ANA eyes the Americas & Joburg
9 March 2011
Article from Air Cargo News ACN Issue FEB 7, 2011
Americas is a key target for expansion in 2011 for the Network Aviation Services, the GSA brand for ANA Aviation Services.
Andy King (far right), Sales Director and co-founder of ANA (along with Andy Leslie near right) says the company plans to add at least two offices in North America during the coming year and is keen to expand into South America.
An office in Johannesburg is also on the cards and a branch in Dublin was opened in the fourth quarter of 2010.
As with many GSA's these days the goal is to be able to offer global connections to its airline customers. The company is also seeking to diversify away from the competitive UK market where its brand remains ANA Aviation Services.
ANA is also known as an airline management company; a service it has provided for over 20 years to Ugandan registered cargo airline DAS Air until its demise in 2007.
Now it has a similar partnership with Allied Air of Nigeria, which flies from Ostend to Lagos with leased MD-11F's.
The carrier added third MD-11F in September using the aircraft to add a fifth frequency on the Ostend route, and additional rotations to destinations such as Lusaka and Johannesburg.
Allied also has its own exclusive transhipment facility in Lagos from where it operates two 727Fs on regional routes. It will be adding a 737F to that fleet from March, which will be used to fly to Freetown and Bamako among other routes.
Looking ahead King reckons Latin America and Africa will remain strong, particularly driven by Chinese exports to emerging market. On the other hand he notes that there is already a downturn in volumes from Asia to Europe and North America as the importing countries cut budgets and raise taxes.