News

After over ½ century in the Cargo Handling business, Air General expanded its portfolio last year to include Air General Security, and has now announced the inauguration of its Passenger Handling Division.

Donna Blanchard, Vice President Business Development, commented: “This third division of our company represents a natural progression building upon a successful and long-term relationship with our cargo customers who value the medium-size and family value appeal of the Air General culture.”  Donna, formerly the Director of Customer Service Delivery for North America and Asia Pacific at British Airways, will couple in-house expertise in international and domestic passenger handling with proven techniques for hiring the right people to offer the special soft skills required to safely and efficiently guide passengers through the airport process.

Air General is pleased to announce they have been awarded their first contract with Southwest Airlines to handle cargo in Manchester, New Hampshire. The MHT cargo operation was inaugurated on January 15th and becomes the 21st location in the Air General network, and the first location in their new home state of New Hampshire.
Air General began as a cargo and ramp handling company in BOS and was therefore headquartered in Massachusetts for nearly 50 years before making the move to Portsmouth New Hampshire in 2011.

Air General is pleased to announce the appointment of Donna Blanchard to the corporate level position of Vice President Business Development.

Donna brings with her over 30 years of airline related experience.  She has held various cargo and passenger management positions during her extensive career with British Airways, including Cargo Director Midwest, Regional Director Mid-Atlantic Airports, Vice President Call Management, and most recently as Director, Customer Service Delivery North America & Asia Pacific.

A graduate of Georgetown University, with an MBA from Central Michigan University, Donna is a pilot and member of the Experimental Aircraft Association.  She has also served on several airport executive committees, including as an IATA Schedule Facilitator for Newark Liberty International Airport, as well as Co-Chair of Newark’s International Carrier’s Committee. A native of Long Island, New York, she currently resides in Pittstown, New Jersey with her husband.

Air General successfully launched AG Security, a division of Air General dedicated to Air Cargo Security. AG Security is designed to take ownership of the Air Carrier security screening needs. Responding to our customer’s request, US Airways in Charlotte was the launch client for AG Security.

Jeff Lyter, Air General’s Security Director, spent many months designing and producing AG Security X-Ray training in conjunction with our consultant from US Testing, and the TSA approved the training in October 2011. AG Security staff are identifiable by their separate smart red uniforms, and operate and are supervised completely independently from the normal cargo warehouse operation.

Qatar Airways, the industry renowned 5 star carrier and the fastest expanding airline in the world, added two weekly Boeing 777 freighters into IAH. While capacity is shared with Atlanta, there is plenty of new opportunity for freight forwarders on Wednesdays and Saturdays for the European and Orient markets. There’s no shortage of freight that can be uplifted out of Houston. Qatar Airways parks right behind Air General’s warehouse for a very convenient handling. Houston’s monthly throughput will now exceed 3 million kilos per month.

Air General immediately increased warehouse space, and has agreed to provide segregated office and operations accommodations for Qatar Airways Air General and staff.

Air General has taken over the facility lease of 516 Express Center Drive, where we are currently handling British Airways World Cargo.

Formerly held by BA, the lease was taken over by Air General as part of the agreement to terminate BA’s self-handling which was transferred to Air General in March of 2010. BA operates twice daily 777 Passenger flights and two weekly B747 freighters.

After more than a decade of Cargo, Mail, and Ramp Transfer Handling at Charlotte, Air General was awarded a long term contract renewal by US Airways. Air General has over 125 employees at CLT and this was certainly very good news for all of them.

Charlotte, a critical US Airways Hub, has expanded in the International arena, with almost 30 daily international flights and about 450 domestic.  Under the leadership of General Manager Kenneth J. Coleman Jr. and a very keen leadership team of skilled managers, Charlotte has proudly stayed in the forefront of customer service excellence and federal compliance.

Air France has chosen Air General as their air cargo handler in Orlando Florida. Service is set to begin in June 2011. Our team of air cargo professionals in Orlando are some of our most experienced in our system and are excited for the new service to begin. Air General and Air France have worked together in the past and look forward to this new partnership.

We are pleased to announce that Air General has been awarded the Delta Airlines cargo handling for West Palm Beach. This increases the total of Delta Airlines cities handled to 9. Delta Airlines is Air General’s third largest customer.

2011 marks Air General’s 50th Anniversary in the cargo handling business. We are very proud of our heritage and how far we have come in this time. Started at Boston’s Logan International Airport by Robert M. Maloney, fondly known as “The Chief”, we have grown from one operation to now 18 operations in 15 cities nationwide. We perform both domestic and international air cargo handling, ocean cargo handling, mail handling, line haul and various other specialized handling for the airline industry. We moved our home office to Portsmouth, NH in February of this year.

We are pleased to announce that Air General has been awarded the British Airways cargo handling contract for Chicago. This large cargo operation with three daily 777s and two weekly freighters is a significant addition to our cargo handling business. Chicago is a critical location for British Airways, and we are very pleased that we have been awarded such a busy and cargo driven city. Air General has long been keen to enter the Chicago cargo market, and has long term goals to make Chicago a strong success and a vital cargo hub for Air General.

After more than a year of intense negotiations, British Airways has renewed all five cargo handling contracts with Air General. Citing excellent service record, as well as significant savings and cost benefits, British Airways World Cargo once again reaffirms their confidence in Air General by re-awarding all five cities – Dallas, Denver, Houston, Orlando and Tampa.