Cargolux celebrates golden anniversary

Luxembourg’s all-cargo carrier Cargolux, turned half a century old today.

The airline was founded 50 years ago by Luxembourg national carrier Luxair, Icelandic Airlines, Swedish shipping company Salen and a small group of private investors, with Einar Olafsson as its first employee and CEO. Its sole aircraft, at the start of operations, was a Canadair CL-44 freighter with services from Luxembourg to Hong Kong.

After operating the Boeing 747-400F’s inaugural service flight in 1993, Cargolux became the launch customer for the 747-8F in 2011. Last month, to commemorate its golden anniversary, Cargolux received delivery of an LX-VCC, one of the company’s 747-8 freighters, adorned with “50 years” in the logo, along with “Spirit of Cargolux.”

Cargolux President and CEO Richard Forson emphasized employees’ commitment in a press release about the carrier’s milestone.

“It is a remarkable achievement for an all-cargo operator to celebrate 50 years in existence and I think I speak on behalf of the whole company when I say we are proud of how far our airline has come,” Forson said, adding, “We have weathered many storms over the years and this celebration shows the world how committed and dedicated our employees are.”

In 50 years, Cargolux, which has grown to just over 2,000 employees, has become the No. 1 freight-only operator in Europe and is seventh on the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) international ranking, with 7,322 freight tonne kilometers scheduled. In 2012, IATA announced Cargolux had earned platinum status in its Cargo 2000 program, the highest possible rank for participation in the global industrywide program, which is designed to standardize and improve revenue and performance processes.