Volga-Dnepr Group has opened an operations base at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport to provide customers in North and South America with faster and more economic access to the company’s range of air transport solutions.

According to Volga-Dnepr, the new base will ensure that the company can meet the specialist logistics requirements of its customers in the region, including longstanding and major clients in the oil and gas, heavy machinery, energy and aerospace sectors.

“With the inauguration of the new operations base, the group will dedicate one of its 12 Antonov An-124-100 freighter aircraft as well as crews, technical support teams and special loading equipment for unique cargoes to the Houston facility,” said Konstantin Vekshin, executive president of charter cargo operations at Volga-Dnepr Group. “The base will be staffed by load-planning engineers and loadmasters, operations, navigation and ground-handling specialists, and provide unique and specialized on-site engineering and delivery solutions to enable the safe and secure transportation of heavy and outsize cargoes. The commitment brings us even closer to our customers geographically and enhances our ability to provide special ‘out of the box’ solutions which make our customers’ lives easier.”

Volga-Dnepr established a group sales office in Houston in 2001.

“The addition of Volga-Dnepr Group’s new operations base is yet another step fostering future growth in cargo operations at Bush Airport and will create 30 to 40 new jobs in the local area,” said Mario Diaz, director of aviation at Houston Airport System. “Houston Airports remains committed to developing and improving intermodal connectivity, and new service offerings such as Volga-Dnepr’s operations base help us achieve our mission by further connecting the people, business, cultures and economies of the world to Houston.”