Paris-based GSSA ECS Group started 2019 with a wide smile on its corporate face when its new Total Cargo Management (TCM) project with Bangkok-based NokScoot came into effect. The GSSA has been contracted by five-year old Thai low cost carrier NokScoot to develop the airline’s air cargo operation.
The relationship came into effect on January 1, 2019 and is initially for a three year duration. The airline operates a fleet of B777 aircraft.
Established in 2014 as a joint venture between Singapore Airlines subsidiary Scoot and Nok Air of Thailand, NokScoot is a low-cost airline with ambitions to spread its footprint in Asia with the introduction of additional destinations in North and South Asia as well as China and India.
“It’s a wonderful partnership and we’re extremely proud of it,” says Adrien Thominet, CEO, ECS Group, which represents hundreds of companies in over 47 countries worldwide through its 147 offices.
“We have been completely seduced by this company’s identity and won over by their boldness and energy. I have met the management and they are very nice, very professional with the right chemistry.
“The combination of NokScoot’s very strong network with wide-bodied aircraft and that of ECS Group, allows us to consider many opportunities for the airline in the Asia market and beyond. We are building on what we have done with TCM for JetStar,” he says.
Thominet predicts that most of the airfreight carried by NokScoot will be e-commerce traffic out of China to its Bangkok hub, from where ECS Group will enable worldwide connections through the many airlines it represents at Bangkok.
“We were a little weak in North Asia but working with NokScoot will bolster us enormously. We see expansion for this medium-seized airline. One of the outstanding positives is their acquisition of further wide-bodies.”
40,000 tonnes
Based Don Muang International (DMK) airport in Bangkok, NokScoot operates over 49 flights per week in Asia, to China, Japan, India and Taiwan. ECS Group will market, among others, the following routes: Qingdao, Nanjing, Taipei, Tianjin, Shenyang, Xi’an, Tokyo Narita, Osaka and Delhi.
Yodchai Sudhidhanakul, CEO, NokScoot, says: “Air cargo is now becoming more and more important in our operation, with greater contribution to our revenues, and the partnership with ECS will enhance our freight business.”
The airline’s expansion plan over the period of the three-year TCM contract awarded to ECS Group, should see the airline generate more than 40,000 tonnes of cargo per year. This will significantly increase its income, believes Sudhidhanakul. The move also works to bolsters ECS Group’s wider and more medium-term plans and ambitions to expand further into the Chinese airfreight market in the future, adds Thominet.
 project with Bangkok-based NokScoot came into effect. The GSSA has been contracted by five-year old Thai low cost carrier NokScoot to develop the airline’s air cargo operation.){kind=link}