France’s CMA CGM Air Cargo expands into Asian markets

CMA CGM Air Cargo has announced it will add three more destinations to its scheduled cargo network from Liège, for the first time including markets in Asia. The air cargo subsidiary of French shipping giant CMA CGM said that it would offer services from the Belgian hub to Dubai World Central, Istanbul New, and Beirut. Flights to the United Arab Emirates are due to start on May 19, 2021, while the other two will commence “over the next few weeks”. The cargo operator said the services would be coordinated with its existing routes to Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson, Chicago O’Hare, and New York JFK, allowing customers to transship goods between the US and the Middle East. All routes will be operated for CMA CGM Air Cargo by Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) using four A330-200Fs owned by CMA CGM Air Cargo and leased to the carrier under a CMI partnership. The cooperation began in early March 2021 and complements Air Belgium’s erstwhile A340-300 operations.