France’s CMA CGM Air Cargo to launch in late 1Q21

CMA CGM Air Cargo (Paris Orly) is set to begin its scheduled cargo operations on March 8 with a route from Liège to Chicago O’Hare operated by Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) with a A330-200F. In a press release, the French shipping giant said that ECS Group would become its commercial agent while a blocked space agreement with CEVA Logistics is also in the pipeline. Its second A330-200F is set to enter into service on March 16. It will also be based out of Liége and operate to the United States. Air Belgium is set to operate a total of four ex-Qatar Airways Airbus widebody dedicated freighters under a CMI agreement with CMA CGM Air Cargo. The first two units, OO-AIR (msn 1584) and OO-CMA (msn 1688), are currently undergoing pre-delivery maintenance at Dublin Int’l airport, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. The other two aircraft, A7-AFG (msn 1584) and A7-AFH (msn 1594), were retired by Qatar Airways on January 1 and January 21, 2021, respectively, but have yet to be transferred to Air Belgium. They remain registered in Qatar for the time being. CMA CGM Air Cargo will eventually own all four A330s. Independent of its future cargo operations, Air Belgium operates two A340-300s on ad-hoc charter and ACMI operations, including weekly services between Amsterdam Schiphol and Paramaribo Int’l on behalf of Surinam Airways. Its third unit of the type has remained stored at Lourdes/Tarbes since October 2020.