Coyne Airways is making a deliberate push into the German market through a newly announced partnership with Global GSA Group’s German arm, Mondial Airlines Services GmbH. For the carrier, which specialises in complex and often underserved markets, Germany represents not just another key location—but the market that could support the company’s broader European performance.
“We’ve been seeking to grow the German market, which is probably the most important market in Europe,” said Larry Coyne, Chairman of Coyne Airways. “We’ve been looking for a new GSA recently, and I think we found the right one, and we want to grow that market. If we don’t do well in Germany, we don’t do well as a company.”
For Coyne Airways, every GSA switch is more than a logistical change—it’s a strategy for improved customer engagement. “We’re always looking for new ways to engage with customers. We liked what Mondial Airlines Services GmbH was saying about their approach and their methods,” John Gardiner, General Manager at Coyne Airways, added. “They’ve got good trucking coverage too, which is a benefit to us.”
This partnership, for Global GSA Group, fits squarely within its mission to support airlines with strategic market access.
“It’s very interesting to have what is a niche operator like Coyne Airways on board,” said Aytekin Saray, CEO of Global GSA Group. “We don’t have any airline today conflicting with Coyne Airways’s markets—places like Sierra Leone, Armenia, Tbilisi, and potentially Iraq or Afghanistan. These niche markets are becoming increasingly important.”
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Charter revival
While much of the air cargo conversation has shifted toward digital transformation and standardised trade lanes, both Coyne Airways and Global GSA Group are realigning around one of the industry’s oldest yet still potent models: charter operations.
Coyne spoke candidly about the renewed focus on charters: “Over the past three or four months, our Dubai office has been concentrating on charters—doing a lot of flights from China to Europe and the Middle East. That’s a part of the business we kind of neglected in Europe, and we’d like to get back to it.”
According to Coyne, this isn’t just about chasing a trend but returning to the company’s roots. “We started as a charter programme, and we’d like to expand in that area. Sometimes a series of charters into a particular place can be the start of a new routing—and that’s how I think we’ll develop our future network.”
Saray agrees: “From our Far Eastern networks, we’re seeing requests for part charters and special cargo. Coyne Airways fits well in that space. And with our new team in Germany, including five or six top-tier professionals from within our group, we’re ready to identify new route opportunities—maybe Bucha, Tashkent, Ashgabat, Almaty. It’s fresh and flexible.”
Both parties are optimistic about the feedback loop this can create, particularly when matched with proactive customer interaction. “We’re already getting customers asking for things like US-bound cargo from Tbilisi,” Saray shared. “Our Athens office handles Delta and they regularly get calls from Georgia—maybe we can interline or even do a direct charter with Coyne Airways to create a new flow. That’s the kind of brainstorming we’re now empowered to do.”
Gardiner emphasised the importance of internal knowledge-sharing: “We know our destinations aren’t the easiest. It’s critical that our GSAs understand the typical difficulties. We walk them through our processes and build that knowledge base so they can become self-sufficient—and that’s what we’re doing with Mondial Airlines Services GmbH.”
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Innovation and the human touch
In an industry increasingly leaning into automation, both Coyne Airways and Global GSA Group are adamant that human connection still trumps digital convenience—especially when serving complex or high-risk markets.
Gardiner acknowledged the shift: “There’s a desire now to have everything at your fingertips. But we’ve always taken a personal approach—that’s how we operate. You call us, we’ll answer in one or two rings. That’s been our style.”
However, Coyne Airways is actively investing in digital tools—not to replace people, but to support them. “We’re on a journey to improve tracking, customer communication, digital touchpoints. Maybe we’ve been a little slow on that front, but it’s been a conscious decision to maintain that human service. That said, we’ve got some exciting digitalisation projects on the horizon.”
Saray echoed that sentiment, offering a pragmatic view: “I’m maybe a little old-fashioned, but I don’t believe digitalisation alone will save this industry. We work with CargoTech as a strategic partner, providing our network with the right digital tools — while never losing sight of the fact that people still want to talk to people.” Both sides firmly believe that the best future lies in hybrid solutions. “It has to complement the human touch, not replace it,” Gardiner said. “Can you truly replace a human? Hopefully not.”
