Silk Way West Airlines and Japan Airlines Cargo have signed a cooperation agreement covering freighter capacity between Europe and Japan.

“We are delighted and honoured to enter into this cooperation with JAL Cargo,” said Wolfgang Meier [front right in photo], CEO and President of Silk Way West Airlines. “It perfectly fits into our growth strategy we are pursuing in reference to our footprint in Japan. Right from the start of our Japan services more than two years ago, we have always been eager to increase our exposure. The cooperation with JAL Cargo does represent a quantum leap in our development and I am happy both carriers will benefit from this agreement.”

The partnership will enable JAL Cargo to make use of the capacity on the Azerbaijani carrier’s Boeing 747 freighters operating scheduled routes to and from Europe and Japan via Baku.

“Having these kind of positive communications is pleasing JAL Cargo and we welcome very much more capacities especially with the use of Silk Way West’s Boeing 747-8F aircraft within our network,” adds Hiroo Iwakoshi [front left in photo], board member and executive officer of cargo and mail at Japan Airlines.

JAL Cargo terminated the use of freighters at the end of 2010 as part of Japan Airlines’ recovery from bankruptcy.

“This co-operation is not the first one we do pursue in this format as we have already successfully been working together with Malaysia Airlines Cargo after they had stopped their full-freighter activities,” said Nurid Aliyev [back right in photo], vice president for APAC at Silk Way West Airlines. “As our global hub is perfectly located along the ancient Silk Road our geographical position is at the crossroads between orient and occident and Silk Way West Airlines thus very much favours this partnership.”

Katsutoshi Tanaka [back left in photo], Silk Way’s chief representative in Japan, will lead the company’s activities in the country to further develop the strategic partnership, with a view to further enlarge it, according to Meier.