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ASL Airlines United Kingdom begins flying 1st cargo jet

Unit is smallest airline within ASL Group

Eric Kulisch
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An ASL Airlines Belgium 737-800 at Kaunas International Airport in Lithuania in April 2021. (Photo: Shutterstock/Renatas Repcinskas)

ASL Aviation Holdings’ cargo airline operating from the United Kingdom has doubled its fleet to two aircraft with the addition of a used 737-800 jet converted by Boeing from passenger to freighter configuration. 

The company said Thursday that the Boeing 737-800 converted freighter conducted its first revenue flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to its base at East Midlands and then on to Belfast, Ireland. The plane will conduct shuttle runs five days a week.

ASL Airlines United Kingdom received its operating authority in 2021 and previously operated a single ATR 72-200 turboprop.

ASL Aviation has several larger subsidiaries in Europe that operate cargo jets on behalf of express carriers such as Amazon Air (NASDAQ: AMZN), FedEx Express (NYSE: FDX), DHL Aviation and UPS (NYSE: UPS). It also has airlines in India and Thailand and recently acquired a small all-cargo carrier in Australia.


The ASL Group has more than 140 aircraft, including the world’s largest fleet of 737-800 freighters.

ASL is halfway through a five-year fleet renewal program that includes reservations with Boeing for production slots to convert 40 used 737-800 passenger jets to full-time freighters. Some of those planes are in service with ASL Airlines France and other subsidiaries.

ASL Airlines United Kingdom operates under the support umbrella of sister company ASL Airlines Ireland, which is much larger.

“At this point we have no confirmed plans for additional aircraft, but further growth is expected” for ASL Aviation United Kingdom, said corporate spokesman Andrew Kelly.


Boeing is retrofitting the 737-800s for main-deck cargo at licensed, third-party repair facilities in China and the United Kingdom.

The 737-800 converted freighter is up to 15% more fuel-efficient and produces fewer carbon emissions than the 737-400. It can carry up to 52,800 pounds and fly up to 2,025 nautical miles.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Twitter: @ericreports / LinkedIn: Eric Kulisch / ekulisch@freightwaves.com

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Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won Environmental Journalist of the Year from the Seahorse Freight Association in 2014 and was the group's 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. In December 2022, Eric was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist by the Seahorse Freight Association. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. He has appeared on Marketplace, ABC News and National Public Radio to talk about logistics issues in the news. Eric is based in Vancouver, Washington. He can be reached for comments and tips at ekulisch@freightwaves.com