THE VOTING is over and the counting is set to begin to discover who is Cargo Airline of the Year 2014.
Quality, innovation, efficiency, speed, reliability and vision are the hallmarks of a winner of the annual Air Cargo News awards scheme, now 31 years old.
Both Lufthansa Cargo and Virgin Atlantic have scooped the crown on six occasions, while Emirates SkyCargo has won it nine times.
Dr Andreas Otto, Lufthansa Cargo’s executive board member, product and sales, comments: “The Cargo Airline of the Year Award is one of the most prestigious and respected accolades in the airfreight business. So it’s naturally a source of pride that we have for years come out on top as the best in Europe on the back of direct customer feedback.
“This award is an incentive to keep us on our toes and continuously improve the services we offer,” he adds.
John Lloyd, director of cargo at Virgin Atlantic, adds: “We are very passionate about customer service, so when our customers take time to vote for us as their ‘Cargo Airline of the Year’, it is the ultimate reward and recognition for the Virgin Atlantic Cargo team around the world. It says to everyone that our customers value and appreciate what we do and that inspires us. The Air Cargo News Cargo Airline of the Year award in 1991 was the first time we had ever won such a prestigious industry award and to have won it on six occasions gives us all a great sense of pride in what we do.”
Nabil Sultan, divisional senior vice-president of Emirates SkyCargo, observes: “The reach we have as an airline has become phenomenal. Dubai, because of where it is located geographically, has given us a huge advantage in terms of being able to connect west with east and visa-versa. And, of course, our latest advanced aircraft can fly non-stop for almost 15 to 16 hours so that we can serve markets like the USA and Australia direct, non-stop. This has made a huge difference in building a network as robust as ours.”
