MASkargo starts first A330 freight flight to Colombo

MASkargo marked another historical milestone by launching its first A330 freighter flight to Colombo, in a development that augurs well for the country’s economy.

The newly acquired A330-200 freighter is scheduled to fly into Bandaranaike International Airport from Kuala Lumpur every Friday and back the following day. The flight routing for this weekly flight will be from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Madras (MAA) – Colombo (CMB) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL).

“With Sri Lanka’s impressive GDP of 7.9% in the first quarter of 2012, we are definitely seeing a huge potential for MASkargo to grow in this market. We expect the competition here to be stiff, but with Hemas Air Services as our business partner, we are confident that MASkargo’s presence will soon be expanded in Sri Lanka. We are looking forward to tap into an economic growth that requires the fast and efficient movement of goods and services,” said MASkargo Senior Vice President Business Development and Freighter Services Jamaludin Ismail.

He added Colombo has commodities which will directly benefit industries such as apparel, as well as perishable exports hence providing a large market share between Kuala Lumpur to Japan, China, India, Middle East and Europe destinations.

The first freighter into Colombo is expected to uplift approximately 30 tonnes.  MASkargo’s General Sales Agents (GSA) – Hemas Air Services, Cargo General Manager Bathiya Senadhipathi indicated that he expects the initial response to the dedicated freighter to be encouraging and in tandem with economic growth, where twice or thrice weekly services could be considered in the near future.

MASkargo recently took delivery of its fourth and final A330-200 freighter, where it will complement the two 747-400F freighters in the existing fleet. The combination of these two aircraft types will allow MASkargo to grow its network by better managing capacity to demand.

The mid size A330-200F is the world’s most modern mid-size freighters and will be powered by the upgraded Pratt Whitney PW4170 engine with a maximum payload of 70 tonnes and range of 4,000 nm range.

Furthermore, the A332 freighter allows MASkargo to build capacity and expand its network to new markets with improved reliability and cost efficiency.

MASkargo Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Malaysia Airlines Cargo Sdn. Bhd.) is the air cargo division of Malaysia Airlines. It operates two B747-400F and four A330-200F covering the world’s major cargo hubs. It also offers belly space capacity on Malaysia Airlines passenger fleet serving almost 100 destinations worldwide.

At KLIA, its home base is the Advanced Cargo Centre; a 108-acre complex designed especially for MASkargo’s sophisticated state-of-the-art cargo handling facilities with the ability to handle up to one million tonnes of cargo annually. These features have given MASkargo the recognition as a major regional cargo hub within a free commercial zone.