Up, up and away for Beaujolais (10/11/2003 )

On Monday 10 November British Airways World Cargo (BAWC) began transporting one of the world's most famous wines ready for devotees to taste on the third Thursday of November. This year, BAWC will be the single largest air carrier of the 2003 Beaujolais Nouveau, transporting nearly one million bottles solely by air whilst competitors will use a mixture of air and truck services to move the freight.

John Dyson, Beaujolais Nouveau project Manager, BAWC said: "We're very proud of the fact that we carry such a large proportion of this much-loved wine using solely air freight. A large part of the appeal is the youth of the wine and that means time is of the essence for us. We have allocated nearly 5000 square metres of our Lyons cargo facility as well as a dedicated team of eight BAWC personnel to compete in our very own 21 day long Beaujolais run. They will manage six 747-400 freighters flying from Lyons to our hub, Ascentis, at London Heathrow. From there we will process the Beaujolais onto 94 flights to 20 global destinations, ensuring over 600,000 bottles of wine are available for tasting at 2000 local time."

North America is the largest market for Beaujolais Nouveau and BAWC is the largest carrier, shipping approximately 500,000 bottles across the Atlantic. The Asian market is also being catered for with 275,000 bottles transported directly from the dedicated facility at Lyons to Osaka and a further 25,000 bottles going to Japan via Ascentis.

Fabrice Clauzon, Cargo Manager France, British Airways World Cargo commented: "This type of operation is testimony to the capabilities of our freighter team to provide additional capacity to meet the requirements of a global one-off project in addition to our usual freighter schedule. BAWC's service continues to meet customer demands and we remain committed to providing the very best service possible throughout our comprehensive network".