CargoLogic Germany (CLG), which mainly transports express freight and e-commerce goods, has started regular, commercial flights with its two Boeing 737-400SF mid-range freighters.
“We are currently operating a daily, round-trip Cologne-East Midlands Airport (EMA) service on behalf of an (unidentified) customer,” a spokesman for CLG commented.
Cologne is UPS’ main European air hub while EMA is its biggest hub in the UK and where the US package delivery giant is currently investing £114 million in doubling the size of its operation.
Direct competitor DHL Express will later this month inaugurate new facilities at Cologne Airport while EMA is also an important air hub for the Deutsche Post DHL-owned company.
At the end of October, DHL launched a new four-times-weekly freighter service between Hong Kong and Cologne using B777F aircraft. That service is operated by its AeroLogic joint venture airline with Lufthansa Cargo and directly links Asia Pacific and Northern European markets “ensuring capacity is available for our increasing customer demand,” the company said.
The CLG spokesman added. “We expect to operate additional services from Cologne in the weeks to come,” without going into further detail. “We are still finalizing operational details for the entry into service of our third aircraft.”
In an interview last month, CLG’s managing director, Johannes Jähn, said it was possible that the airline could fly as a sub-contractor for DHL and was a potential customer rather than a competitor.
Jähn had previously underlined that CLG’s activity will focus primarily on European routes, transporting express freight and goods ordered from online retailers. “Because e-commerce is growing rapidly, there are not enough (air cargo) suppliers to meet the demand,” he explained.
In September, the new Leipzig-based cargo airline was granted an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the German civil aviation authority (LBA) following a year-long and disputed application. The gaining of an AOC by Berlin came despite opposition from home carrier Lufthansa Cargo and questions surrounding CLG’s status as a genuinely European Union-controlled airline.
Along with UK-registered CargoLogicAir, CLG is a subsidiary of CargoLogic Holdings, which has the same shareholders as AirBridgeCargo’s parent company Volga-Dnepr Group. However, Jähn emphasised that CLG was “completely independent of Volga-Dnepr”.
