A British all-cargo airline · the Stansted operator of the Boeing 747 freighter era · ceased operations permanently in November 2022
CargoLogicAir (airline code 3S, ICAO CLU, callsign Firebird) was a British all-cargo airline, incorporated in England in 2015, granted its operating licence by the UK Civil Aviation Authority in December 2015 and starting operations on 25 January 2016. Its main operating base was London Stansted, its fleet consisted of Boeing 747 freighters, and it operated scheduled cargo flights and charters across the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Affected by sanctions on Russian companies connected to its parent Volga-Dnepr Group, the airline suspended operations several times from 2020 and finally entered administration in November 2022, ceasing operations permanently. Its fleet history and the UK-China cargo channel are recorded here, with guidance on alternative carriers for shippers who still export from China to the UK.
The background to CargoLogicAir goes back to the end of the cooperation between Global Supply Systems and British Airways World Cargo. In January 2014 that contract expired and was not renewed, leaving the UK without an independent all-cargo carrier for a time. CargoLogicAir was incorporated in the UK in March 2015, took on some Global Supply Systems staff and became one of the few pure freighter operators in the country. It received its first aircraft in October 2015, a Boeing 747-400F provided by Aircastle, obtained its operating licence from the UK Civil Aviation Authority in December 2015 and began commercial operations on 25 January 2016. The first flight was an automotive parts charter from Frankfurt, Germany to Bari, Italy carrying 113 tonnes of car parts for Chapman Freeborn Italia.
In its early years CargoLogicAir signed a wet-lease and codeshare arrangement with the Russian carrier AirBridgeCargo, operating twice-weekly UK-Africa cargo flights on a full package of aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance. At the 2016 Farnborough airshow it took delivery of its second aircraft, its first Boeing 747-8F. In 2017 that 747-8F flew a Mother's Day flower charter from Bogotá, Colombia to London Stansted carrying more than 100 tonnes of flowers in one flight. In April 2017 the airline added a third 747-400F through AerCap, taking the fleet to three, with a long-term plan for a core fleet of five. On 19 August 2017 it launched its first scheduled cargo route, London Stansted via Atlanta to Mexico City, twice weekly.
In 2019, with the air cargo market weakening, the airline announced it would scale back and restructure, halving the fleet. On 9 February 2020, as demand fell sharply, it grounded the whole fleet and cut staff, having already returned one 747-8F and one 747-400F to lessors in January 2020. On 24 February 2020 it announced a full suspension. The pandemic then drove up global air cargo capacity prices and rates; the airline regained its operating licence on 22 April 2020 and resumed flying on 23 April with two 747-400 freighters. The first flight was a direct service from China to the UK carrying personal protective equipment for the National Health Service. Management changed after the restart and in 2020 the company posted its first annual profit, reported at about USD 42 million.
On the operational side, the war in Ukraine from 2022 brought Western sanctions on Russian capital and Russian-owned companies, which hit the parent CargoLogic Holdings and the Volga-Dnepr group directly. In November 2022 CargoLogicAir announced it had entered administration and permanently ceased operations, with the sanctions-driven deterioration of its commercial outlook as the reason. Before closure the fleet was one Boeing 747-400F and one Boeing 747-400ERF, with about 200 staff and roughly 15 destinations served over its history. It now has no flights and no fleet; the domains cargologicair.com and volga-dnepr.com are retained as historical references and no longer take bookings.
The UK-China cargo corridor CargoLogicAir once worked had UK gateways such as London Stansted at one end and Chinese export gateways at the other. Since the airline has closed, the comparison draws on its operating record to show how the channel was structured and what replaces it. On the China side the traffic was mainly export consolidation and full-pallet shipments of protective equipment; on the UK side it was scheduled departures, a DHL express base and import distribution, with the two ends linked by the long-haul mainline of Boeing 747 freighters.
Hong Kong is an Asian air cargo hub and historically a key stop and distribution point for British freighter operators entering Asia. While CargoLogicAir ran UK-Asia cargo, Hong Kong was an important node in its Asian corridor; no flight numbers or weekly frequencies for its Hong Kong service are publicly available.
Shanghai Pudong is the largest international air cargo gateway in mainland China, and Shanghai was one of the main departure points when CargoLogicAir flew protective equipment charters from China to the UK during the 2020 pandemic. No times or schedules for its historic Shanghai freighter services are publicly available.
On 23 April 2020, the first day back in service, the airline used two 747-400 freighters to carry personal protective equipment from China to the UK for the National Health Service. These ran as charters with no fixed weekly frequency.
Stansted lies northeast of London and was the main origin for CargoLogicAir scheduled cargo routes. Its first scheduled route in 2017, STN-Atlanta-Mexico City, started there, and the Bogotá flower charter also landed at Stansted.
Heathrow was the registered location of the company's head office. Around February 2021 it was still flying scheduled cargo from Heathrow to Atlanta in the United States, carrying high-end and time-critical cargo both ways between the UK and China.
East Midlands was the base from which the airline flew for DHL. From 2021 it operated a daily cargo service from East Midlands to Cincinnati in the United States, with aircraft based at East Midlands, serving the express network.
CargoLogicAir has no fleet in service since closure. The three groups below set out aircraft that were in service, those returned to lessors and their fate after closure, so that shippers can follow the capacity history.
Centred on the main base at London Stansted (STN), the diagram shows the hub-and-spoke structure of the historic cargo network. Filled nodes are points served on a scheduled or long-term basis, hollow nodes are former charter or technical stops, and ochre nodes are Chinese gateways.
CargoLogicAir business had three parts: scheduled cargo flights, charters and wet-lease cooperation. On the scheduled side it flew transatlantic routes from Stansted to Atlanta and Mexico City and served Atlanta from Heathrow, while the East Midlands base flew a daily Cincinnati service for DHL feeding the European express network. On the charter side it carried automotive parts, fresh flowers, temperature-controlled air cargo and outsized equipment; early examples include the first flight with 113 tonnes of car parts to Bari, Italy in 2016, and more than 100 tonnes of flowers flown from Bogotá to Stansted just before Mother's Day 2017.
On wet lease and cooperation, in its early years the airline worked with the Russian carrier AirBridgeCargo under an ACMI arrangement, operating twice-weekly UK-Africa cargo flights with aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance provided as a package, which let the partner add long-haul freighter capacity quickly. The choice of the Boeing 747 family reflected its large doors, high volume and long range: a 747-8F can lift around 100 tonnes on a single flight, suited to dense flows between Europe and Asia and Europe and North America. After the 2020 restart, capacity went mainly to protective equipment for the National Health Service, with whole-aircraft charters from Chinese gateways carrying masks, protective clothing and testing equipment.
By commodity, the cargo CargoLogicAir carried matched UK-China trade flows closely. One direction was Chinese consumer electronics, e-commerce parcels and high-value industrial goods loaded at Hong Kong or Shanghai and flown direct to the UK for distribution in continental Europe; the other was UK and European automotive parts, aviation equipment and perishables moving to Asia and the Americas. After the airline closed, those flows were taken up by Cathay Cargo, Cargolux, the DHL aviation network and freighter operators in China, so the market did not break when one carrier withdrew.
For shippers replacing CargoLogicAir on China-UK traffic, the chain has three parts. The domestic part covers pickup at Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai or Hong Kong, export declaration, commodity inspection and security screening. The mainline part is flown by freighter operators on Boeing 747F or 777F aircraft, taking about 12 to 14 hours nonstop from Shanghai or Hong Kong to London, or about a day more via Luxembourg or Frankfurt. The destination part covers import clearance at Heathrow, Stansted or East Midlands, onward distribution and local delivery.
On ULDs, the main deck of a Boeing 747 freighter takes standard pallets and containers; general cargo usually goes on PMC pallets, with heavy and low-density cargo mixed in the load plan. Shippers should note that the UK requires fumigation for wood packaging, that electrical products need an MSDS and a transport test report, and that perishables need temperature-controlled space booked in advance. Goodhope Freight recommends a nonstop or connecting option based on weight, volume, commodity and transit time, and issues a tracking number once the booking is confirmed so that the shipper can follow the cargo throughout.
Historically the China-UK air corridor has run in both directions: Chinese exports are mainly consumer electronics, textiles and apparel, new energy parts and large e-commerce items, while imports are mainly aviation equipment, high-end automotive parts, pharmaceuticals and fresh produce. CargoLogicAir carried both directions while operating, and after the restart leaned heavily on full-pallet protective equipment from China. When the airline withdrew, the flows did not disappear but spread across more operating carriers, so frequencies and space supply are more dispersed and easier to combine than in the single-carrier era.
On transit time, freighter mainline flights from Shanghai and Hong Kong nonstop to London run several times a week in peak season, and with handling at both ends total transit is about 5 to 8 days. The DHL express channel suits documents and small parcels, faster but more expensive. For the automotive and high-value industrial customers that CargoLogicAir served, comparing Cathay Cargo and Cargolux weekly schedules first is advisable, choosing the carrier with steady space and departure times that cover the factory delivery date. Goodhope Freight compares rates when they are published each week and helps customers secure peak-season space.
CargoLogicAir closure left a gap in freighter capacity from China to the UK. The UK-Asia-China corridor traffic it once carried can now be handled by carriers still flying. Goodhope Freight suggests the following options according to commodity, transit time and cost preference.
An all-cargo carrier based at Hong Kong International Airport with a Boeing 747F and 747-8F fleet, offering dense frequencies from Hong Kong to London Heathrow. It suits time-critical exports to the UK from South China gateways such as Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen and is a direct replacement on the former Hong Kong corridor.
DHL Aviation uses East Midlands in the UK as its European express hub, connected to the Cincinnati global network, and suits e-commerce express and high-value small lots both ways between China and the UK. The East Midlands to Cincinnati route that CargoLogicAir flew for DHL is now operated by other carriers within the DHL system.
One of the largest all-cargo airlines in the world, with a Boeing 747-8F fleet and dense frequencies from Shanghai Pudong and Hong Kong to Luxembourg, connecting to the whole of the UK through Luxembourg; it suits outsized items, heavy cargo and European distribution.
Carriers such as Air China Cargo and China Southern Cargo fly freighters from Shanghai and Guangzhou to Europe, connecting to the UK via Frankfurt or Amsterdam, which suits full-pallet shipments of bulk exports from East and South China.
For customers still shipping to the UK, Goodhope Freight matches the carrier to the cargo (general, sensitive, outsized or temperature-controlled) and covers pickup at Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai or Hong Kong, declaration, booking, transfer and distribution, and delivery in the UK. The automotive parts, flowers and protective equipment CargoLogicAir once carried can all move on alternative carriers in similar transit time.
No. The airline entered administration in November 2022 and ceased operations permanently; it has no fleet and no flights, and cargologicair.com no longer takes bookings. Shippers with China-UK cargo should use a freighter operator still in business.
Its parent CargoLogic Holdings and the Volga-Dnepr group had Russian capital behind them, and after the war in Ukraine began in 2022 Western sanctions sharply worsened the operating environment. The airline announced administration in November 2022, with the persistently weak outlook for the business as the direct cause.
In 2020, during the pandemic, the airline operated PPE charters from China to the United Kingdom for the National Health Service, flown by two 747-400 freighters. Hong Kong and Shanghai were its main historical gateways in Asia; no public information covers specific scheduled flight numbers or weekly frequency.
The airline historically operated Boeing 747 series freighters, including the 747-400F, 747-400ERF and 747-8F. At the time operations ceased it had one 747-400F and one 747-400ERF in service; the 747-8F and some 747-400Fs had been returned to lessors in early 2020.
CargoLogicAir was a UK airline headquartered at London Heathrow, with its main operating base at London Stansted (STN) and a presence at East Midlands operating DHL charters. The country and industry listings agree that it was British.
Options include Cathay Pacific Cargo (Hong Kong to London), Cargolux (Shanghai or Hong Kong to Luxembourg with onward connection to the UK), Air China Cargo and China Southern Cargo (east or south China to a European hub with onward connection to the UK), and the DHL air network for e-commerce express. Weihang Yunda can match schedule and aircraft type to the commodity.
The IATA code is 3S, the ICAO code is CLU and the radio call sign is Firebird. Some historical airline databases recorded other code identifiers; the listing here is the reference.
Settlement and title questions on cargo documents issued before operations ceased must go through the insolvency administration. For cargo that still needs to move after November 2022, rebook directly onto an operating carrier rather than waiting on the former airline's historical settlement process.
Stansted is mainly freighter scheduled service and charters, with runway and terminal facilities suited to large freighters; Heathrow is mainly combination traffic and premium express, and the company was registered there; East Midlands is the European distribution base for the DHL express system. The three gateways play different roles in the China-UK cargo chain.
The 747 freighter's large nose door suits outsized equipment and palletised lots, and general cargo, auto parts, large e-commerce items and high-value industrial goods can all be loaded; perishable and temperature-controlled cargo requires capacity to be confirmed in advance. Since the type left service, similar demand can be carried by the Cargolux and Cathay 747-8F fleets.
Goodhope Logistics (China) Limited (Goodhope Freight) provides freighter booking, transit distribution and end-to-end logistics from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou to London and the East Midlands, at goodhope86.com.
The material is material on the historical CargoLogicAir (3S/CLU) cargo network. The airline ceased operations in November 2022, and the routes, fleet and points described are historical records, not products available today. Information is compiled from public sources and may be out of date or inaccurate; for actual bookings use the current schedule and rates of an operating carrier. We accept no legal liability for decisions and outcomes based here.
Contact: Goodhope Logistics (China) Limited, Goodhope Freight, website goodhope86.com, offering international air freight booking, customs declaration and transit distribution from China to airports worldwide.
CargoLogicAir, Boeing 747, Volga-Dnepr, AirBridgeCargo, Cathay Pacific, DHL, Cargolux and other names and marks are trademarks or registered marks of their respective owners, used here for industry information only. No brand association, endorsement or authorization is implied.