Turkish Cargo, a subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, has introduced a weekly freighter call at Liege Airport, connecting the Belgian airport with Istanbul.
Turkish Cargo, which has a fleet of 16 aircraft, including one Boeing 747F, will primarily transport perishable goods for the European market.
Through its charter service, Turkish Cargo provides airfreight for special cargo, including heavy and/or bulky shipments.
Steven Verhasselt, commercial vice president of Liege Airport, which earlier this year confirmed reports that it will invest more than EUR50 million (USD61.7 million) in cargo facilities during 2018, said: "Our strategy is very clear: priority is given to companies specialising in cargo. We transported 717,000 tonnes in 2017, which was a record for us, and we aim to exceed 800,000 tonnes in 2018.
"The Turkish market is very important and is ideally situated at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa," added Verhasselt.
Liege Airport announced its investment of EUR20 million (USD24.68 million) in new warehouses and handling facilities in November 2017, and says an additional investment in four parking areas for large aircrafts brings its total investment to more than EUR50 million.
"The increase in volume we have seen in 2017 shows no sign of slowing down in 2018. We need to anticipate this growth and speed up the development plan we had in place," explained Luc Partoune, ceo of Liege Airport.
The new parking areas for aircrafts will be operational in 2019.
