Air Transport

Japanese express freight carrier Galaxy Airlines is to operate its final flights on 5 October.

The carrier’s parent company announced yesterday that the airline would halt all operations as a result of growing losses. Galaxy says in a statement that it will not be operating after 5 October.

Galaxy operates two Airbus A300-600 freighters on four domestic routes. It launched operations in October 2006 but its parent company, express parcel delivery and logistics company Sagawa Express, says it has been recording sizeable losses and has large debts.

Sagawa says it was not able to reach agreement with minority shareholders on a restructuring of the business, prompting it to consider liquidating the airline. It says Galaxy suffered an operating loss of ¥3 billion ($28 million) in the fiscal year ended 31 March 2008.

In addition to majority owner Sagawa, Galaxy has several minority shareholders including Japan Airlines, which has 10%.

Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news