Volga-Dnepr Group has won the Air Cargo Industry Achievement Award in the Air Cargo Week World Air Cargo Awards for its commitment to the development of air cargo, investment in new products and services, and consistent growth. More than 500 international air cargo industry leaders attended the awards dinner in Munich, Germany, which took place during the 2015 Air Cargo Europe/Transport Logistic exhibition and conference. Wolfgang Meier, Volga-Dnepr’s Group Vice President for Marketing & Development, was presented with the winning trophy by Mark Whitehead, Chief Executive Officer of the award sponsor Hactl (Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd). “We are honoured that customers all over the world have enabled us to win this great award. We are very fortunate to work with so many outstanding customers and to have the opportunity to share our expertise with them. We will continue to listen to their service requirements and always work to provide the best possible solutions. As we always say, our customers’ success is our success,” Wolfgang Meier said. Dennis Gliznoutsa, Vice President, Sales at Volga-Dnepr, added: “We are proud to be able to use our expertise to help customers in so many industry sectors to make a positive difference all over the world. For example, the satellites we carry help to enhance global communications, the equipment we transport to help oil and gas customers to provide sustainable energy resources, and the heavy construction equipment that develops local infrastructure projects. And, of course, the fast response solutions we provide to bring urgently-needed help to countries affected by disease and natural disasters as we have most recently provided to West Africa to counter the Ebola outbreak and to Nepal to support victims of last month’s earthquake. Despite challenges within the industry, we have continued to develop and invest in our business so that today, our ‘cargo supermarket’ service portfolio enables us to offer our customers a unique choice of scheduled and charter air cargo services as well as specialist engineering and logistics solutions, and this award demonstrates the broader value we now add in the global supply chain.” This prestigious industry recognition comes in the year Volga-Dnepr Group celebrates its 25th anniversary. Since 1990, it has provided customers all over the world with fast and reliable solutions for the delivery of unique, outsize and heavyweight air cargo. Volga-Dnepr Airlines, the Group’s charter airline, operates the world’s largest fleet of An-124-100 ‘Ruslan’ ramp loading freighters with 10 aircraft. It also helped to safeguard the long-term future of the popular IL-76 freighter by leading the modernisation programme for the aircraft and investing in a fleet of five new generation IL-76TD-90VD with an increased 50 tonnes payload, and gaining ICAO certification for worldwide operations. In 2004, Volga-Dnepr Group entered the scheduled air cargo market with the launch of AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC). It has since achieved a decade of year-on-year growth, increasing and modernising its Boeing freighter fleet and building a route network connecting the major tradelanes between Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. ABC now operates a fleet of 14 Boeing 747 freighters – including six of the latest B747-8Fs. Last year, ABC carried more than 400,000 tonnes for the first time and started 2015 with a further 20% growth in the first quarter. The airline now serves 28 destinations in 14 countries and uses its network hub in Moscow to enable its customers to access a choice of more than 900 weekly connections within a 48-hour delivery time. To help customers with their most complex delivery challenges, in 2010 Volga-Dnepr launched its Engineering & Logistics Centre (ELC), using its expert knowledge to offer a full end-to-end logistics solution covering all modes of transport. The Group has also developed its own in-house aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul company – Volga-Dnepr Technics – which works from modern facilities in Europe and the Middle East, maintaining the reliability of the Group’s own cargo fleet as well as the aircraft of other airlines. Volga-Dnepr Airlines is also a partner with Antonov Airlines in the successful An-124 joint ventures Ruslan International and Ruslan SALIS.