In addition to its existing flight every Monday from London Stansted and Cologne to Tbilisi, Coyne has signed an agreement with Jade Cargo for further B747-400 capacity each Wednesday from Frankfurt to the Georgian capital.
The new flight will depart Frankfurt at 2300hrs and arrive in Tbilisi at 0500 hours local. Coyne will offer trucking connections throughout continental Europe as well as the UK, allowing a Tuesday evening close-out in most cases. The Thursday morning arrival gives Coyne's customers an important competitive edge by allowing freight to be cleared in Tbilisi in advance of the weekend and enabling trucking to Yerevan and Baku before the weekend.
A growing desire from its customers for a midweek frequency is prompting Coyne Airways to invest in new capacity. This latest expansion comes as Coyne Airways celebrates 15 years of operating neutral, scheduled all-cargo operations to the Caspian. During this period, it has successfully performed over 5,000 freighter flights into the region.
Coyne launched its first B747F service to Tbilisi in December 2006. From its Tbilisi hub, Coyne operates regional all-cargo flights to Aktau, Atyrau and Uralsk in Kazakhstan as well as truck services to Baku in Azerbaijan and Yerevan in Armenia. Its Caspian network has just increased further with new services from Tbilisi to Ashgabat and Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan. Other destinations in the Caspian region are served on request.
Larry Coyne, CEO, said: 'Customers remain loyal to Coyne Airways because we maintain our schedule year-round and they trust us to always make available the right level of capacity at a highly competitive price. That is what we are doing again with this expansion having listened to their requests for a midweek service.'
'Operating from Frankfurt allows quicker connections from Coyne Airways' interline partners flying from North America so that cargo leaving the USA for Frankfurt on Tuesday evening can connect with our next day departure to Tbilisi. We are delighted to be working with such a strong partner as Jade Cargo, given its reputation for service excellence and proven commitment to quality.'
As well as oil and gas equipment for exploration, Coyne regularly transports the basic products and personal effects needed to support the large international teams working in the region.
'Operating from London Stansted, Cologne and now Frankfurt makes it easy for customers around the world to connect with our services to the Caspian with freight moved from origin points on a single air waybill. With the early morning arrival of 747F flights in Tbilisi, we can make freight available locally the same day and next day in Aktau, Atyrau, Uralsk, Baku and Yerevan as well as in Ashgabat and Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan' he added.
