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Ethiopian Airlines will dedicate 6,300sqm of space
in the newly expanded cargo hub at Liege Airport in
Belgium after the construction of the second phase
of expansion in the North Zone of the Airport is
completed on June 15, 2009, Liege officials
disclosed.
The new edifice has an estimated construction cost
of 6.3 million dollars. Along with the first
expansion, finished in late 2007, 120,000 to 130,000
tons of freight will be processed every year,
according to data from the Airport.
The first phase at the North Zone of Liege began
operating in April 2008. Ethiopian has been
using the service since then to deliver cargo to
market destinations in Europe.
On May 30, 2009, the flag carrier and Liege
organized a workshop at Hilton Addis to showcase the
operation and provide information for customers of
the Ethiopian flower industry and to explain
procedures for direct distribution to major European
markets.
“This is intended to show the processes; from
arrival of the aircraft, handling operations,
equipment, facilities and customs-procedures, up to
loading of the trucks,” Eric Gysen, Cargo Sales
manager at Liege, said.
At the Addis Abeba workshop last weekend, Eric gave
a presentation on the processes and the available
facilities at the airport.
Ethiopian Airlines currently operates five cargo
aircraft: two 757-200s, two B747s and one wide
bodied MD 11 in addition to the utilization of the
belly space of its passenger fleet of B767-300 and
B757-200 aircraft.
The first wide body aircraft made its inaugural
flight to Liege on March 5, 2009. The second MD 11
is expected to join the Ethiopian Cargo fleet in
August 2009 with a payload of approximately 85 tons.
It operates six to 10 flights a week carrying
flowers and fresh beans intended for major auctions
in Holland.
“We have benefits from using Liege,” Gebremichael
Biweta, director for Cargo Marketing at Ethiopian,
told Fortune. “The airport is only used for
cargo which means it provides fast cargo services
throughout its 24 hours of operation.”
In other places, airlines are not allowed to work
after a specified time because some are in close
proximity to cities. This is not the case for
Liege Airport because of its distant location from
the city of Liege, according to Gebremichael.
The highway from Liege, which connects to the
auction centre, is less congested than the one from
Brussels; this is another reason Ethiopian
decided to work with Liege, according the Director.
Liege Airport specializes in the area of perishable
cargo which represents almost 29pc of the total
cargo traffic of the airport.
The airports freight has reached 518,750 tons in
2008. This is a 5.89 per cent increase from 2007
mainly due to the arrival of another two new
airlines which have chosen Liege as their European
hub, the Israeli El Al and the Ukraine International
airlines.
El Al has been using Liege since October 6, 2008
after it transferred its European hub from Amsterdam
and Luxembourg, while Ukraine International started
its full cargo operations just a day after El Al.
El Al travels to the airport twice a week and
transports about 60,000 tons of cargo per year.
Ukraine International makes five trips per week.
Ethiopian carried 27,000tons of goods between
June 2008 and December 2008 and its basic operations
account for about 50,000 tons per year.
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