ASL Airlines Ireland (ASLI), formerly Air Contractors, is a cargo

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

with an extensive operations network. It operates scheduled freight services throughout Europe on behalf of major parcel integrators such as

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

FedEx Feeder FedEx Express is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it is the world's largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leading subsidiary of FedEx C ...

and

DHL Express DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

; and some wet lease services for scheduled airlines. ASL Aviation Holdings, the parent company of ASL Airlines Ireland, is headquartered in

Swords A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1972, as Air Bridge Carriers at

East Midlands Airport East Midlands Airport is an international airport in Castle Donington, England. The airport is situated between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is to the south and Lincoln, England, Lincoln northeast. It serves the maj ...

. In September 1992 the name Hunting Cargo Airlines was adopted and in 1997 the transfer of all airline operations to Ireland was completed. In June 1998 the Hunting Group sold its aviation arm to a joint consortium of CMB

Compagnie Maritime Belge The Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) is one of the oldest Antwerp ship-owners. It is controlled by the Saverys family who also own major stakes in the Exmar and Euronav groups. History CMB was founded in 1895 under the name Compagnie Belge Maritim ...

and

Safair Safair is an airline based at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, South Africa. It operates one of the world's largest fleets of civil Lockheed L-100 Hercules cargo aircraft.

(part of the Imperial Group) and the airline was rebranded Air Contractors. The Imperial Group transferred its 49% shareholding in the company to 3P Air Freighters/Petercam S.A. in 2007. Air Contractors acquired French carrier Europe Airpost on 14 March 2008. Following the acquisition of EAP into the ACL group of companies, the group was rebranded ASL Aviation Group, representing the three core activities of the group; ''Airlines'', ''Support'' and ''Leasing''. In 2010 Air Contractors entered a new era with the start of passenger flying on a Boeing 737-300 aircraft in conjunction with its Group partner, Europe Airpost. On 4 June 2015, ASL Aviation Group announced that Air Contractors would be rebranded as ASL Airlines Ireland, Europe Airpost as ASL Airlines France, Farnair Hungary as ASL Airlines Hungary and Farnair Switzerland as ASL Airlines Switzerland. The company announced on 5 February 2016 that it had agreed to buy TNT Airways and

PAN Air Pan or PAN may refer to: Food * Pan (cooking), a piece of cooking equipment * Harina P.A.N., a pre-cooked corn meal * Pan or Paan, a North Indian term for betel Prefix * ''Pan-'', a prefix meaning "all", "of everything", or "involving all m ...

, on the condition that FedEx's purchase of TNT goes ahead. The sale went through in May 2016.globaltrademag.com - ASL Finalizes Acquisition of TNT Air Operations
2 June 2016 TNT Airways became ASL Airlines Belgium and Pan Air became ASL Airlines Spain.aslairlines.be - ASL AIRLINES BELGIUM formerly TNT Airways
retrieved 26 June 2016 In early 2017, ASL Aviation Group rebranded as ASL Aviation Holdings. Subsidiary ASL Airlines Switzerland ceased all operations on 1 February 2018, while ASL Airlines Spain ceased all operations in August of that same year.

Destinations

ASLI maintains crew bases in 10 European countries and has its own maintenance hangar in Shannon, Ireland. The airline's operations span a network of more than 50 regular destinations across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

under its own brand name and on behalf of customers such as

DHL DHL (originally named after founders Dalsey, Hillblom and Lynn) is a multinational Import-Export Expert Company, founded in the United States and headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It provides courier, package delivery, and express mail service, ...

and

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

Fleet

Current fleet

The ASL Airlines Ireland fleet consists of the following aircraft as of January 2025;

Historic fleet

Aircraft that have been in the ASL Airlines Ireland fleet in the past.

Fleet development

In June 2021, ASL Aviation Holdings announced an order with Boeing for up to 20 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) aircraft - 10 firm orders and 10 options at the

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...

. This was extended to an additional 20 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF) in March 2022. ASL's order, including options brings the number of 737-800BCF to 40 aircraft. Eleven aircraft operate for ASL Airlines Belgium, ASL Airlines France, ASL Airlines Ireland and ASL joint venture, K-Mile Asia. ASL Airline Ireland has taken delivery of 8 of these aircraft as of January 2025.

References

External links

*
ASL Aviation Holdings
{{IATA members, europe Airlines of the Republic of Ireland Airlines established in 1972 Cargo airlines Companies based in Swords, County Dublin