The company entered the scheduled cargo market on 1 April 2004, when the first AirBridgeCargo branded Boeing 747 made its inaugural commercial flight on route from Beijing to Luxembourg.[citation needed]
As of March 2022, AirBridgeCargo was forced to suspend all operations due to sanctions against Russia which rendered the entire fleet unusable.[1] In July 2022, the airline announced it will comply with sanctions and prepare to return 14 leased aircraft - which make out the majority of its fleet - to its lessors.[4]
In March 2023, it became known that the company planned to resume flights using Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft. Volga-Dnepr has already begun searching for pilots with appropriate training.[5] However, by late 2023 these plans were abandoned with two Il-96 formerly stored and already prepared for AirBridgeCargo being delivered to Sky Gates Airlines instead.[6]
Destinations
Prior to the suspension of all services, ABC had been present in Asia, Europe and North America. It operates a scheduled freighter route network of 37 destinations as of November 2019 focused on Europe, Asia and the United States.[3]
Fleet
A former AirBridgeCargo Boeing 747-200F which has been retired.A former AirBridgeCargo Boeing 747-8F which was returned to its lessor.
Current fleet
As of March 2024, AirBridgeCargo currently no longer operates any aircraft after returning their fleet to its lessors.[4][2]
Former fleet
AirBridgeCargo formerly operated the following aircraft:[2]
Accidents and incidents
On September 11, 2012, an AirBridgeCargo Boeing 747-8F experienced a major engine malfunction that spread a significant amount of metallic debris on the runway. Like in a similar event during pre-flight taxi tests, the low pressure turbine shaft separated and moved the low pressure turbine (by design to avoid turbine overspeed) backwards braking on surrounding hardware.[7][vague][importance?]
On July 31, 2013, an AirBridgeCargo Boeing 747-8F experienced core engine icing that caused engine malfunctions and damage to three engines near Chengdu, China, while en route to Hong Kong; the aircraft landed safely at its destination. Boeing and General Electric are working on software changes to mitigate the effects of core engine icing.[8][9][10][importance?]
References
^ a b caircargonews.net - VDG confirms suspension of AirBridgeCargo and Atran operations 21 March 2022
^ a b c d e f g h i"AirBridgeCargo Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
^ a bairbridgecargo.com - Our network retrieved 27 February 2021
^ a baircargonews.net - AirBridgeCargo applies to return freighters to lessors 1 July 2022
^"Крупнейшая грузовая компания России возобновит полеты после года простоя". rbc.ru (in Russian). 2023-03-28.
^flugrevue.de (German) 4 December 2023
^Simon Hradecky. "Incident: Air Bridge Cargo B748 at Shanghai on Sep 11th 2012, rejected takeoff".
^Guy Norris (September 2, 2013). "Core Engine Icing Strikes Russian 747-8F". Aviation Week. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
^Simon Hradecky (n.d.). "Incident: Air Bridhe Cargo B748 near Hong Kong on Jul 31st 2013, both left hand engines surged at same time, one right hand engine damaged too". Retrieved September 2, 2013.
^Polina Borodina (n.d.). "Russia to investigate AirBridgeCargo 747-8F engine incident with Boeing, GE". Retrieved September 2, 2013.
External links
Media related to AirBridgeCargo Airlines at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to AirBridgeCargo Airlines at Wikimedia Commons
