Russian aviation fuel supplier Gazpromneft-Aero (GPNA) saw a 225% year on year increase in cargo aircraft refuelling volumes in May this year.
May’s rise in aviation fuel supplied, from 3,169 tonnes to 11,250 tonnes, came as freighters and cargo-only passenger aircraft ‘filled-up’ in Russia when flying between China and Europe for Covid-19 related flights.
The May increase was part of an upward trend, when GPNA saw a 60% rise in aviation fuel to cargo aircraft in April to 5,339 tonnes, compared with the same month in 2019, while the 2020 first quarter achieved an 18% increase in fuel volumes to just under 7,000 tonnes from January to end of March.
Freighter airlines such as Lufthansa Cargo and Cargolux made use of the Russian energy giant’s “Siberian cluster” of refuelling points as the surge in freighter charters for PPE continued.
The increase in long haul freighter flights from Asia to Europe helped Gazpromneft-Aero report a 1.5% year-on-year increase in total jet fuel sales in the first quarter of 2020 to 856,000 tonnes, despite the grounding of most passenger aircraft worldwide.
Dmitry Korpachev, head of international sales at Gazpromneft-Aero, said: “The airlines are very flexible and repurposed their passenger planes for cargo transportation which brought further demand on the aviation fuel market.
“We have been monitoring the changes in airline strategies which has seen a big increase in the demand for jet fuel from cargo [carriers] in the Siberian cluster, where our fuel farms are situated.”
Korpachev added that the Siberian cluster had presented a “great opportunity,” which saw GPNA work hard with the Chinese, European and Russian airlines to attract them to those locations: Novosibirsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk and Yekaterinburg.
The intention, said Korpachev, was to continue the group’s “successful strategy” in its business relationships with cargo airlines and to continue working with carriers as they develop further flights and new activities.
The ambition, said Korpachev, is a twofold increase in refuelling volumes for cargo flights by the end of this year, with a year end figure of more than 60,000 tonnes.
GPNA, which has partnerships in 211 airports and 65 countries, sees South-East Asia and China have great potential, as well as Europe and the Middle East.
Refueling services for passenger and cargo flights were facilitated by GPNA’s strategic partnership with China National Aviation Fuel Group Corporation (CNAF), the country’s national jet fuel provider, covering more than 30 international airports in China.
The company sold 2,900 tonnes of jet fuel to CNAF clients in Russia in the first three months of 2020. Within the framework of the new contract, GPNA started supplying fuel to Sichuan Airlines cargo flights at Koltsovo international airport in Yekaterinburg.
The carrier’s daily return flight routes include Brussels to Yekaterinburg followed by the Chinese industrial hubs in Shuangliu and Xinyang.
