Unique and highly profitable British business suffers an intended consequence of sanctions against Russia
David Buchler and Jo Milner of Buchler Phillips Limited were appointed Joint Administrators of [CargoLogicAir, Ltd. (CLA)] (“the Company”) on 16 November 2022.
Established in 2015, CLA is the only British all-cargo main deck freight airline, headquartered at London Heathrow Airport. The airline’s Boeing 747 aircraft has operated scheduled and chartered freight services on routes between the UK, Asia, Africa and Americas. CLA, which employed more than 100 people before sanctions, made a profit of £41m on turnover of £149m in 2020.
The company has been unable to trade effectively since its majority shareholder and former director, a Cypriot national, was made the subject of UK government sanctions against businesses deemed Russian controlled following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As a consequence, the Company sought and was granted licences for minimal continuance of operations from HM Treasury. However, it ran into problems operating its bank accounts on a timely basis: the company faced increasing difficulties with its bankers despite having considerable funds in its account which should have left the company solvent.
Commenting on the appointment, David Buchler of Buchler Phillips said:
“The appointment of administrators at CargoLogicAir is a very unfortunate, unintended consequence of sanctions generally applied against British businesses perceived as Russian controlled. This is a unique British business performing a valuable commercial service to British customers trading overseas, employing British people and paying British tax.”
The Joint Administrators can be contacted in the first instance, via email at david@buchlerphillips.com