May 24, 2016

American Airlines Cargo is further expanding its reach into new markets with the appointment of its first General Sales Agent (GSA) in Africa. HAE Group has been chosen to cover sales across a number of countries in central, east and north, as well as South Africa.

Effective May 2016, HAE Group is responsible for selling American Airlines Cargo services from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Gabon, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and South Africa. The outbound market from Africa splits roughly 50/50 between perishable and general cargo and the airline will be looking at both inbound and outbound traffic.

“We believe there is considerable potential for shipments to and from Africa,” said Richard Hartmann, American Airlines Cargo’s regional sales manager. “While we may be an offline carrier to the continent, we have identified a number of markets which have regular business to and from destinations across our global network and they can be best served by us having our own sales representation on the ground.”

Hartmann is an Africa specialist who has more than 30 years of experience in the air cargo industry both in the airline and freight forwarding sectors, which includes time working in Africa.

With his market knowledge and expertise he has already identified traffic to Chicago, New York, Dallas and Atlanta where automotive parts, mining, clothing and other commodities will be exported from Africa.

“We understand the local markets in the countries where we have appointed HAE Group and while the majority of traffic will initially route over London Heathrow (LHR), the strength of our international network means that we will look to creatively exploit other options as we move forward and grow the business.”

Station manager for HAE Group in Johannesburg, South Africa will be Mark Janse van Rensburg, who is responsible for coordinating American’s cargo sales on the ground across the continent.

About American Airlines Cargo

American Airlines Group is the holding company for American Airlines. American provides one of the largest cargo networks in the world with cargo terminals and interline connections across the globe.

Every day, American transports cargo between major cities in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. Together with wholly owned and third-party regional carriers operating as American Eagle, the airlines operate an average of approximately 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in over 50 countries from its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington DC.

This year, American Airlines Group Inc. topped Fortune Magazine's list of best business turnarounds and its stock joined the S&P 500 index. Connect with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines.