MAC attack

MAC Holdings – a member of the EGSAC cargo GSSA network – has been appointed to represent airBaltic Cargo offline in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. This is the first time that the airline has been represented in Sri Lanka, and cargo is already beginning to flow on this new route, the company says.

The agreement followed assistance from fellow EGSAC member Air Proxy, based in the Baltic States, which introduced MAC Holdings to its national carrier.

airBaltic is the main Baltic carrier, serving over 60 destinations in Scandinavia, Russia and CIS countries, and Western Europe. It offers nonstop flights from three Baltic capital cities – Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn. MAC Holdings is using interline agreements with Kuwait Airways and Jet Airways to connect to the airline’s Riga (Latvia) hub.

MAC will initially focus on airBaltic’s eastern European and Scandinavian destinations, due to the lower yield on western European traffic. “Our research identified a vacancy for a quality carrier serving this region,” says MAC Holdings’ Manager, Airline GSSA Division, Sunanda Perera. “Our representation of airBaltic therefore opens up a new export market, with great potential once we have demonstrated the viability of the routing to customers.”

In the early stages, MAC says it will concentrate on general cargo to ensure that connections and transfer handling function correctly throughout. Later, MAC will devote more attention to Sri Lanka’s important perishables exports (such as tuna fish, fruit and vegetables, and foliage plants), once the necessary additional resources and monitoring have been put in place.

“By appointing MAC Holdings as our GSA in Sri Lanka and Maldives, we expect to enhance our presence in South Asia,” says Sergejs Galics, Cargo Sales Manager of airBaltic Corporation. “We are glad to offer our extensive and growing network in Scandinavia, Baltics and CIS countries, to customers in Sri Lanka.”

“We are looking forward to close cooperation with MAC Holdings Private Ltd as a respected GSA, and another member of EGSAC representing airBaltic.”

The airBaltic fleet consists of 31 aircraft – ten Boeing 737-500, eight Boeing 737-300, two Boeing 757-200, and eleven Fokker 50 airplanes. airBaltic recently received the Airline of the Year 2009/2010 (Gold Award) from the European Regions Airline Association. airBaltic is also the winner of the Air Transport World Phoenix Award 2010 – a global recognition of excellence in restructuring business.

MAC Holdings is the exclusive member of the EGSAC GSSA network in Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives. In addition to airBaltic, MAC Holdings also represents Shenzhen Airlines (passenger and cargo), Continental Airlines Cargo, bmi and Thai Cargo.  EGSAC is the world’s largest cargo GSSA network, with more than 130 stations in over 30 countries.