EUROPE & CIS: Cargoitalia builds sales and handling network

The newly relaunched Cargoitalia has appointed general sales and service agents (GSSAs) and handling agents who will represent the carrier in its four launch markets of Hong Kong, the UAE, Canada, and the US. Sales in Italy will be handled by the airline’s own sales team, while terminal and ramp handling at its Milan (Malpensa) Airport home base will be provided by ALHA and SEA respectively.

Cargoitalia first scheduled flights to Hong Kong will commence on 9 September and in Hong Kong the carrier will be represented by New Asia Capital Resources, while handling will be performed by HACTL.

Starting 19 September Cargoitalia will introduce its second route, operating twice weekly Milan- New York-Toronto- Milan-Abu Dhabi-Milan. In the US, Cargoitalia has appointed Heavyweight Air Express (HAE) as its GSSA. HAE has sales offices in all major markets, and an established road feeder programme which will connect to the airline’s services from JFK. All handling will be performed by World Flight Services.

In Canada, Network Cargo Systems International (NCS) will market Cargoitalia’s capacity through its offices in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The company also has international operations in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. NCS will use road feeders and air interline agreements to feed traffic from other points throughout Canada, and will also interline to attract cargo from Central and South America and the Caribbean. Ramp handling at Toronto will be performed by Handlex, while terminal handling will again be provided by WFS.

In the UAE, the airline capacity will be marketed by the Dubai arm of Heavyweight Air Express (HAE), assisted by its strategic venture partner Kargo Sistem of Istanbul. HAE will be responsible for marketing Cargoitalia throughout the Middle East and Turkey using interline agreements, road feeder services from neighbouring countries and interfaces with ocean carriers to extend its catchment area and capture sea-air business. ADAC will provide all handling services.

Commenting on the new GSSA and handling appointments, Roberto Gilardoni, Cargoitalia Commercial Director, says: he now have strong and highly-professional representatives in our launch markets, supported by carefully-chosen handling agents. Our GSSAs will be conducting export-, import- and consignee sales in their respective territories, and will be working closely with each other and Cargoitalia’s own sales staff in Italy, in order to maximise all opportunities on all sectors. The new Cargoitalia is the result of amalgamating the original Cargoitalia (which suspended operations in 2008) with the recently-purchased Alitalia full cargo business. Cargoitalia’s new owners are ALIS (Aerolinee Italiane S.p.A. 66.7 per cent) and Intesa SanPaolo (33.3 per cent).

Cargoitalia has recently been granted its AOC, and has already operated its fi rst MD11SF aircraft. The second aircraft will be delivered in August, and a third MD11SF will follow within the coming months. In 2012, Cargoitalia will begin to take delivery of eight brand new A330- 600 freighters which will phase out MD11 operations.