AirBridgeCargo Airlines has begun flying to Africa twice a week.

The new Boeing 747 Freighter flights are operated under an ACMI agreement with CargoLogicAir, another subsidiary of the Volga-Dnepr group.

The flight will be offered on Thursdays and Sundays, with the following routing: London Stansted – Frankfurt – Libreville – Johannesburg – Nairobi – London Stansted.

“The introduction of services to Africa is a big step for our company,” said Robert van de Weg, senior vice president for sales and marketing at ABC. “For the last couple of years AirBridgeCargo has reached the ‘high-water mark’ of its organic growth model with its focus on its fleet, network expansion and consistently improving the quality of its customer service. We are now continuing our development by expanding into other parts of the world, including by means of partnership with other airlines. New points of destination and origin in Africa will provide our customers with direct service via ABC’s stations in Europe, Asia and the US.”

The carrier recorded a 30% year-on-year growth in its tonnage for January 2016, having carried 43,605 tons of cargo. ABC attributed the rise to newly launched destinations and the addition of three 747Fs during 2015.

“We will continue this path in 2016, offering to our customers the maximum range of services using the unique capabilities of our 747 freighters,” said Denis Ilin, executive president of ABC. “2016 will be another challenging year for ABC and a certain milestone of our growth. The company’s recent development has resulted in diversified network coverage, matched by a high level of service that has helped us to gain the appreciation and trust of our customers in what we do.”

But Ilin added that the airline had been asked by customers about direct services to some destinations that are still missing in the network.

“As a consequence, we see ABC’s further development in creating a really global network and competitive global value proposition for our customers resulting in us delivering high-quality air-cargo delivery services to new regional markets and new customers,” he said. “We want AirBridgeCargo service to become a common feature that is accepted and recognized in every part of the cargo world. Only through this will we be able to adequately respond to the evolving needs of our clients and the challenges of the global economy.”