Saudi Airlines Cargo has announced plans to launch its new B747 freighter flight from Saigon, Vietnam, starting from March 25 in combination with its Hong Kong flights. The airline will operate twice a week linking Vietnam with the Middle East and Frankfurt, according to a senior official. Peter Scholten, vice president, commercial, at Saudi Airlines Cargo, said: "Saigon is an emerging market. With China becoming more expensive, production is increasingly being moved to Vietnam and other developing countries. This new service will enable us to expand our network into the region in response to changing market conditions." Saudi Airlines Cargo operates scheduled freighter services with 12 freighters and sells the belly-capacity on 140 passenger aircraft for Saudi Arabian Airlines spanning a rapidly expanding global network of 225 destinations. The cargo airline also provides cost-effective and practical worldwide charter flight solutions from a growing fleet of dedicated charter aircraft. On Saturday, Saudi Airlines Cargo announced that it will add a second freighter to its portfolio of flights operating to/from the Far East. The new MD11F service will operate every Sunday night from Guangzhou (CAN) offering a direct freighter connection to Brussels. With the commencement of the new freighter service, Saudi Cargo will offer 180T per week from the largest manufacturing base in South China to destinations in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Via a combination of passenger and freighter flights, total frequencies from Guangzhou will increase to 5 per week. "This new expansion comes at a fitting time as China's export market fully reopens after Chinese New Year," commented Vikram Vohra, Regional Sales Director Far East at Saudi Airlines Cargo. "It will enable Saudi Cargo to take a leading position from Guangzhou, offering shippers dedicated capacity and access to its worldwide global network," he added. Saudi Airlines Cargo operates scheduled freighter services with 12 freighters and sells the belly-capacity on 140 passenger aircraft for Saudi Arabian Airlines spanning a rapidly expanding global network of 225 destinations. The cargo airline also provides cost-effective and practical worldwide charter flight solutions from a growing fleet of dedicated charter aircraft. Last month, Saudi Airlines Cargo launced ‘BellyFlex', a low-end belly product with longer transit times at hubs for attractive rates. The product is ideally suited for the shipment of normal-sized cargo. It will deliver less urgent shipments within a transit time of 4-8 days from origin to destination.
