The world’s newest all-cargo airline, UK-based CargoLogicAir (CLA) has been awarded an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Headquartered at London’s Stansted Airport, CLA – backed by the Volga-Dnepr group – is an independent airline with its own executive and management team and fleet.

CargoLogicAir aims to become a leader in the European air cargo market offering cargo services on scheduled and charter flights. The airline – which has taken delivery of its first B747-400 Freighter from Air Castle and will add a second B747F to its fleet in July 2016 – said it aims to take a strong position in the segment of all-cargo and outsize logistics solutions. CLA expects to have a fleet of five B747Fs by April 2018.

Dmitry Grishin, formerly VP of sales at Ruslan International, is the newly-appointed CEO of CargoLogicAir. He is joined by Peter van de Pas in the role of COO & accountable manager, who previously held senior positions at KLM and who has been SVP operations for AirBridgeCargo since his resignation as COO of Cargolux in 2014. 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.

“We are proud to have been awarded our AOC after meeting all of the UK CAA’s strict requirements,” said Grishin. “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.”

Steve Harvey, CargoLogicAir’s chief commercial officer, added: “We believe this is the right time to launch a new UK cargo airline,” noting the UK’s rich heritage of all-cargo specialist carriers, including names like HeavyLift, AirFoyle and others.

“The UK is the second largest air cargo market in the EU and its economy is growing,” Harvey said. “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.”

CargoLogicAir will announce its routes and operations schedule in due course, it said. The carrier’s first flight involved a charter operation to Italy and is understood to have another charter scheduled from Munich to South Africa before it begins scheduled services.

Africa is likely to feature prominently in its network as it seeks to fill a void that its associate airline, AirBridgeCargo (ABC), has been unable to serve due to problems securing traffic rights to key destinations on the continent. An interline agreement between the two sister carriers would go a long way in solving that problem.