AirBridge Cargo appoints Morch as Americas area manager

AirBridge Cargo appoints Morch as Americas area manager    Russia airline AirBridge Cargo, part of the Volga-Dnepr Group, has appointed Andrew G. Morch as its regional director and area manager for the Americas.
   Morch was director of operations, Americas, at KLM Cargo. In his new role, based in AirBridge’s Chicago regional headquarters, Morch will manage the airline’s interline and general sales agent (GSA) partnerships in the United States, Canada and South America, and be responsible for the launch of its Boeing 747 freighter services from the United States (Houston and New York) to Russia and Europe sometime next year. AirBridge said the exact timing of the launch and routings would be announced later this year.
   “We have already started to successfully develop the Americas market with the help of our interline partners, and we will be reinforcing these relationships with the introduction of our own services from major cities in the U.S. to Russia and beyond,” said Stan Wraight, vice president of the Volga-Dnepr Group responsible for scheduled cargo services.
   AirBridge will double the size of its fleet to eight Boeing 747 freighters over the course of the next 18 months.
   “The Russian economy is extremely vibrant, stimulated by the tremendous growth in the oil and gas, mining and consumer goods sectors so we expect to see strong traffic flows when we start ABC flights next year,” Wraight said.
   Last month, AirBridge signed an interline agreement with Continental Airlines and appointed two GSA partners: Platinum Air Cargo to represent the airline in Houston, Dallas and Washington; and Heavy-weight Air Express for New York and Chicago.