Air France-KLM boosts Asia-Europe cargo links

The Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLT) has approved an Air France-KLM 3X-weekly direct cargo service between Amsterdam and Busan, starting at the end of October.

MOLT has also upgraded Gimhae International Airport’s certification to allow Korean cargo operators to perform up to seven reciprocal cargo flights between Busan and Amsterdam from the end of October.

The new schedule comes on the heels of an agreement between China Southern Cargo to establish a complementary facility-sharing agreement with Air France-KLM’s subsidiary Martinair Cargo.

Air France-KLM said the China Southern partnership will give customers access to an extensive cargo network in the Asia-Pacific region, and open up opportunities resulting from “the substantial increase in e-commerce trade between Asia and Europe, and beyond.”

The two carriers will initially share ground-handling facilities and introduce common transfer protocols for freight, partly to pare costs in the region’s currently slow air cargo market.

Gimhae, just outside Busan, also connects to the largest marine port in Korea, and the nearby manufacturing zone of South Gyeongsang Province.