newstodate.aero

Apr 21, 2020 (newstodate): During the first three months of this year, the three airports at Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga have together handled 4,467 tonnes of cargo, an increase by 17 percent, y-o-y.
   802 tonnes were handled at Kaunas Airport, up four percent, and driving the growth here is the Lithuanian forwarding and transport company Hoptrans.
   -Hoptrans has set up a scheduled all-cargo service from Beijing and other Chinese airports to Kaunas operated with six weekly flights by converted passenger aircraft chartered from various Russian and East European airlines, says  Jan Hyttel, Hoptrans Member of the Board.
   -Together with a partner in China, Hoptrans takes full responsibility for all cargo and ground handling of the aircraft at both ends of the flight, with the aircraft crew loading shipments in the cabin while belly cargo is fed by a hi-loaders.
   -We have full commercial responsibility for the rotations that are obviously marked by full loads of certified PPE shipments from China to Kaunas, while return flights are in most cases empty legs. This has a strong bearing on the rate, but for us the issue of health overrides the issue of profitability.
   -At Kaunas Airport we have an own fleet of 1,000 trucks ready to carry shipments to the final destinations. This requires of course only a comparatively small number of vehicles, while most of our trucks are effectively "grounded", pending markets and borders to reopen after the Covid-19, says Mr Hyttel.