Monday, February 1, 2016

New All Cargo Airline to Offer Scheduled and Charter European Freight Flights

British Carrier Awarded Air Operator Certificate
Shipping News Feature
UK – EUROPE – A new player in the European air cargo market has been announced with the news that a British freight only carrier, CargoLogicAir (CLA), has been awarded an Air Operator Certificate by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Aiming at the continental air cargo market the airline plans to offer services on both scheduled and charter flights, with efforts also directed at the oversize logistics sector.

Headquartered at London’s Stansted Airport, CLA has its own executive and management team but is mainly owned by a company belonging to Alexey Isaikin, President of Volga-Dnepr. Dmitry Grishin, formerly Vice President Sales at Ruslan International, is the newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer joined by Peter van de Pas in the role of Chief Operating Officer & Accountable Manager, who previously held senior positions at KLM and Cargolux. Steve Harvey is CLA’s Chief Commercial Officer having joined the airline from his previous post of Regional Charter Sales Manager EMEA of Atlas Air.

An independent fleet building programme has begun with CargoLogicAir already taking delivery of its first leased Boeing 747-400 Freighter from Air Castle and with plans to add a second 747F to its fleet in July 2016. CLA expects to have a fleet of five Boeing 747Fs by April 2018. Dmitry Grishin, CEO, said:

“We are proud to have been awarded our AOC after meeting all of the UK CAA’s strict requirements. We are grateful to all involved in the certification process who helped us to make the company stronger, particularly the helpful and professional team at the CAA. We value the input they made on all stages of certification and their trust in us. Our aim now is to become a leader in the European air cargo market by earning a strong reputation for the highest levels of service, safety and efficiency.

“We have a very experienced team in CLA that combine operational expertise and regulatory knowledge, and a clear strategy for the future. We believe that the all-cargo airline business model has its place on the market and that we can achieve sustainable growth by specialising in outsize and flexible solutions for our customers. We are open to cooperation with all who share the same passion for cargo as we do. We are also very grateful for the help we have received so far from partners such as Boeing, Stansted Airport and Aeropeople, who have supported us in building the company and its capabilities.”

CargoLogicAir says it will announce its routes and operations schedule in due course and CCO Steve Harvey explained the reasons for forming such a company at this point, observing:

“We believe this is the right time to launch a new UK cargo airline. We created the company in the UK, which has a rich heritage of all-cargo specialist carriers including big names like HeavyLift, AirFoyle and others. The UK is the second largest air cargo market in the EU and its economy is growing. Using our knowledge, we plan to make a strong contribution to putting the UK back on the map of global all-cargo leaders. We have been extremely encouraged by the level of interest from our customers and expect this to result in us attracting the level of business we need to support our growth strategy over the next 3-5 years.”