The UK Civil Aviation Authority awarded an Air Operator's Certificate to cargo start-up One Air (HC, London Heathrow), the country's sole B747 operator.
One Air plans to initially operate cargo charters between the United Kingdom, continental Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Going forward, it hopes to enter the Chinese and the US markets. It has yet to apply for a US Foreign Air Carrier Permit and an exemption. In line with the EU-UK agreement, the carrier was awarded an EU Third Country Operator permit concurrently with the British AOC.
The start-up currently dry-leases a single B747-400(BDSF), G-UNET (msn 25075). It added the 31.8-year-old converted freighter in May 2022 and has been using it for proving flights since then. The aircraft is currently parked at Cardiff, having operated a series of training flights between the Welsh airport and Shannon in March and April 2023, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. It will be the only active operator of B747 aircraft in the UK, following the retirement of all B747-400s by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic in 2020/2021. B747-400ERF G-CLBA (msn 32870) remains registered in the country but its former operator, CargoLogicAir, is inactive and in administration due to the fallout from sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. CargoLogicAir was linked through a joint shareholder to Russia's Volga-Dnepr Group.
"We are proud to be meeting this need and to have the opportunity to leverage longstanding business relationships with freight forwarders, logistics providers, and charter brokers serving the UK market. We expect to add our second B747 freighter later this year and have the financial resources to grow in line with the level of demand we see," majority owner and Chief Executive Paul Bennett said.
The airline "will review its fleet plans, including the potential for other aircraft types, later in the year".
One Air did not disclose a specific launch timeline.
