Doncaster Sheffield Airport has welcomed Ray Wood as head of cargo, bringing with him over 20 years of airfreight experience in the airline industry.
He joins from Virgin Atlantic where he was regional sales manager for cargo, and prior to this he worked for IAG Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo.
Wood joins the team following a record year with 42% growth and a number of new contracts since taking cargo operations in-house in April 2018.
The airport has seen new infrastructure and facilities delivered including a 50,000 sq ft transit shed facility, a fourfold increase in capacity.
Chris Harcombe, aviation development director at Doncaster Sheffield Airport says: “Our cargo business is a critical part of our long-term growth plan and Ray’s appointment as Head of Cargo recognises this. He is responsible for the commercial and operational development of our cargo business and will build upon the excellent progress we have made in recent years. We’re thrilled to have him on board and are already benefiting from his knowledge, experience and network.”
DSA handled record volumes in 2018/19 with 18,000 tonnes, and the airport’s Masterplan targets throughput of 40,000 tonnes per year by 2022/23 through increased scheduled freighter traffic, developing existing relationships and growing the client base.
Throughput has grown since 2012 and it established the first scheduled freight services in 2017 with three Boeing 747 per week transporting perishables for the UK supermarket network, now increasing to six for the summer season.
Wood says he is “really happy” to take on the role at DSA, which he describes as a “freighter-friendly airport”.
He says: “DSA is well located to support the cargo needs of the UK, centrally located and connected to the motorway network with regional strengths in logistics. With 24/7 availability we have no slot constraints and offer full long-haul capability. There is significant potential to establish DSA as a major logistics hub within the Global Innovation Corridor, with 3M sq ft of development space for multimodal logistics facilities, making us a very attractive proposition.”
