Moldovan cargo airline Aerotranscargo (headquartered in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE, and operating 6 Boeing 747-400Fs) has announced that it is to create a Dutch subsidiary, Aerotranscargo Netherlands, which will begin operations this summer. The start-up plans to operate cargo flights to China, Hong Kong and the USA using 2 Boeing 747-400s leased from its parent company. It intends to subsquently expand services with 4 Boeing 747-400s in 2 years time, before attaining a fleet number of 10 aircraft in 2024, operating variety of 747-400s, 747-8Fs and 777Fs. Its board of directors will be comprised of former board members of Dutch cargo airline Martinair (which is still operations after 63 years), as well as former KLM managers. This could be an opportunity to relieve the Dutch cargo market of foreign carriers. Its CEO, former Martinair CEO Peter Scholten has responded to the monopoly of foreign cargo airlines in the Netherlands: “Many parties do not regard this as an ideal situation, and I am putting this diplomatically. I want to respond to this demand with ATC-NL.” Note: ATC-NL signifies Aerotransportcargo Netherlands. The company aims to employ between 100 and 125 people. The Netherlands being the center of the oil refining industry, this project might reveal itself to be impractical, as the industry mainly relies on large-scale, international cargo airlines with huge capacity and wide networks. On the other hand, the pandemic has revealed a large uptake in internal demand due to travel restictions and blocked international food supply chains, so if the airline were to commence domestic flights, it could result in a profitable business. 26th of February 2021.
Aeronews24 