Last week, Russia introduced a new cargo airline, Rosaviatsia issued it an operator's certificate, it will work under the brand E-Cargo, said the company's top manager in the air transport industry. The certificate of the operator was received by Erofei LLC, and one Boeing 757-200F (Freighter, converted into a cargo passenger plane - Vedomosti) was parked in the company's fleet, a Rosaviatsia representative confirmed.

"Erofei", according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, is registered in Khabarovsk, 100% owned by Andrei Chuprov. In all, there will be five planes in the park, the first vessel has already arrived at Domodedovo and on July 24 it is to make its first commercial flight to Pevek with 30 tons of cargo on board, Vedomosti Chuprov reported. The representative of Domodedovo confirmed this. The company plans to carry out charter cargo transportation from Domodedovo, he added.

"We will focus on delivering cargo to the Far East on domestic and international routes," said Chuprov. The Boeing 757-200F was chosen not by chance, he continues, "it is an unrivaled bestseller among cargo planes on such parameters as economic efficiency and the ratio of flight range - commercial load." He does not disclose the source and amount of investments in the project.

"In the season that ended (in freight traffic, October-March is considered to be a high season), the shortage of medium-range cargo planes was evident on the market. Now the demand for transportation between the cities of China and the Far East, the Urals and Siberia, the delivery of goods from Moscow to the Far East. In this segment, E-Cargo will not compete with AirBridgeCargo, "says the top manager of the Russian cargo airline.

The largest cargo airline AirBridgeCargo operates fleet of 18 long-haul Boeing 747F, up to 80% of its cargoes are transit. The second player, Volga-Dnepr, has a fleet of An-124 Ruslan and Il-76 aircraft, and deals with transportation of oversized and non-standard cargoes. The largest operator of medium-haul trucks is Aviastar-TU, of its four aircraft, two carry cargo for the Post of Russia, one for DHL, only one vessel works on the market, the top manager of the cargo airline continues.

In the coming years, the air cargo market will grow by 5-7%, a person close to another cargo airline is sure. In the first half of the year, Russian airlines carried 534,429 tons of cargo (-0.7% yoy). In the coming years, in the segment of medium-haul trucks, other players may well appear, the first person is sure.

The last time before the E-Cargo cargo carrier in Russia appeared almost two years ago - in September 2016 Rosaviatsiya issued a certificate of the operator of the airline "Sky Gates Airlines". In the park she has two Boeing 747F.

"Russian air freight is an Internet trade with China. Most of this traffic flows through Moscow, and this market is highly competitive, but its volumes are high, and the new player may find a place, "says Infomost CEO Boris Rybak. According to him, with five B-757F E-Cargo can enter the top five largest cargo carriers. True, there are almost no such aircraft on the market, we will have to order the conversion of passenger ships, he concludes.