Ahead of this year’s event we grabbed a few quick words with Tatyana Arslanova, Executive President, of Russian scheduled freight carrier AirBridgeCargo Airlines…
Q) Which trends will impact the industry most in the coming years and why?
A) If you were to look at which business sectors have experienced the most change over the past five years, the airline business is sure to be in the top five, and I can’t see that changing moving forward. Market volatility will be one of the main trends impacting the business as we witness a clear reduction in the cyclical duration between periods of economical gain and financial crises and will mean many airlines will face difficulties in planning their networks and fleet due to the uncertainty. Further increases in fuel prices and the dependency on oil will hit the industry hard. Around a third of our costs are in this area and we cannot ignore the fact that in the end of the day it is the customer who suffers most from constant upturn of oil prices. We could ultimately see shippers switching to other transportation modes; maritime is becoming more competitive and railway infrastructure is being enhanced. 
Q) Are there are particular areas of the world where developments will impact your future policies?
A) Strengthening of Chinese economics, as well as other Asian countries like India, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam and the transformation of international freight flows will decrease of imbalance between Europe and Asia. The fast moving development in this region is leading to increased export/import cargo flows and will change the traditional Europe-Asia cargo traffic flow and switching it more towards Asia and the development of an intra-Asia market. Eight out of the top ten fastest growing markets are in Asia and the volume of growth expected in China and Hong Kong alone markets will account for a third of global volume growth over the period to 2014, according to an IATA forecast.
Q) How is the air freight segment developing?
A) The air cargo industry is becoming more mature business and has led to a more competitive situation for us. The airline industry today faces many challenges – high value of assets, overcapacity, oil dependency, development of business technologies, overpriced labor costs, etc - and companies need to adapt their policy and business model in order to be competitive and hold their market positions. Further air cargo business consolidation with joint ventures, alliances and other types of agreements being established between industry stakeholders can be expected. This continuing trend, which gained its momentum during recessionary times, can be regarded both as a new opportunity and a threat.
Q) How does route development influence the future strategies of your organisation?
A) Route development is part and parcel of our strategy because our future plans to be included in the world’s top ten cargo carriers by global coverage cannot be realised without further development and optimisation of our existing route network, both from international and domestic point of view. Nowadays, during this volatile period, route and network strategy stays the key factor for fleet planning, infrastructure and personnel development.
Q) Where do you see your organisation being in ten years time?
A) Obviously in our fast changing world it is really hard to predict something, however in ten years time we see ABC as a mature company and sound player at the world air cargo market. We have a strategy and development plan in place which foresees quality improvement, ABC’s maturity, market development and ABC’s establishment as a global carrier.
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