitive and quality requiring, so exporters favour short trucking times to near-by hubs like Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen rather than longer trucking routes to European hubs.
-Thus Finnair, represented in the Estonian market by Sky Partners, is the market leader due to its strong traffic system covering the Far East and the USA. We are also expecting to see good results from the carrier's new route to India, to be launched this autumn, says Mr Vrager.
Air France is Sky Partner's other airline customer, and this is very valuable for ad-hoc and project operations, according to Mr Vrager.
-The market has indeed developed positively with some five to ten percent's growth, says Kristo Vrager, Sky Partners managing director.
-The growth is driven particularly by Estonian and Scandinavian-owned companies in the high-tech electronics and communications industries exporting products to customers in the Far East and the American market.
-On the other hand the pressure on rates and yields remains strong, so we do indeed need higher volumes to compensate, says Mr Vrager.
-Most of the cargo export is trucked out of Estonia where the cargo uplift is very limited as carriers here operate only narrow-body aircraft and turboprops. These volumes are not included in Tallinn Airport's cargo statistics that are therefore not very indicative of the actual situation.
-Export customers' shipments are mostly time-sensitive and quality requiring, so exporters favour short trucking times to near-by hubs like Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen rather than longer trucking routes to European hubs.
-Thus Finnair, represented in the Estonian market by Sky Partners, is the market leader due to its strong traffic system covering the Far East and the USA. We are also expecting to see good results from the carrier's new route to India, to be launched this autumn, says Mr Vrager.
Air France is Sky Partner's other airline customer, and this is very valuable for ad-hoc and project operations, according to Mr Vrager.