Virgin Atlantic Cargo has awarded a three year cargo handling contract to Menzies Aviaiton in Australia.

The agreement saw Menzies take over cargo handling in Melbourne on 8 June, Brisbane to follow on 9 July and Sydney on 7 August.

The move supports Virgin Atlantic’s cargo sales and management agreement with Virgin Australia.

Virgin Atlantic is responsible for marketing the cargo capacity on Virgin Australia’s daily services from Sydney to Los Angeles, its six weekly flights from Brisbane to Los Angeles, and its five weekly services from Melbourne to Los Angeles.

In 2017 this was extended to include Virgin Australia’s Melbourne – Hong Kong services, and increased this July to cover daily Sydney – Hong Kong flights.

Cargo volumes generated by Virgin Atlantic into Australia in the first quarter of 2018 increased 30.5 per cent, while revenue from Australia also saw strong growth.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo director of operations, Tania Boyes says: “As we develop our services across Australia, we believe that Menzies Aviation are the right partner to help us achieve our goals in this market and we will continue the high standard of handling services our customers expect from us.

“We also wish to thank dnata, our handling partner in Australia for the past three years, for their support of our growth over this period.”

Menzies vice president commercial – Oceania and SE Asia, Stuart Key says: “Menzies Aviation is incredibly pleased to be awarded the International long-haul cargo handling contract. We are looking forward to providing a market leading service whilst using state of the art cargo technology and safe, secure and efficient processes for cargo customers.”