newstodate.aero
Jun 22, 2010 (newstodate): The Norwegian US freighter service Sundt Atlanta Skybridge is dead and gone..
First, the Icelandic JV partner, ACMI provider Air Atlanta Icelandic pulled out its Boeing 747-200 freighter in March 2010, leaving the company without an aircraft, and finally the company's CEO, Arild Jaabaek resigned from his office earlier this month.
-Salmon exports is really a strange business, says Tor Bratli, Sundt Air president and CEO, one of the stakeholders of the now defunct JV.
-Th volumes are definitely there, and the salmon exports require uplift for export markets. But we may conclude that there is really an abundance of alternatives to a freighter service from Norway, and airlines provide trucking services from sits in Norway to many continental airports.
-But a stand-alone freighter solution is obviously very vulnerable to unforeseeable incidents in everyday operations. If for instance a load of 50 tonnes of fresh salmon is not passed by the customs authorities right on time, the shipment is lost and the aircraft must take off leaving it on the tarmac.
-Also maybe the salmon exporting industry is also used to paying only rather low rates for their shipments which also makes life difficult for a freighter service that will have to calculate fares based on full rotations.
-In any case Sundt Atlanta Skybridge is off our agenda, says Mr Bratli.
First, the Icelandic JV partner, ACMI provider Air Atlanta Icelandic pulled out its Boeing 747-200 freighter in March 2010, leaving the company without an aircraft, and finally the company's CEO, Arild Jaabaek resigned from his office earlier this month.
-Salmon exports is really a strange business, says Tor Bratli, Sundt Air president and CEO, one of the stakeholders of the now defunct JV.
-Th volumes are definitely there, and the salmon exports require uplift for export markets. But we may conclude that there is really an abundance of alternatives to a freighter service from Norway, and airlines provide trucking services from sits in Norway to many continental airports.
-But a stand-alone freighter solution is obviously very vulnerable to unforeseeable incidents in everyday operations. If for instance a load of 50 tonnes of fresh salmon is not passed by the customs authorities right on time, the shipment is lost and the aircraft must take off leaving it on the tarmac.
-Also maybe the salmon exporting industry is also used to paying only rather low rates for their shipments which also makes life difficult for a freighter service that will have to calculate fares based on full rotations.
-In any case Sundt Atlanta Skybridge is off our agenda, says Mr Bratli.