Challenge Airlines IL, formerly CAL Cargo Airlines Ltd. ( he, ק.א.ל. קווי אוויר למטען), is a
cargo airline
Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of air cargo, cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines.
In 2018, airline ...
with its corporate headquarters in
Shoam,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
History
CAL was established in June 1976, starting charter operations in November of that year. Originally, the airline leased aircraft from
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural ...
as required; however, on 1 December 1999, it began operating scheduled services using its own aircraft following receipt of Israeli government licences issued in early 1999.
In 1997, CAL purchased LACHS cargo terminal in Belgium (Liège Airport Cargo Handling Services), which is still fully owned and operated by CAL, and caters to CAL's specialty in nonstandard cargo. In 2010, CAL was purchased privately by Offer Gilboa and expanded its flight operations to include daily flights to and from JFK/TLV.
In 2019, the airline made news headlines for buying a
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022.
After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
on Chinese e-commerce website
Taobao.com
Taobao () is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it is the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba ...
for around US $23,3 million.
Operations
The airline operates daily scheduled cargo flights and charter services carrying nonstandard goods and general cargo internationally. Its main base is Ben Gurion Airport, serving
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, and it has a hub at
Liège Airport
Liege Airport, nl, Luchthaven Luik, german: Flughafen Lüttich , previously called Liege-Bierset Airport,, nl, Luchthaven Luik-Bierset is an international airport located west of the city of Liège, Wallonia in Belgium. The airport mainly fo ...
(
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
). The airline carries approximately 100,000 tons of cargo annually including all categories of nonstandard cargo: temperature-controlled pharmaceutical and healthcare products, live animals, dangerous goods, oversize and overweight cargo, fresh perishable products and valuable goods including fine art. The company slogan is ''Challenge accepted.''
Destinations
CAL Cargo Airlines operates freight services to the following scheduled destinations (as of November 2021). Additionally, CAL Cargo Air Lines supplements its own services across the North Atlantic with
Challenge Airlines
Challenge Airlines ( IATA code: X7; ICAO code: CHG) established as ACE Air Cargo Europe and in 2018 rebranded as ACE Belgium Freighteres, is a Belgian cargo airline based in Liege Airport. The carrier operates air cargo services throughout E ...
.
Fleet
Current fleet
The CAL Cargo Air Lines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2022):
Retired fleet
See also
*
List of airlines of Israel
This is a list of airlines currently operating in Israel.
Scheduled airlines
International and domestic
Domestic
Cargo
See also
* List of defunct airlines of Israel
* List of airports in Israel
* List of defunct airlines of Asia
* List of a ...
*
Economy of Israel
The economy of Israel is a developed free-market economy. The prosperity of Israel's advanced economy allows the country to have a sophisticated welfare state, a powerful modern military said to possess a nuclear-weapons capability, modern inf ...
References
External links
Official website
{{IATA members, europe
Airlines established in 1976
Airlines of Israel
Cargo airlines of Israel
1976 establishments in Israel