Virgin Atlantic Cargo has awarded a three-year cargo-handling contract to Menzies Aviation in Australia.

According to Virgin, Menzies took over its cargo handling in Melbourne on June 8, 2018, with Brisbane to follow on July 9 and Sydney on August 7.

“As we develop our services across Australia, we believe that Menzies Aviation is the right partner to help us achieve our goals in this market and we will continue the high standard of handling services our customers expect from us,” said Tania Boyes, director of operations at Virgin Atlantic Cargo. “We also wish to thank dnata, our handling partner in Australia for the past three years, for their support of our growth over this period.”

Overall, cargo volumes generated by Virgin Atlantic into Australia in the first quarter of 2018 increased 30.5% in the first quarter of 2018, while revenue from Australia also achieved strong growth.

“Menzies Aviation is incredibly pleased to be awarded the international long-haul cargo-handling contract,” said Stuart Key, VP of commercial in Oceania and Southeast Asia at Menzies Aviation. “We are looking forward to providing a market-leading service whilst using state-of-the-art cargo technology and safe, secure and efficient processes for cargo customers.”

Virgin Atlantic is responsible for marketing the cargo capacity on Virgin Australia’s long-haul flights from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles and from Melbourne and Sydney to Hong Kong, under a longstanding international long-haul cargo sales and management agreement with the Australia carrier.