Freighter operators Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) and mas have launched a new partnership aimed at expanding the carriers’ reach in North America and across the transpacific.
The block space agreement (BSA) is effective from the IATA winter season, which started in late October, and will see NCA utilise mas-operated flights to offer cargo services on the Los Angeles (LAX) – Guadalajara (GDL) and Los Angeles (LAX) – Mexico City (NLU) routes, while mas will be able to utilise NCA-operated flight on the Narita (NRT) – LAX and LAX – NRT routes.
Hiroyuki Homma, president and chief executive, NCA, said: ”By partnering with mas, NCA can better accommodate customer needs and strengthen our global network. The Mexico market continues to show steady demand in the automotive and electronics sectors, and cargo volumes between Asia and Mexico are growing.
”We expect this partnership to further expand our presence in the Mexican and Latin American market, and we will continue exploring additional collaboration opportunities with mas.”
Mas chief executive Robert Van De Weg added: ”We are pleased to be able to extend our network in partnership with NCA, who are well known for their service reliability and performance. This new service will allow us to serve our customers into Japan and other Asian destinations better.”
Mas has added new aircraft and announced another partnership in recent months.
In early December, freight forwarder Geodis announced a new interline agreement with Atlas Air and mas.
The partnership will allow the forwarder to more easily transfer its volumes being transported by Atlas on flights from Shanghai and Hong Kong to Guadalajara into the mas network covering Latin America.
Meanwhile, in September, the carrier added two Airbus A330-300 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) aircraft to its fleet that have been leased from Titan Aviation Leasing.