Pegasus Courier last week announced that it has signed a partnership contract with the American company Airborne Express. “When I was doing research for Pegasus in 1996 and 1997, I visited Prague and there were people there who already had a partnerships with Airborne Express,” James Gray-Cheape, Managing Director of Pegasus / Airborne Express told The Business Review. Since that time I’ve been in contact with our partners in Prague and they told me what we should be doing in the first few years. We kept in contact and at the beginning of this year Airborne said they needed a partner for Romania, and so they came here and had a look around, and they analyzed us to see if we could do the job. The answer was yes.”
The partnership contact signed with Airborne Express is designed to bring Pegasus an increase of the market share of International Express and Freight shipping, more clients and other benefits. “This is a very important move for Pegasus, to be able to offer our clients an international capability.”
The new company will still be called Pegasus Courier SRL. “We are still Pegasus Courier SRL but we are using the Airborne Express name as well,” said Gray-Cheape. “We are co branding with Airborne Express. We haven’t change the name officially, it’s just a marketing name to show that Airborne Express has arrived on the market and that we have exclusivity with them,” he added.
Asked how much money needs to be invested to set up new offices and to hire new people as to create a national wide network in Romania, Gray-Cheape said, “I’m not prepared to discuss this. We have a partnership with another company, which has already established those offices. They are acting on our behalf. They are using their people to carry out some of our services. I’m afraid I am unable to divulge the name of the company,” he said.
According to Gray-Cheape, after establishing a link with a company in a country like Romania, Airborne Express often buys that company. Asked if he thought that was how things would pan out with Pegasus, Gray-Cheape said, “the current situation is that we have to establish a name for ourselves. For Airborne Express to come into Romania and buy a company is a long way down the line. At the moment I don’t believe that they will do it, but in the years to come it might well be the case.”
The courier market in Romania is becoming increasingly competitive, with DHL, UPS and TNT all present. Gray-Cheape looks forward to the challenge. “We have a special strategy to compete with them. One of the main aspects of this market is price sensitivity, and Airborne Express prices for global delivery are very competitive.”
Airborne Express is the third largest courier in the US, and the fifth largest worldwide. Pegasus was established in 1997 with British capital as and is based in Bucharest.
