Pigs fly with AirBridgeCargo

AirBridgeCargo Airlines has transported 719 breeding pigs Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow to Vladivostok on a Boeing 747-8F charter flight.

The Duroc pigs, which collectively weighed more than 80 tonnes, were moved by truck in double-decked wooden containers from Voronezh to Sheremetyevo International Airport before being flown in temperature-controlled conditions on the aircraft.

AirBridgeCargo said the flight was the first out of 17 in its charter programme, which was implemented to facilitate the development of agriculture in the Far East and is set to continue until the spring of 2021.

Nikolay Glushnev, general director of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, commented: “It is great to see the recovery of traditionally strong sectors within our country and we are proud to be part of this major project assisting with our dedicated fleet and experienced logistics practitioners.

“Together with our long-standing and reliable ground handling partner, Sheremetyevo Cargo, we are able to leverage this charter programme, consisting of 17 flights, and guarantee the well-being of the animals within the airport premises, on the apron and during the whole flight”.

Vladimir Teterkin, operation director at Sheremetyevo-Cargo JSC, noted that it is very important for the company to provide a full cycle of ground handling operations at the airport.

“We are glad that our experience in handling large shipments of live animals allowed us to quickly and efficiently prepare the flight for departure,” he said. “Organising work in a variety of business – from specifications of packaging materials to strict timings for ground handling operations – we, together with our partner AirBridgeCargo, were able to achieve significant synergy. Of course, the whole process of work was controlled by our own systems of objective telecontrol; this is a feature of our company that is well known in the aviation industry”.