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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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, airli ...

with its headquarters at

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingd ...

. The airline's fleet of

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

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: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

after suspending operations intermittently since 2020.

History

Foundation

After the Global Supply Systems' contract with British Airways World Cargo was terminated in January 2014, CLA effectively became the only British all-cargo airline, absorbing some of the Global Supply Systems 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, target ...

from Aircastle 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 air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

(AOC) from the UK Civil Aviation Authority 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 ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and university city a ...

. CLA initiated its first scheduled services with

AirBridgeCargo AirBridgeCargo Airlines, LLC (), part of Volga-Dnepr Group, was the largest List of airlines of Russia, Russian cargo airline, with its head office in Moscow. It operated scheduled cargo services on routes between Russia, Asia, Europe and North ...

Airlines (ABC) through an aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) wet lease. 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

twice per week, from 14 February 2016 through 30 November. CLA took hold of its second aircraft and first Boeing 747-8F at the 2016

Farnborough Airshow 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 in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in ...

. 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 Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Colombia to

London Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's Airports of London, third-bu ...

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 Mar ...

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

from AerCap in April 2017. Becoming the third in the fleet, this aircraft flew charter services through an ACMI wet lease 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. 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 is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

via

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. 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, was an international airport in Finningley near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, in operation between 2005 and 2022. The site lies south-east ...

. 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 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 ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. This route was operated daily on behalf of

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, ...

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 Defunct cargo airlines British companies established in 2015 2015 establishments in England Companies based in the London Borough of Hillingdon Airlines based in London