newstodate.aero
Oct 02, 2017 (newstodate): Air cargo is definitely on the radar of Finavia managing airport in Finland, including Helsinki Airport.
-We are, however, "Finnish realistic" concerning prospects for growing our air cargo industry at Helsinki Airport, says Petri Vuori, Finavia VP, Route Development.
-Geography determines that apart from our national carrier Finnair, few airlines would consider Helsinki Airport a suitable cargo hub. We are more or less like an island in the sea to markets other than Finland and Russia. Shipments to be transferred via Helsinki will require either air transportation or long hours on sea or road feeder services
-Our proximity to Russia makes St Petersburg a viable market for transfer of cargo from China via Helsinki, but the growth potential depends on economic and political developments.
-Finnair is obviously the most important player here and the sustained growth of the Asian traffic has brought China and Japan at the top of our air cargo markets, but we certainly cater to the needs of other players as well.
-Apart from Finnair's and a few other carrier's long-haul flights using wide-body aircraft, most air traffic here is provided by narrow-body passenger aircraft lifting only smaller volumes of cargo. Integrators are however major contributors to the airfreight industry, with DHL, UPS and FedEx all operating own traffic handled by own facilities and service providers. And we are happy to have also a legacy operator like Turkish Cargo operating scheduled freighter services at Helsinki Airport.
-What bodes well for future new developments is the ongoing construction of Finnair Cargo's new COOL Terminal that has its focus on time- and temperature-sensitive shipments opening up for new trade lanes and specialized businesses. Hopes, and indeed expectations, are that this may bring in new logistics and service companies that will open up for new ventures less restricted by Finland's geographical preconditions.
-On top of that, we are in the middle of our development program to extend terminals to serving 30 million passengers in the future. This expansion will bring in more flights and more belly cargo, says Mr Vuori.
-We are, however, "Finnish realistic" concerning prospects for growing our air cargo industry at Helsinki Airport, says Petri Vuori, Finavia VP, Route Development.
-Geography determines that apart from our national carrier Finnair, few airlines would consider Helsinki Airport a suitable cargo hub. We are more or less like an island in the sea to markets other than Finland and Russia. Shipments to be transferred via Helsinki will require either air transportation or long hours on sea or road feeder services
-Our proximity to Russia makes St Petersburg a viable market for transfer of cargo from China via Helsinki, but the growth potential depends on economic and political developments.
-Finnair is obviously the most important player here and the sustained growth of the Asian traffic has brought China and Japan at the top of our air cargo markets, but we certainly cater to the needs of other players as well.
-Apart from Finnair's and a few other carrier's long-haul flights using wide-body aircraft, most air traffic here is provided by narrow-body passenger aircraft lifting only smaller volumes of cargo. Integrators are however major contributors to the airfreight industry, with DHL, UPS and FedEx all operating own traffic handled by own facilities and service providers. And we are happy to have also a legacy operator like Turkish Cargo operating scheduled freighter services at Helsinki Airport.
-What bodes well for future new developments is the ongoing construction of Finnair Cargo's new COOL Terminal that has its focus on time- and temperature-sensitive shipments opening up for new trade lanes and specialized businesses. Hopes, and indeed expectations, are that this may bring in new logistics and service companies that will open up for new ventures less restricted by Finland's geographical preconditions.
-On top of that, we are in the middle of our development program to extend terminals to serving 30 million passengers in the future. This expansion will bring in more flights and more belly cargo, says Mr Vuori.