Competition Commission approves air cargo company acquisition

BidAir Cargo has acquired the business of Imperial Air Cargo (IAC) in a deal approved by the Competition Commission.

The IAC network uses three contracted Boeing 737-200F freighters on overnight services linking Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban. Road feeder services connect Bloemfontein, George and East London to the four main airports. This operation complements BidAir Cargo's business model whereby the company manages the daytime cargo operations of domestic passenger services.

“As two separate companies we collaborated closely in serving the express logistics industry for many years,” says Garry Marshall, BidAir Cargo managing director. “Couriers kept pressing us for the extra convenience of a one-stop-shop so combining these operations makes good business sense. We now have a comprehensive range of daytime and overnight express services to satisfy the total needs of the courier industry via one point of access.”

Since the two operations dovetail there was no duplication of human resources and  IAC personnel were comfortably accommodated on BidAir Cargo premises, said Marshall.