Volga shows strong growth

VOLGA-Dnepr Group continued its strong financial growth in the first half of 2008, with record revenues for its air charter and scheduled cargo operations, increasing by 91 per cent and nearly 180 per cent respectively towards a total group turnover of US$840 million.

The group has previously reported three consecutive years of 50 per cent+ per annum growth and, in 2007, exceeded sales revenues of $1 billion for the first time in its 17-year history.

For the 1 January - 30 June 2008 period, Volga-Dnepr Airlines' air charter operations achieved sales of $600 million, a 91 per cent growth over the $314 million reported for the first half of last year. Interim results also show that the group's scheduled cargo business, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, gained nearly 180 per cent of new sales over the six month period from $117 million in 2007 to $212 million in the first half of 2008.

Alexey Isaikin, president of Volga-Dnepr Group, said: "The clear vision of our strategic projects and understanding of our short-term targets, combined with the professionalism and commitment of our global team, has enabled us to confirm our leadership ambitions and further strengthen the group's position in the highly competitive world aviation market. Despite such significant challenges as unprecedented fuel prices for the airline industry, we are gong to achieve record performance figures by the end of the year."

The group's increase in income is supported by the successful development of its air cargo charter operations using An-124-100 and Il-76 freighter aircraft.

AirBridgeCargo's scheduled all-cargo services also achieved significant growth in operational performance. The airline transported 62,000 tons of cargo in the January-June 2008 period, compared to 39,400 tons in the half-year of 2007. ABC continues to expand and upgrade its fleet, most recently taking delivery of a new B747-400ERF aircraft in February and April 2008 .