AirBridgeCargo regains Schiphol freighter slots

Russian airline AirBridgeCargo has won back its full tranche of freighter slots at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport after Moscow threatened to withdraw overfly rights for Netherlands-registered aircraft, including those for Dutch airline KLM.

ABC said in a statement:

“As a result of two-days of negotiations, KLM and ABC have come to an agreement, which will allow ABC to fully reestablish its operations to AMS as per its request.

The parties involved are to elaborate certain operational details, but in general the agreement in principle has been reached.

It is expected that ABC will resume its AMS operations in the weeks to come. Both airlines will continue cooperation in order to avoid such situations in the future.”

A spokesperson for KLM described the agreement as a “code-share” but was unable to provide further details at this time.

Schiphol could see as many as 37 freighter flights per week disappear this winter as a result of slot restrictions at the hub.

The Schiphol airport community’s worst fears were confirmed when Air Co-ordination Netherlands (ACNL) announced where slots would be allocated for the winter season.

Amsterdam’s airport can handle a maximum of 500,000 slots per year and growth at the airport means that limit will be reached this year, with all-cargo flights accounting for around 18,000 of those.

source: aircargonews.net