Another one bites the dust: Air Cargo Global ceases operations

Following UK CargoLogicAir’s alleged pending liquidation* this week, Slovakian-based Air Cargo Global (ACG) is the next all-cargo airline to stop operations, according to a report in Airliners.de on 26FEB20.

Just seven years after reviving the defunct Air Cargo Germany under the new name of Air Cargo Global in 2013, but keeping the original livery colours and initials along with many of the originally HHN-based employees, ACG has apparently laid off a number of staff at the Frankfurt/Main location in Germany, and the last movement registered in FlightRadar was a TLV-LGG flight on 30DEC19. 

ACG has a fleet of 3 aging B747s (just back on 13NOV19, there was a technical incident with OM-ACG on an LGG-TLV flight where a blown tyre and fuselage damage were recorded upon landing). Its company headquarters are registered in Bratislava, Slovakia, and its main hub is at Prague Airport in the Czech Republic, with another base at Frankfurt/Main Airport, Germany. ACG offered long haul flights and international road feeder services, and operated on charter basis, lately mainly between Israel and Liege, Belgium for El Al (who have no inhouse freighters since retiring their last B747 in 2019), but also a number of flights between Kazakhstan and China. ACG works with 4 different handling partners as well as GSAs in 14 countries. Though the financial situation is unknown to CFG, the airline has gone through turbulent times over the years, with a 3-month flight suspension in the summer of 2018, due to maintenance issues. The year before, it had to stop flying to Brussels for 6 months due to issues with noise pollution. 

At time of publication, CFG is still awaiting an official statement from the airline.   

*Official Statement CargoLogicAir
CFG has meanwhile received an official statement from CargoLogicAir: “Due to the latest market development, specifically the drastic decrease of the market demand, CLA finds it extremely difficult to continue its commercial operations. Most importantly, CLA operations have been severely affected as it had placed a significant portion of its commercial activities in the Chinese market. As a result, a decision was made to suspend the flights. However, CLA continues to fulfil its contractual, financial and regulatory obligations. CLA is in close communication with the UK CAA in order to ensure the safe transition period.”

Yet, other sources report that over 100 people have been made redundant and will receive their salaries until the end of APR20, and point to an EASA non-compliance as a possible reason for the suspended operations. CFG is awaiting comment from CLA on these points.

With so many planes on the ground at the moment given the Corona upheaval, we may not yet have heard the last of these cessations.

Brigitte Gledhill

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