Japan will get its first regular freighter service to Azerbaijan after Silk Way West Airlines launched a weekly Boeing 747F route from Baku to Kansai International Airport (KIX).
The service will start on 29 December and see the carrier operate flight number 7L608 from Baku direct to KIX on a Friday, arriving at 19.00h.
Flight number 7L128/129 will then leave the same day from KIX at 21.30h stopping at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport before arriving in Baku the next morning.
The capacity will be either 113 or 134 tonnes, depending on if a B747-400F or B747-800F is operated on the route.
This will be the first regular flight service of Silk Way West Airlines in Japan while a charter flight service at Komatsu Airport will also be offered regularly at the same time.
KIX’s cargo volume has been steadily increasing, showing a more than 10 per cent increase compared to the same month of the previous year for 12 consecutive months (as of October 2017). In 2017, the volume is expected to exceed 800,000 tonnes for the first time in 13 years since 2004.
Airport operator Kansai Airports says there are a number of Japanese companies in the sectors of semiconductors, automotive components and others operating in regions that Silk Way runs flight to such as Central Asia, the Caspian Sea region, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and North America.
The operator says the weekly freighter service will help to meet the high transport demand between Japan and Central Asian countries.
Kansai Airports adds it will continue expanding the cargo carrier network for the “convenience of shipping goods and will contribute to economic development of Kansai and destination areas”.
