newstodate.aero
Jan 28, 2010 (newstodate): Latest newcomer to the GSA industry in the Baltic region is Strike Aviation LT, with headquarters at Vilnius, Lithuania.
-We launched business from May, 2009, and while our head office is at Vilnius we are indeed doing business in both Estonia and Latvia as well, in addition to the Polish market, says Andrius Antanaitis, JSC Strike Aviation LT General Manager.
-Our airline portfolio in the three Baltic markets and Poland includes US Airways, Pakistan International Airlines, Copa Airlines, Global Aviation and JetClub, while we serve our latest new client, Air Canada Cargo in the Baltic markets alone.
-All these carriers are off-line in our markets, but we have landed a cooperation agreement with the Latvian carrier airBaltic that accepts our export shipments for air carriage. This saves some two or three days in total transport time for our customers, and we actually send some 80 percent of our shipments by air while the remainder is transported by RFS into European airports.
-We are of course eager to sign an online carrier to our portfolio, and we are actually now negotiating with a potential airline. If we succeed it would certainly open new prospects for us.
-The market situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania is very different. Estonia is close to Finland, and many Estonian forwarders prefer to truck their shipments into Helsinki for uplift by Finnair Cargo. This makes this market very demanding, but we still manage to convince customers there of the benefits from our services..
-Latvia is strongly dominated by airBaltic that is commonly preferred by exporters. Still, they are not always loyal to the airline, and if they see prospects of better profits and service advantages, they can be won over.
-Lithuania is close to the much bigger Polish market with easy trucking options to the continent. And while the Polish market is indeed large, compared to the small Baltic countries, its economy is still rather weak, and competition for slices of the air cargo business is extremely tough with everyone fighting for every shipment.
-Still, we have come off to a promising start, and with a new prestigious airline customer from the very start of 2010 we are indeed quite optimistic, says Mr Antanaitis.
-We launched business from May, 2009, and while our head office is at Vilnius we are indeed doing business in both Estonia and Latvia as well, in addition to the Polish market, says Andrius Antanaitis, JSC Strike Aviation LT General Manager.
-Our airline portfolio in the three Baltic markets and Poland includes US Airways, Pakistan International Airlines, Copa Airlines, Global Aviation and JetClub, while we serve our latest new client, Air Canada Cargo in the Baltic markets alone.
-All these carriers are off-line in our markets, but we have landed a cooperation agreement with the Latvian carrier airBaltic that accepts our export shipments for air carriage. This saves some two or three days in total transport time for our customers, and we actually send some 80 percent of our shipments by air while the remainder is transported by RFS into European airports.
-We are of course eager to sign an online carrier to our portfolio, and we are actually now negotiating with a potential airline. If we succeed it would certainly open new prospects for us.
-The market situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania is very different. Estonia is close to Finland, and many Estonian forwarders prefer to truck their shipments into Helsinki for uplift by Finnair Cargo. This makes this market very demanding, but we still manage to convince customers there of the benefits from our services..
-Latvia is strongly dominated by airBaltic that is commonly preferred by exporters. Still, they are not always loyal to the airline, and if they see prospects of better profits and service advantages, they can be won over.
-Lithuania is close to the much bigger Polish market with easy trucking options to the continent. And while the Polish market is indeed large, compared to the small Baltic countries, its economy is still rather weak, and competition for slices of the air cargo business is extremely tough with everyone fighting for every shipment.
-Still, we have come off to a promising start, and with a new prestigious airline customer from the very start of 2010 we are indeed quite optimistic, says Mr Antanaitis.