Amerijet To Set Up Cargo Hub At Rickenbacker

April 24, 2014
This follows the start of cargo service to Hong Kong by two carriers in the past year: Cargolux Airlines International, which began last summer, and Cathay Pacific Cargo, which began last month.

April 24--Rickenbacker Airport's stature as a cargo hub rose yesterday with the news that Amerijet International plans to establish a hub there. Amerijet becomes the third new cargo carrier in less than a year to locate at Rickenbacker.

Florida-based Amerijet has signed a long-term lease for a 20,000-square-foot space and will run flights six days a week. It will use Columbus and Reno, Nev., as its two air hubs in a nationwide air and truck system.

This follows the start of cargo service to Hong Kong by two carriers in the past year: Cargolux Airlines International, which began last summer, and Cathay Pacific Cargo, which began last month.

The three companies are part of a surge in traffic that is helping Rickenbacker emerge from a lean period in which it lost money and was underserved by cargo carriers.

"The real news is we have growth in our opportunity to become a global gateway for air cargo," said David Whitaker, the Columbus Regional Airport Authority's vice president of business development.

Amerijet chose Columbus and Reno because both cities are a short drive from key markets, are growing markets themselves and had space available at their airports, the company said.

"Both regions are growing," said Pamela Rollins, Amerijet's senior vice president for business development. "More and more businesses are coming to both communities and developing distribution centers. Truly, it made sense."

She did not have an estimate of the number of jobs that will be added at Rickenbacker as a result of the new hub.

Service is to begin on July 7 and operate Monday through Saturday. The company's space will be at 2566 Jerrie Mock Ave. and will include five loading-dock doors.

Amerijet is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and operates an international hub in Miami. For now, the company will not have an air connection between Reno and Columbus and Miami, but it might add one later, Rollins said.

The company intends to fill a void left by several carriers that went out of business in the economic downturn, she said. It will use a combination of air and truck routes to ship to almost anywhere in the country in one or two days at a price that is less than overnight shipping.

Take, for example, a shipment in Seattle. The company would truck the shipment to Reno, fly it to Columbus and then truck it to its final destination.

"For the customer, it's seamless," Rollins said.

The new cargo carriers are coming in at a time when economic-development leaders say they are seeing an increase in companies considering opening locations in the Rickenbacker area. That part of central Ohio -- southern Franklin and northern Pickaway counties -- is bouncing back after being hit hard by the downturn.

"It's all of the good things you want to see happen," said Ryan Scribner, economic-development director for the Pickaway Progress Partnership, the county's development agency.

Airport officials hope that this is just the beginning of a long-term increase in cargo traffic, which can act as a magnet to warehouse operators and other businesses. Whitaker estimates that Rickenbacker is using only about 10 percent of its cargo capacity, so there is plenty of room to grow.

"We're working hard to connect the dots between these excellent pieces of news," he said.

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