newstodate.aero

Nov 30, 2022 (newstodate): ASR Cargo Center, at Finland's Helsinki Airport, reports a sound development in 2022.
   The prime online customers for ASR Cargo Center are Lufthansa Cargo from September 1, 2018, Japan Air Lines Cargo from January 1, 2022, and Juneyao since June 28, 2019, but the cargo terminal also handles many offline airlines as well as a significant volume of trucked cargo.
   -Overall, our total cargo volumes have been up in 2022 that is actually our best year ever, says Samuli Naskali, ASR Mng Dir since June 2022.
   -Lufthansa is operating only passenger traffic at Helsinki Airport, and Lufthansa Cargo's volumes have been slightly down this year; unfortunately, Helsinki was not included in the new network served by the company's Airbus A321 converted freighters despite some talks on the issue.
   -Japan Air Lines is a staunch customer at ASR, but even while total volumes carried have actually increased in 2022, volumes on each flight have been down due to the rerouting of the flights to and from Japan due to the closure of the Russian airspace requiring more fuel onboard.
   -The Chinese carrier Juneyao has been online from Shanghai all through the Covid-19 pandemic with one weekly rotations against six weekly flights before the pandemic; but starting from December 2022, the carrier is going up to three weekly rotations, signaling the gradual reopening of the Chinese market.
   -In 2022, we have also seen the number of ad-hoc charter flights going up to 45 in- and outbound operations, primarily operated by Juneyao carrying PPE, masks and other special shipments.
   -Today, the split between flown and trucked cargo has reached about 50/50, with a relative growth in the flown cargo volumes. And in 2022, revenues have increased by about 60 percent year-on-year, which is a strong signal to the market, says Mr Naskali.
   Established at the airport in 2014 by the Hong Kong-based ASR Holding's European subsidiary ASR Europe in 2014, ASR Cargo Center  with Pasi Nopanen as its first managing director initially provided only off-airport services with a focus on trucked airfreight handling and logistics.
   But from March 1, 2018, Aviator Finland and ASR Cargo Center started cooperating to offer airline customers joint on-airport cargo handling at Finnair Cargo's former terminal at Helsinki Airport, left vacant after Finnair launched its new COOL Nordic cargo terminal from January 8, 2018.
   In February 2020, ASR Cargo Center and Airpro also signed a cooperation agreement allowing Finavia's handling company Airpro to expand into cargo handling at Helsinki Airport, while ASR Cargo Center gained access to a new potential airline customer portfolio.