CargoLogicAir, Ltd. (CLA) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

cargo airline Cargo airlines (or air freight carriers, and derivatives of these names) are airlines mainly dedicated to the transport of cargo by air. Some cargo airlines are divisions or subsidiaries of larger passenger airlines. In 2018, airline cargo traf ...

with its headquarters at

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...

. The airline's fleet of

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 ...

freight aircraft operated scheduled and chartered freight services on routes between the UK, Asia, Africa and the Americas. CargoLogicAir ceased operations in November 2022 and went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

after suspending operations intermittently since 2020.

History

CargoLogicAir_Boeing_747-83QF_G-CLAB_(28828056003)

Foundation

After the

Global Supply Systems Global Supply Systems (GSS) was a British cargo airline based at London Stansted Airport. It provided dedicated freighters to airlines on a wet lease basis. The company held a United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority Type A Operating Licence, it ...

' contract with

British Airways World Cargo British Airways World Cargo, formerly British Airways Cargo, was a division of IAG Cargo, operating air cargo services under the British Airways brand. It was the twelfth-largest cargo airline in the world by total freight tonne-kilometres flow ...

was terminated in January 2014, CLA effectively became the only British all-cargo airline, absorbing some of the

staff. The airline was established on 3 March 2015 and received its first aircraft, a

Boeing 747-400F The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting ...

from

Aircastle Aircastle Limited is an aircraft leasing company that acquires, leases and sells commercial jet aircraft to airlines around the world. It has its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in Dublin and Singapore. Aircastle was incorpora ...

in October 2015. It received its

Air Operator's Certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...

(AOC) from the

UK Civil Aviation Authority The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots' licences, testing of ...

in December 2015 and commenced operations soon after. Chapman Freeborn Italia became CLA's first charter service customer after contracting them in February 2016 to deliver 113 tonnes of automotive parts to

Bari, Italy Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

. CLA initiated its first scheduled services with

AirBridgeCargo AirBridgeCargo Airlines, LLC (Russian: ООО Авиакомпания «ЭйрБриджКарго»), part of Volga-Dnepr Group, is the largest Russian cargo airline with its head office in Moscow. It operates scheduled cargo services on route ...

Airlines (ABC) through an aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI)

wet lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

. The service flew from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

twice per week, from 14 February 2016 through 30 November. CLA took hold of its second aircraft and first

Boeing 747-8F The Boeing 747-8 is a wide-body airliner formerly developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the largest variant of the 747. After introducing the 747-400, Boeing considered larger 747 versions as alternatives to the proposed double-deck ...

at the 2016

Farnborough Airshow The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...

. This aircraft was used to transport over 100 tonnes of fresh flowers from

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

, Colombia to

London Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...

for

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the ...

in 2017. Within 18 months of starting operations the airline received a second

from

AerCap AerCap Holdings N.V. is an Irish aircraft leasing company based in Dublin. It became the largest aircraft leasing company in the world after acquiring International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) in 2014, then GECAS from General Electric in 2 ...

in April 2017. Becoming the third in the fleet, this aircraft flew charter services through an ACMI

agreement for

. CLA aimed to eventually have a core fleet of five aircraft. In 2019, CLA planned to reduce its operations and restructure in response to weakening market conditions.

Demise

The airline temporarily suspended services on 9 February 2020 citing a downturn in demand. Their 747-8 and one of their 747-400s were returned to lessors in January 2020. On 9 February, CLA grounded the remainder of their fleet and laid off some of their workforce. On 24 February 2020, the airline announced the termination of all operations until further notice. However, services recommenced on 23 April 2020 with the high demand of air freight capacity, plus the downturn of oil prices due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. CLA regained its AOC on 22 April 2020 and started immediately with PPE supply flights from China to the UK for the NHS on 23 April 2020. Flights were then operated with their two B747-400 freighters. In July, after 6 months, as the COO Nadeem Sultan was appointed as the new

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. Under its new leadership and post restructuring, the company announced a $42 million profit for 2020, its first profit in its history. In November 2022, CargoLogicAir went into

and ceased operations for good due to a negative business outlook in the wake of sanctions against Russian owned businesses.flightglobal.com - CargoLogicAir enters administration on back of Russia sanctions
23 November 2022

Destinations

The airline launched its first scheduled operation on 19 August 2017 with twice-weekly services from

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

via

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. CargoLogicAir also operated flights from Houston to Prestwick then on to Frankfurt, along with routes to and from

Doncaster Sheffield Airport Doncaster Sheffield Airport , formerly named and commonly referred to as Robin Hood Airport, is an unscheduled international airport closed to passenger traffic. The airport is located in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. ...

. As of February 2021, the airline continued to operate scheduled services from

in addition to a newly-established flight between

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. This route was operated daily on behalf of

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...

with the aircraft based at East Midlands Airport.

Fleet

Prior to its shutdown, the CargoLogicAir fleet consisted of the following aircraft:Cargologicair Fleet Details and History
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References

External links

* {{Airlines of the United Kingdom Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 2015 Airlines disestablished in 2022 British companies established in 2015 2015 establishments in England Cargo airlines of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Hillingdon Airlines based in London