newstodate.aero
Mar 02, 2009 (newstodate): Baltic Cargo Centre, at Latvia's Riga Airport, reports sustained growth in volumes through 2008.
BCC handled a total of 6,728 tonnes of cargo in 2008, against 5,825 tonnes in 2007 - an increase by 15.5 percent, y-o-y.
Total export volumes through BCC were up by 49 percent, while import volumes dropped two percent.
Most significant, however, was an increase in transit cargo from 1,600 tonnes in 2007 to 2,361 tonnes in 2008 - an increase by 47.6 percent y-o-y.
As a result, transit cargo's share at BCC reached 35 percent.
By contrast, Riga Airport recorded a 5.7 percent y-o-y decrease in tonnage, primarily reflecting the fact that ex-China cargo traffic via Riga to Russia started migration to Tallinn, Estonia already in 2007, and is now gone completely.
Behind the singular growth in BCC's transit cargo is the collapse of flyLAL in Lithuania, and the slow-down of traffic by Estonian Air in Estonia that has increased Latvian carrier airBaltic's transit traffic from these markets via its home base at Riga Airport.
At Riga Airport, BCC handles direct flights and Road Feeder Services of airBaltic, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Cargolux, WFS, and provides physical handling on behalf of formal handling agents for Aeroflot, Uzbekistan Airways, and LOT.
airBaltic is by far the dominating airline at BCC, and its average share in BCC tonnage was 73 percent in 2008, compared to 63 percent in 2007. The share continues to grow, reaching 80 percent in January, 2009.
BCC handled a total of 6,728 tonnes of cargo in 2008, against 5,825 tonnes in 2007 - an increase by 15.5 percent, y-o-y.
Total export volumes through BCC were up by 49 percent, while import volumes dropped two percent.
Most significant, however, was an increase in transit cargo from 1,600 tonnes in 2007 to 2,361 tonnes in 2008 - an increase by 47.6 percent y-o-y.
As a result, transit cargo's share at BCC reached 35 percent.
By contrast, Riga Airport recorded a 5.7 percent y-o-y decrease in tonnage, primarily reflecting the fact that ex-China cargo traffic via Riga to Russia started migration to Tallinn, Estonia already in 2007, and is now gone completely.
Behind the singular growth in BCC's transit cargo is the collapse of flyLAL in Lithuania, and the slow-down of traffic by Estonian Air in Estonia that has increased Latvian carrier airBaltic's transit traffic from these markets via its home base at Riga Airport.
At Riga Airport, BCC handles direct flights and Road Feeder Services of airBaltic, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Cargolux, WFS, and provides physical handling on behalf of formal handling agents for Aeroflot, Uzbekistan Airways, and LOT.
airBaltic is by far the dominating airline at BCC, and its average share in BCC tonnage was 73 percent in 2008, compared to 63 percent in 2007. The share continues to grow, reaching 80 percent in January, 2009.