Silk Way West Airlines (SWW) has announced that, despite the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the air cargo industry, it will maintain its scheduled and charter flights to China.
With more than 20 flights a week connecting China with its global hub in Baku, SWW undertakes its operations through a mix of charter and scheduled services.
The flights will be operated in accordance with recommendations from the WHO and other regulatory bodies, as well as SWW’s own restrictions, which include no crew layovers in China.
“We have decided to honour the loyalty of our BSA (Blocked Space Agreement) customers even in these difficult times,” said the airline’s CEO Wolfgang Meier.
“Therefore, we have not gone down the route of cancelling all our scheduled flights and operating charters only, as we think that in the long run it will bring us even closer to our partners.
“We are a [freight] forwarding airline and we will further expand on those relationships by enhancing our group of close partners.”
“In addition, we would like to thank our pilots and the entire team in being extremely cooperative in finding the right pattern to keep up operations throughout. Together with our international teams we have managed to demonstrate solidarity towards our colleagues and customers, which I am really proud of.”
Meier added: “As the result of our ongoing operation our activities have just been broadcast China-wide on CCTV Channel 1, as well through other TV stations.”
Prior to the offices in Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Tianjin being reopened, the airline’s employees worked from home to ensure that it could offer its services with as few restrictions as possible.
“Of course, it is a daily challenge to manage the imbalances of the various trade lanes at present, but we know we can count on the understanding of our partners as this is a special situation.
“We are very much focused on our operations to and from China, but I want to emphasise that our global network is also very much up and running. Markets in North America, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea are being served on a fully-fledged basis”, confirmed Meier.
For more information on Silk Way West’s services, visit silkwaywest.com.
