Jade grabs Austrian Cargo as its GSA

THE rapidly changing Jade Cargo strategy has taken a new twist with the carrier and Austrian Airlines Cargo announcing an agreement for immediate cooperation.

The deal is based on a work sharing model according to which Jade offers capacity on long haul routes while AUA Cargo acts as general sales agent for Central and Eastern Europe and regional feeder for the shipments sent on board of Jade via Vienna airport. “Presently we fly to more than 40 destinations in Eastern Europe,” said Franz Zoechbauer, head of cargo at AUA at a meeting with Jade officials and forwarding agents on 7 July in Vienna. In addition he emphasised the many road feeder offerings of AUA Cargo connecting Schwechat airport with major cities in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary and some other east of Austria lying countries. In addition AUA Cargo offers uplift between Vienna and Kiev using a B737 freighter, operated by joint venture partner Ukraine International.

Jade started their scheduled flights to Vienna on 5 July, linking Seoul and Shanghai with the Austrian capital.

However, Jade is facing heavy competition as Korean Cargo and Asiana largely control the cargo traffic between Seoul and Vienna. Together both airlines are deploying 13 B747-400 freighters weekly on that route. Therefore, Jade’s stopover at Shanghai will be crucial thanks to its Chinese traffic rights. So far no other airfreight carrier offers main deck capacity on the Shanghai-Vienna route.

Reto Hunziker, vice-president marketing and sales, further revealed that Jade has entered negotiations with Turkish civil aviation authorities for a new route to Istanbul. “We expect this issue to take a couple of weeks before being concluded.”

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