From Air Cargo News
18-Jul-2008 : VOLGA-Dnepr Group continued its strong financial growth in the first half of 2008, with record revenues for its air charter and scheduled cargo operations, increasing by 91 per cent and nearly 180 per cent respectively towards a total group turnover of US$840 million.
The group has previously reported three consecutive years of 50 per cent+ per annum growth and, in 2007, exceeded sales revenues of $1 billion for the first time in its 17-year history.
For the 1 January – 30 June 2008 period, Volga-Dnepr Airlines’ air charter operations achieved sales of $600 million, a 91 per cent growth over the $314 million reported for the first half of last year. Interim results also show that the group’s scheduled cargo business, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, gained nearly 180 per cent of new sales over the six month period from $117 million in 2007 to $212 million in the first half of 2008.
Alexey Isaikin, president of Volga-Dnepr Group, said: “The clear vision of our strategic projects and understanding of our short-term targets, combined with the professionalism and commitment of our global team, has enabled us to confirm our leadership ambitions and further strengthen the group’s position in the highly competitive world aviation market. Despite such significant challenges as unprecedented fuel prices for the airline industry, we are gong to achieve record performance figures by the end of the year.â€
The group’s increase in income is supported by the successful development of its air cargo charter operations using An-124-100 and Il-76 freighter aircraft.
AirBridgeCargo’s scheduled all-cargo services also achieved significant growth in operational performance. The airline transported 62,000 tons of cargo in the January-June 2008 period, compared to 39,400 tons in the half-year of 2007. ABC continues to expand and upgrade its fleet, most recently taking delivery of a new B747-400ERF aircraft in February and April 2008.
The use of the Antonov An-124 in international air transport since 1989 when Antonov broke away from the then monopoly of Aeroflot is a demonstration of how just a very few former Soviet assets were able to find a place and prove their quality in the international markets.
This acceptance of the aircraft, frequently and incorrectly viewed by many as a stereotypical old rust bucket but subsequently demonstrated to be a highly robust, reliable and capable machine was accelerated by the partnership of both the Ukrainian and Russian operators with their respective western airline partners.
Those partners provided the necessary marketing and commercial expertise to introduce the aircraft to frequently hesitant commercial customers. An expertise that was rapidly absorbed on the former Soviet side enabling them to dispose of their partners some 10 years later.
The most reluctant of customers was the military, despite the fact that the 1990s were dominated by discussion among the military of most European nations of their almost complete lack of strategic airlift. Indeed it can easily be argued that the various projections of military power undertaken by European nations in particular would simply not have been possible without the availability of the Antonov An-124 and the smaller IL76. Naturally, the military treated it at arms length and bought capacity through brokers thus pretending that it wasn't really happening.
The next stage in the process of market penetration was when the US Department of Defense contracted for use of An-124 services on an ongoing basis as even they, with the greatest airlift capacity of all, found themselves short due to the continued high tempo of military requirements around the world. Again, the An124 was used in a background role carrying out US domestic work and kept away from the cameras.
The next chink in the armour came when Antonov Airlines British airline partner made a bid to the UK Ministry of Defence to meet the UK Short Term Strategic Airlift (STSA) requirement in 2001/2002.
This was the first opportunity for Antonov to present the aircraft comprehensively to a knowledgeable customer and they did it most effectively. To remove all shadow of doubt about the technical capabilities both of the aircraft and it designer and operator the MOD despatched a 30 strong team of experts, the largest inspection team ever, from the Defence Procurement Agency to Antonov's facilities in Kiev.
Sufficient to say that one of the DPA's experts was heard to say that he had never seen such comprehensive evidence presented in response to their questions and "I wish all our manufacturer inspections were as good as this".
Despite meeting all the requirements and being substantially cheaper than the competing Boeing C-17, the bid was to fall at the last hurdle for reasons never satisfactorily explained. Such is life in the military/industrial/political complex, a beast just as alive and well in the west as it was in the former Soviet Union.
However, the excercise attracted substantial attention and much information was now available to military and government procurement sources in Europe. Air Foyle went on to propose a similar arrangement to the German MOD who were leading a study into joint European requirements for strategic airlift.
This requirement was eventually to firm up into the SALIS (Strategic Airlift Interim Solution) contract managed by NAMSA. Again, the Boeing C-17 was a bidder but cost effectiveness was apparently more important to the European nations than to their British friends and the joint assessment went on to select the An124 as the aircraft type.
In order to improve the availability of airframes as up to 6 aircraft may be required in a matter of a few days the Ukrainian and Russian operators came together in a cooperative agreement thereby demonstrating, yet again, that economics and mutual benefit can overcome all sorts of business and political rivalries.
The view from the Ukrainian side has recently been voiced in a lengthy article by Volodymyr Kopchak, entitled "Salis: To retain and multiply" posted on the Defense-Express website on 7 July which is optimistic, though with a somewhat rosy glow, of the future role of the Antonov An-124 in meeting NATO requirements.
Four of the world’s largest long-range heavy transport aircraft, the Antonov AN 124, were used recently to move six huge gas compressors from Europe to Southeast Asia.
Movement of the M.A.N. turbo gas compressors, plus tools and accessories, was organised by GAC Singapore in a combined air and sea freight charter operation. The compressors were air freighted from the manufacturers facilities in Germany and Switzerland to Singapore by Antonov An 124 and were then barged over to Batam, Indonesia, for installation on to the topside module of the FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage & Offloading) Vessel Cidade de Sao Mateus.
This was an extremely delicate operation demanding complete co-ordination from all GAC staff in our offices in Singapore and Europe, the supplier’s factory in Europe, and the client’s staff in Batam, said Jorgen Nielsen, GAC Singapore’s business manager for logistics services.
Each gas compressor unit is 10 metres long and each weighing 50,000kg. The only way we could airfreight them into Singapore was to use one of the world’s largest heavy transport aircraft available, the Antonov AN 124, Jorgen added.
The business was contracted through Ruslan International and operated by both Antonov Airlines and Volga Dnepr.
As if the Antonov An124 was not large enough already, a modified version with a taller fuselage to accommodate a greater range of industrial payloads is now being proposed by Volga-Dnepr.
Using the same approach at was used by Antonov in the development of the An225 by building on the existing robust airframe of the original, the new variant, designated the An-124-102, would be produced by slicing a standard An-124 lengthwise, from nose to tail, on a horizontal plane just below the level of the cockpit.
Additional fuselage structure would then be inserted between the upper and lower halves which would increase the internal height by about 2m from 4.4m to 6.7m, although the fuselage width would remain unchanged.
Some of the major sources of outsize business for the An124 are in the power generation, industrial and military markets. Power generation equipment is frequently circular requiring a height as great as the width. Industrial equipment is frequently built on a relatively small framework base in order to make maximum use of factory floor space and military loads often include both vehicles and helicopters which, by their nature, include a lot of empty air in their cabins which increase the overall height.
Dennis Gliznoutsa, commercial director of the Volga-Dnepr Group says the company is exploring whether there is sufficient commercial interest from such customers that might use such an aircraft.
Other very large aircraft operating today include both the Airbus A300-600ST and Boeing’s 747 Large Cargo Freighter. However, these aircraft are unavailable for ad hoc charter because they are essentially an integral part of the supply chain of their respective owners. Both of these aircraft also require expensive and scarce loading platforms.
The existing advantages of the An124 would remain with drive on drive off loading available for wheeled loads or the existing, well proven sloping ramp loading for heavy industrial loads. The An124 is not fully pressurised in the cargo cabin so one would expect little difficulties arising with pressurisation.
Volga-Dnepr says overall payload capacity would be reduced to 135t against the 150t of the most modern version of the An-124. The range with this payload would also shorten to from 4,000km to 2,500km.
Fuel consumption would increase by about 10%, says Gliznoutsa, and the aircraft would be about 25kt slower in cruise. Modification could be completed in about 18-25 months.
While business remains at it's present levels Volga-Dnepr would be reluctant to take one of it's existing revenue earning airframes out of service. An alternative would be to do another deal for one of the military airframes which remain unused.
Back in June we reported on the imminent move of the worlds largest airplane model of an Airbus A380 by full size An124 from Los Angeles into London Heathrow.
You will be pleased to hear that all went well and Emirates Airlines are very close to final assembly and completion of this great piece of advertising located at the road island intersection at the main entrance to the airport now to be known as the Emirates roundabout.
Polet Airlines was the operator of the An124-100 that carried the outsize model.
Another shot of the model during offload:
On July 11, Volga-Dnepr Airlines used an An124-100 to deliver two deep-water submersible vehicles designated Mir-1 and Mir-2 and other research equipment from Kaliningrad to Ulan-Ude as part of a new research program at Lake Baikal.
Lake Baikal is the largest body of fresh water on the planet and the subject of some concern as economic development takes its toll on the environment.
The overall weight of research equipment delivered was 80 tons and was loaded at Chkalovsk military airport in Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast. The Mir-1 and Mir-2 vehicles were loaded using a specially designed monorail to be followed by an oceanographic vessel and and the remainder of the research equipment. Despite some concerns about the fate of the unique navigation system of the underwater vehicles they survived the long flight without incident.
The two year expedition to research the flora, fauna, lakebed and ecology of the lake is scheduled to begin in late July and has been arranged by The Baikal Lake Preservation Foundation. At 1637 meters (5371 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world and the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume.
This is the first occasion that submersible vehicles have been used in the lake for research and over 60 diving missions will be performed during the first phase.
