West Atlantic UK Limited, formerly Atlantic Airlines Ltd is a British

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 ...

based at

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 () ...

. It operates contract and ad hoc cargo flights worldwide, especially within

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

as part of the

West Atlantic West Atlantic is a holding company for two European cargo airlines, West Air Sweden and West Atlantic UK, with its head office in Malmö, Sweden. West Atlantic employ some 650 staff and operate a fleet of 22 aircraft. The airline specializes ...

Group. The company's fleet is composed of

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

and ATR72 aircraft. The airline specialises in the transport of dangerous goods and radioactive products and other specialist aerial work, including

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into t ...

response, dispersant spraying and icing trials. The prime activity of the business is the supply and operating of aircraft to night-time freight integrators and consolidators and the operation of ad hoc air charters on behalf of other airlines, freight brokers and forwarders. Atlantic Airlines merged with the Swedish airline "West Air Europe" in 2008 to establish the

Group. West Atlantic UK Ltd holds an EU Ops Air Operators Certificate with the

United Kingdom 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 e ...

and a Type A Operating Licence, permitting it to carry cargo and mail on aircraft.

History

The airline was established in 1994. It was formed as part of the

Air Atlantique Air Atlantique was an airline based at Coventry Airport operating a number of classic aircraft, both for passenger operation and for cargo transportation. They operated both the Douglas DC-3 and Douglas DC-6 but did also have a few aircraft on ...

Group of Companies to specialise in the supply of contract and ad hoc cargo services. Since July 2001 West Atlantic UK (Formerly Atlantic Airlines) has traded independently and continues to broaden its product range and capability through the marketing of its Air Operators Certificate (AOC). The company Atlantic Airlines Limited was established in March 2001 when the management performed a buy-in to the trading company. A full management buy-out was achieved on 28 May 2004 when the same management purchased all the assets of the business including aircraft, spares, engines etc. In January 2006, Atlantic acquired the first of an order for 5 BAe ATP freighter aircraft. In February 2007, Atlantic Airlines signed an agreement with

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft BAE Systems Regional Aircraft produced the last fully UK-built airliner in November 2001 and owned by BAE Systems, the Avro RJX (formerly the BAE 146). While this business unit no longer manufactures commercial regional airliners, it continues ...

to long-term lease a further 6 BAe ATP freighters bringing the total orders to 11. In October 2008, it was announced that the airline would merge with

West Air Sweden West Air Sweden, operating as West Atlantic, is a cargo airline based in Malmö, Sweden. It operates scheduled and ad hoc freight charter services for FedEx, DHL and UPS. It is also contracted to operate mail flights for different postal servi ...

to form a new airline called

with its headquarters in Sweden. On 8 December 2009, Atlantic Airlines' biggest base,

Coventry Airport Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...

, was closed for financial reasons, causing Atlantic Airlines to cease all cargo flights to and from the airport. Atlantic Airlines moved all

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

flights to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

on a temporary basis as a result. The airline recommenced operations out of

when it reopened after it was bought by

Sir Peter Rigby Sir Peter Rigby DL (born 29 September 1943) is a British entrepreneur. He is chairman and chief executive of Rigby Group PLC, and is one of Britain's richest people. Career Specialist Computer Centres Peter Rigby founded SCC (Specialist Comput ...

. On 27 April 2013, Atlantic Airlines retired the last Lockheed L188 Electra from its fleet in cargo service. Atlantic Airlines was the last operator of the type outside of Canada. Subsequently, most of the fleet was sold and transferred to

Buffalo Airways Buffalo Airways is a family-run airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, established in 1970. Buffalo Airways was launched by Bob Gauchie and later sold to one of his pilots, Joe McBryan (aka "Buffalo Joe"). It operates charte ...

in Canada. In 2015 Atlantic Airline transferred its ATP fleet to the West Atlantic group Swedish AOC to focus on further Boeing 737 acquisitions. In June 2017 West Atlantic announced that it would be the launch customer and first operator of the Boeing 737-800BCF (Boeing converted Freighter). In November 2017, following the cease of operations from Coventry Airport, It set up new airline offices to the south of

and relocated its Operational and Line Maintenance Control Centre to

. The airline leased space inside Hangar 29 at East Midlands Airport to provide maintenance facilities for their aircraft. On 1 November 2017 Atlantic Airlines officially changed its name to West Atlantic UK Limited. In November 2020 West Atlantic added its first ATR72 to its fleet from sister airline Swiftair to operate between

and Guernsey Airport for DHL Air UK. By September 2022, West Atlantic had phased out the BAe ATP from its UK network, following the addition of more ATR 72s to their fleet.

Destinations

West Atlantic UK serves daily the following destinations:

Fleet

West_Atlantic_UK,_G-JMCR,_Boeing_737-4Q8_SF_(43103501082)

Current Fleet

As of October 2022, the West Atlantic UK fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Former Fleet

West Atlantic UK has previously operated the following aircraft: * British Aerospace ATP-F

Accidents and incidents

*On 19 January 2021, a West Atlantic

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Februa ...

freighter suffered a very hard landing at

Exeter Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

, causing many creases in the fuselage. The aircraft was written off and scrapped on-site

References

External links

{{Airlines of the United Kingdom Cargo airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 1994 1994 establishments in England British companies established in 1994 Companies based in Leicestershire