Volga-Dnepr Group is enjoying remarkable sales and cargo volume growth but did not report income for the first six months of the year.
The Russian airline generated what it called record revenue for its air charter and scheduled cargo operations combining for a total of $840 million. It is on track to improve upon 2007, its first $1 billion year, by approximately 60 percent.
For the January 1-June 30, 2008 period, Volga-Dnepr Airlines' air charter operations achieved sales of $600 million, a 91 percent growth over the $314 million reported for the first half of last year. Interim results also show that the Group's scheduled cargo business, AirBridgeCargo Airlines gained 81 percent of new sales over the six month period from $117 million in 2007 to $212 million in the first half of 2008.
"Despite such significant challenges as unprecedented fuel prices for the airline industry, we are going to achieve record performance figures by the end of the year," said Alexey Isaikin, president of Volga-Dnepr Group.
The Group's air cargo charter operations completed 3,063 flights with its fleet of 10 AN-124-100 and 14 IL-76 freighter aircraft for government bodies and customers in the aerospace and oil and gas sectors.
AirBridgeCargo transported 62,000 tons of cargo in the January-June 2008 period, compared to 39,400 tons in the half-year of 2007, with its fleet of seven Boeing 747 freighters. |
