CargoLogicAir to halve fleet due to challenging market conditions

CargoLogicAir has announced it will reduce its freighter fleet by half early next year as it continues to battle “challenging market conditions”.

The Stansted-hubbed airline said that in early 2020 it would reduce its B747 fleet to two aircraft from its current line-up of four – three B747-400Fs and one B747-8F.

The company did not specify which of the aircraft it would stop operating but said that it would continue to offer ACMI and charter services to “key partners and new clients”.

“It’s the aim to grow the business again in the future,” the airline added.

The move comes just days after the carrier announced that it would be reducing its scheduled services, along with partner airline AirBridgeCargo.

Air Cargo News sister publication DVZ revealed that the freighter operator would cancel a total of five freighter connections from November 1.

The cancelled flights concern four freighter connections ex Frankfurt (to Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta, Chicago via Atlanta and Oslo) and one ex Moscow-Sheremetyevo to Hong Kong.

In financial figures released in October, CargoLogicAir revealed that its revenues almost double last year but losses deepened.

The B747 freighter operator, which was established in 2015, reported a 99% year-on-year increase in revenues for the 2018 calendar year to £213.7m, but its net loss reached £18m, compared with £2.5m in 2017, and its operating loss stood at £17.8m.

The increase in revenues was down to the expansion of its fleet – from three B747Fs by the end of 2017 to four B747Fs by the end of last year – and the resultant increase in flights and services.

Meanwhile, its partner airlines in the Volga Dnepr Group are also facing a tough time.

AirBridgeCargo cancelled seven services last week and has also announced a restructuring.

Reports have also circulated over recent weeks suggesting that the Volga-Dnepr is struggling and is the process of reducing staff numbers.