newstodate.aero
Aug 17, 2017 (newstodate): The opening from July 1, 2017, of two weekly freighter flights between Istanbul and Riga in Latvia immediately boosted cargo volumes in July at Riga Airport by 57.6 percent to 2,349 tonnes of cargo.
At the same time, international cargo volumes handled at Finland's Helsinki Airport were down 5.6 percent in July.
Turkish Cargo has been operating freighters at Helsinki Airport since December 2011, currently offering also two weekly flights.
Industry sources suggest that besides serving the Baltic markets, the introduction of Turkish Cargo freighter flights at Riga Airport actually shifts much cargo earlier trucked into Helsinki from the Baltic and neighboring markets from Helsinki to Riga.
-So far, our company has not felt much impact from the launch of the Turkish Cargo freighter on our business, says one airline official on condition of anonymity.
-I think Riga Airport's cargo figures will indeed grow, but the question is how much of this is real growth, and how much is caused by shipments that were earlier trucked to Helsinki to connect to the Turkish Cargo freighter there.
-These shipments did not appear in the Riga Airport statistics, but now they are flown directly from Riga, improving the airport's official airfreight figures, he says.
At the same time, international cargo volumes handled at Finland's Helsinki Airport were down 5.6 percent in July.
Turkish Cargo has been operating freighters at Helsinki Airport since December 2011, currently offering also two weekly flights.
Industry sources suggest that besides serving the Baltic markets, the introduction of Turkish Cargo freighter flights at Riga Airport actually shifts much cargo earlier trucked into Helsinki from the Baltic and neighboring markets from Helsinki to Riga.
-So far, our company has not felt much impact from the launch of the Turkish Cargo freighter on our business, says one airline official on condition of anonymity.
-I think Riga Airport's cargo figures will indeed grow, but the question is how much of this is real growth, and how much is caused by shipments that were earlier trucked to Helsinki to connect to the Turkish Cargo freighter there.
-These shipments did not appear in the Riga Airport statistics, but now they are flown directly from Riga, improving the airport's official airfreight figures, he says.