Warsaw Dateline Exclusive—Yesterday at the IATA Cargo Emerging Markets two-day conference being held in Warsaw Poland, Wolfgang Schmitz (right) Lufthansa Cargo Head of Corporate and Business Development, set the tone for a busy day affording attendees a brief word picture of how to do business in Poland.
     “Business in Poland must be studied before actually executed,” Schmitz said.
     “That’s what this gathering is all about,” he added.
     “Air cargo opportunities in Poland are driven by strong growth last year of12.6%.
     “But doing business here is rated in terms of difficulty at 75th by the World Bank Group IATA’s Serge Pauporte said.
     “The challenges are daunting, but the payoffs are huge,” Jerzego Polaczka Poland’s Minister of Transport, (left) told FlyingTypers.
     As sessions continued EU commitments for air cargo and overall view for the future of cargo in the EU: regulations, forthcoming emissions taxes and possible impact of the external EU air transport policy were discussed.
     An interesting session maybe worth the trip all by itself was a first rate presentation covering various wrinkles in making smart decisions about air cargo investment opportunities in Eastern Europe.
     Another session took perhaps the most discussed aspect of the airline and air cargo business center stage in Warsaw.
     John Edwards, Head of Cargo Security, IATA delivered a brief, underscoring importance of compliance to security and safety standards.
     Mr. Edwards discussed certain negative impact toward business expansion across the region, that not paying attention to security can generate.
     Also worth considering while conferees sat in Warsaw, was an exceptionally strong afternoon presentation titled:
     “The Baltic States As Europe’s New Global Hubs?
     The presentation was handled in two parts.
     Daiva Palm, Sales Manager for the Baltic, Russia & CIS, for SAS Cargo noted that SAS was the first foreign carrier in the Baltic’s while outlining how the market was developed and how SAS became the market leader by adapting strategy.
     As Day One sessions drew to a close The Baltic States were again in focus as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were compared in terms of future potential by Toms Andersons, Head of Cargo at airBaltic.
     The fast growing Latvian airline is adding two new destinations in its winter timetable October 28 and increased flight frequencies on nine routes with 37 flights out of Riga, 18 flights out of Vilnius, and 3 out of Liepja.
     The two new routes are Riga-Tashkent and Oulu, Finland from the airBaltic base in Riga.
     Today as the conference concluded a full schedule was on the boards.
     Highlight of Cargo Emerging Markets Day Two included“Six IATA Solutions” with presentations and “how to” sessions on IATA Cargo Accounts Settlement System (CASS); IATA Cargo Training; IATA e-freight; Cargo 2000 and Security and Safety.
     Another session titled “The Lufthansa Go East Strategy,” detailed first hand that DLH hub in Astana, Kazakhstan.
     Expect the myths and realities of doing business in Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union to get a good once over here.
Geoffrey

Markets East Grow Domodedovo

    Domodedovo Airport, the largest in Russia, says its cargo center is one of the most technologically sophisticated in the country, moving around 126,000 tons of cargo in 2006, growing, and with current capacity for around 170,000 tons annually.
    Domodedovo’s also busy with passengers, and saw strong traffic growth during the first half of 2007. In that period, the airport handled more than 10 million passengers, an increase of 20% over the previous year. International passenger traffic levels grew over 25%, while domestic traffic rose by about 10%.
    The airport forecasts about 19 million passengers for the full year.
    According to the airport, in terms of freight, the gateway aims to provide “high quality and world standard services” to airlines and shippers, and to work closely with customers to tailor-fit their needs.
    The airport’s newly improved cargo facility, which with the airport is owned by the East Line Group – started operations in 1994, when East Line started a broad investment campaign. The main air cargo facilities were put into operation between 1995 and 1997.
    “Within a short space of time Domodedovo Cargo Terminal became a technologically sophisticated facility with state-of-the-art capability and showed a willingness to compete with international air cargo terminals,” the group said.
    The airport says the cargo terminal operates 24-hours a day and offers air cargo services including quick customs clearance, and all ground handling and warehousing. It also offers sales and booking of air transportation from Domodedovo, including charter. Terminal facilities also allow handling refrigerated, valuable, animal, and dangerous cargos, while cargo packaging and road service can be arranged as well.
    The facility says the cargo area could undergo more expansion, and that in future, cargo customers will be able to do more business via the Internet, like tracking services, the calculation of charges, and document registration.
    Major cargo carriers at the airport include Air Bridge Cargo, Airstars, and Alrosa.
    In July 2007, Lufthansa announced that it would move its Moscow cargo and passenger operations from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Domodedovo beginning March 31, 2008.
    The move will put Lufthansa closer to its Star Alliance partners operating in Moscow, all of which are already at Domodedovo.
    “By shifting our operations to Domodedovo, we will once again be able to work with our partners under one roof and offer our passengers a standardized service. Lufthansa passengers will find a modern, service-oriented environment at Domodedovo,” said Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
    “Furthermore, the planned extension of Domodedovo will open up new, exciting perspectives in one of the fastest-growing markets worldwide.”
    Earlier this month, JAL also announced it would move its Moscow operations to Domodedovo, beginning December 14, 2007.
George Frey