The inaugural Air China Cargo scheduled flight arrived on September 12th, following ad hoc charters in August, and was met with the customary water arch salute courtesy of Schiphol's Fire Brigade.
The brand new B747-400 services are initially operating five times weekly from Shanghai, via Chengdu or Chonqing; flights return via Tianjin. The airline has slots for up to ten flights per week from Amsterdam. Some of the new services into Schiphol replace flights to Frankfurt.
Air China Cargo will utilise Schiphol's highly-developed scheduled road feeder network to over 100 destinations, enabling it to extend coverage to all major European markets.
Air China Cargo's Executive Vice Present and CFO, Mr.Huang Bin said: "Our new Amsterdam freighter service should be the first choice for customers who need direct service between the Netherlands and Northern China. This is now the third Air China Cargo freighter route serving Europe, which demonstrates our pioneering spirit in the current market recovery, and our great confidence in the prospects for the air cargo market between China and the Netherlands."
With the arrival of Air China Cargo freighter services, Schiphol is the only European airport to serve all three major Chinese freighter operators. Says Schiphol Cargo's Senior VP Enno Osinga: 'Air China Cargo's new service further strengthens Schiphol's links with China; we now have six freighter operators serving China, and 112 flights per week to and from its top ten cargo airports.'
He continues: 'We are very pleased to welcome Air China Cargo to our growing community of freighter operators. Schiphol's strategic location, active encouragement of logistics activity and proactive measures to facilitate efficient flow of cargo are clearly making it the European airport of choice for major freight carriers.'
The airline has appointed Swissport as its ground handling agent at Schiphol. Swissport's EVP Global Cargo, John Batten, says: 'This is a very welcome addition to our customer base at Schiphol, and we wish Air China Cargo great success with its new services.'
Meanwhile, Air China's long-standing Dutch GSSA Kales is enthusiastic about the introduction of the new freighter flights. It s CEO Peter Kales comments: "We are very happy that our long relationship with Air China Cargo has now been rewarded with direct freighter services from Schiphol. Together we will make this new route a success story."
