Maximus turnover triples in four months

Dubai: Maximus Air Cargo, the Abu-Dhabi based freight carrier, said it more than tripled its turnover during the first four months of this year compared with the corresponding period in 2007.

It said aircraft hours sold to customers increased from 471 to 3,062.

Turnover for January-April 2008 was Dh122.77 million compared with Dh37.80 million for the same period last year.

Maximus now has a fleet of eight all-cargo Antonov An-124-100, Airbus A300-600RF,

Ilyushin IL-76TD, and Lockheed Hercules L382G aircraft operating across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

"We now have a bigger fleet, but the growth is also due to securing a much larger share of the market," Maximus president and chief executive Fat'hi Hilal Buhazza said in a statement.

Contracts

The company operates regular scheduled cargo services on behalf of airlines including Etihad, Iberia, Air France, and Sudan Airways. So far this year, the company has also secured additional short and medium term aircraft wetlease contracts. It has been appointed as the exclusive air relief support partner for the UAE Red Crescent.

The freighter-only air operator in the Middle East specialises in moving outsized air cargo and wet leasing its own aircraft with a staff of more than 130.

Relief

Mission to Myanmar

Abu Dhabi-based Maximus Air Cargo is the second to be granted landing rights by the Myanmar government and has so far delivered more than 90 tons in two flights on behalf of the UAE Red Crescent Association.

The flights arriving within three days of the disaster being declared following Nargis. Maximus has also delivered relief supplies to Sichuan province in China which has been devastated by an earthquake. Two more flights for the UAE Red Crescent from Abu Dhabi to Chengu are leaving this week, airlifting more than 70 tons of blankets and tents.