Virgin Atlantic has appointed Alliance Ground International (AGI) as its cargo handler in San Francisco as the airline continues to report strong growth into the US.
The new handling contract extends Virgin Atlantic’s working relationship with AGI in the US as the handler already handles cargo for the airline in Miami, Newark and Orlando.
AGI's San Francisco facility incorporates a dedicated location to handle ‘active’ cargo containers for temperature-controlled pharmaceutical shipments as well as a security cage/vault for valuable cargoes and a cooler for perishables.
Fresh produce accounts for nearly half of shipments from San Francisco to the UK and includes blueberries, fresh fruits, lettuce and peas.
The airline operates twice-daily services connecting London Heathrow and San Francisco and added another three direct flights a week from Manchester at the end of March.
The airline said it had seen growth in its cargo volumes on nearly all of its routes from the UK to the US since the start of 2017 - following an 18% increase in tonnage from London-San Francisco in 2016, volumes for the first half of 2017 rose a further 15.5% year-on-year, boosted by shipments such as fresh salmon.
Virgin Atlantic director cargo operations & business development Paul Fallon said: “San Francisco has been an important and growing West Coast cargo gateway for Virgin for 23 years, with strong support from our customers on both sides of the Atlantic. Based on our experience of working with AGI at other airports in the US we are confident they will also deliver the high quality of services we expect for our customers in San Francisco.”
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