RuAviation

CMA CGM Air Cargo, headquartered in Paris, held talks in Tashkent on cargo flights from China to France with a technical stopover at Navoi International Airport. The talks were held on 4 June 2024 with the participation of Uzbekistan Airports, Uzaviation Agency and Uzaeronavigatsia Centre. CMA CGM Air Cargo was represented at the meeting by the carrier’s General Director Damien Mazauder. This was reported in the press service of Uzbekistan Airports.

The parties have tentatively agreed to perform five flights per week on Airbus A330-200F aircrafts, and Navoi airport will become a transfer point for technical landing, refuelling and crew change of CMA CGM Air Cargo aircrafts. Also during the visit to Uzbekistan, representatives of the French cargo carrier were shown the technical and operational capabilities of Navoi Airport, which is being developed by the authorities of the Republic of Uzbekistan as an international intermodal logistics centre.

In 2007, Navoi Airport completed a complete reconstruction of the runway and taxiways. The length of the runway is 4000 metres, the airfield is equipped with a modern lighting system, a new air traffic control tower has been built, and the airfield has a cursoglissade system for precise approach.

In 2009, the airport was handed over to the management company Korean Air Cargo. In line with the 10-year development plan as a cargo hub, the modernisation programme was accelerated. In 2010, construction of the largest cargo terminal in Central Asia was completed, capable of handling 100,000 tonnes of cargo annually. An apron was also built to accommodate five wide-body B747-400 aircraft, and four additional aviation fuel storage facilities were constructed. A separate railway line has been connected to the cargo terminal.

In December 2017, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev called the air cargo logistics centre in Navoi inefficient. On 6 December, during a meeting on improving the logistics centre’s performance, he said that less than 20% of its capacity is used. With a capacity of 100,000 tonnes of cargo per year, only 300,000 tonnes of cargo have been transported through Navoi Airport in eight years.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev cited the carelessness and irresponsibility of some officials directly responsible for air cargo transportation, their inability to develop the centre on the basis of a deeply thought-out strategy as the reason for the situation. “Over the years, they have not moved beyond high-sounding words about the uniqueness and attractiveness of Navoi airport and logistics centre,” the republic’s president said.

In 2022, the Navoi Free Economic Zone and the airport’s cargo terminal were transferred to the management of companies from the United Arab Emirates. Navoi Free Economic Zone is managed by one of the world’s largest port operators DP World, and Terminals Holding has taken over the management of the cargo terminal. The company’s objectives are to increase cargo turnover in the air harbour and connect to major cargo hubs. At the end of 2022, only 18,600 tonnes of cargo were transported through the Navoi air cargo hub.

Uzbekistan Airways, Maersk Air Cargo, MNG Kargo, Turkish Airlines and Silk Way West Airlines now send their cargo through the logistics centre in Navoi. Attracting new carriers is crucial for Uzbekistan to improve the efficiency of the air cargo hub, and CMA CGM Air Cargo will help to increase cargo turnover at Navoi Airport.

CMA CGM Air Cargo’s fleet consists of three A330-200F and three B777F freighters. The geography of flights is from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Mumbai (India), Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong (China). The carrier plans to launch flights on the Hong Kong – Anchorage – Chicago – Seoul – Hong Kong route in the summer of 2024.

The airline’s A330 aircraft has a payload capacity of 61 tonnes and with a full load has a range of 7,400km. This aircraft cannot cover a route of more than 10,000 kilometres from Paris to China without an intermediate landing. Therefore, the cargo intermodal logistics centre in Navoi is the best place to make a transit stop for refuelling when flying from Europe to China, South Korea or Japan, if the aircraft is unable to fly non-stop for such distances.