AirBridgeCargo Airlines registered a year-on-year growth rate of 13% for the volume of cargo it carried in 2017, according to results released by the airline.

ABC transported more than 700,000 tonnes of cargo across its international network and increased its freight tonne kilometres by 10% compared to 2016. Load factor was also up 4%, at approximately 71%.

The carrier attributed the performance to its fleet expansion strategy, the development of solutions for special cargo, the introduction of new destinations and the upgrading of existing ones.

All major markets across ABC’s network experience business improvements. The airline’s performance was also enhanced by the refinement and reinforcement of its sales structure, which has seen the development of a centralized sales structure complemented by regional expertise.

“In 2017 we concentrated our efforts on the development of special cargo transportation, fine-tuning our internal procedures and processes, aligning our organization structure and going on the path of digitalization, steps which boosted our volumes of special commodities, with temperature pharma heading the list (+150%), followed by off-size and heavy (+33%) and e-commerce (+26%),” said Sergey Lazarev, general director of AirBridgeCargo Airlines. “We have also initiated a number of projects aimed at ameliorating service quality – including the introduction of our new Control Tower to monitor consignments of special cargoes and to proactively respond to service disruptions if any, Envirotainer QEP certification for ABC stations, cooperation with Sky Fresh for automated notifications, and other industry-related initiatives with tech-savvy solutions which helped to sharpen ABC’s performance. Our commitment to continuous improvement and strong customer relationships will continue to serve as a pillar for ABC’s development in 2018 and beyond.”

In 2018, ABC will focus on further enhancing its special cargo solutions, not only providing customers with a wide range of products but also offering digital solutions to make the process of air freight delivery as transparent and easy as possible.

Finding new areas for digital penetration to benefit the customers experience will be the main driver of development, based on partnership with forward-thinking and trustworthy companies, optimization of internal processes and organizational structure, and customized solutions for certain industries, notably the pharmaceutical, aerospace and oil and gas sectors, according to ABC.