CMA CGM Air Cargo applies for US foreign air carrier permit
24 / 02 / 2022
Source: CMA CGM
CMA CGM Air Cargo has applied for a US foreign air carrier permit from the US Department of Transportation as CMA CGM looks set to launch its own Air Operator Certificate (AOC) airline in the first half of this year.
The application document, which is dated 22 February, said: “CMA CGM AIR CARGO (“CMA CGM”) hereby applies for a foreign air carrier permit to transport property and mail pursuant to the Air Transport Agreement between the United States and the European Union and its Member States.”
The document noted that CMA CGM has applied for an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and operations specifications from the French Civil Aviation Authority…and “expects the application to be approved soon”.
A certificate from the French Civil Aviation Authority would allow the company’s rapidly expanding freighter fleet to serve additional routes out of Paris CDG. This could mean a phased switch of A330-200 freighter services from its Liege hub in Belgium to Paris CDG.
The US application document confirms that CMA CGM Air Cargo plans to begin operations in Spring 2022 with service between Paris, France and Chicago in Illinois, New York and Atlanta in Georgia.
The document added: “While its application for a foreign air carrier permit is pending, CMA CGM requests that it be granted an exemption from 49 U.S.C. § 41301 to the extent necessary to allow it to provide the services described above for a two-year period or until the requested permit authority becomes effective, whichever occurs first.”
Parent CMA CGM has ordered two Boeing 777Fs, four Airbus A350Fs and one A330-200 to be converted into a freighter.
Founded in 2021, CMA CGM is the cargo airline division of the CMA CGM shipping group. It currently has a fleet of four Airbus A330-200Fs, operated by Air Belgium.
