October 2 - AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), part of Volga-Dnepr Group, is launching a new Boeing 747 freighter service from Amsterdam, one of its European gateways, to Almaty in Kazakhstan.

The weekly flight will commence on October 5th 2009 and operate via ABC's hub at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow to support full connectivity with the rest of the ABC network. The introduction of this latest new route reflects ABC's flexible approach to meeting the demands of its freight forwarding customers.

Almaty is a new destination for AirBridgeCargo. The airline sees significant potential in the Kazakhstan market and expects to attract a wide range of cargo shipments. 

Tatyana Arslanova, ABC's executive senior vice president, Strategy, Marketing and Sales, said: "Flexibility and a fast response to customers' changing requirements and new market opportunities is the key to offsetting the global downturn in freight volumes. In 2009, AirBridgeCargo has also opened a new route from Maastricht in the Netherlands to Moscow and increased this to twice weekly. The Netherlands will now be served by eight ABC flights per week, all with direct connections to Russia, Central Asia as well as efficient transit times linking Asia over Russian airspace. Routes to Milan, Kabul and Zaragoza have also been launched recently, where we see further opportunities for growth that is synchronised with our fleet expansion plans."