First created in 2011 following the merger of British Airways World Cargo and Iberia Cargo, IAG cargo is now one of the largest air cargo carriers in the world, having transported cargo on almost one million flights to over 450 destinations in the past decade, serving key economies including e-commerce, tech, manufacturing, automotive, pharmaceutical and aerospace.
The business has since grown significantly in its first ten years, integrating Vueling in 2013, Aer Lingus in 2015 and Level in 2016 to expand its network; it has also invested in new facilities to increase capacity and developed specialist product offerings in areas like pharmaceuticals, live animals and high security shipments.
In the last decade it is estimated that IAG Cargo has served nearly 14,000 freight forwarders, operated 950,000 flights using 30 models of aircraft, transporting millions of tonnes of cargo, from ancient artefacts for The British Museum to endangered animals for BornFree and vaccine shipments for Biological E. As part of efforts in the fight against COVID-19, IAG Cargo has transported over 20,000 tonnes of PPE and large quantities of sanitiser, ventilators and COVID-19 testing kits. This year, the business had already transported over one million COVID-19 vaccine doses by the end of January.
John Cheetham, Chief Commercial Officer at IAG Cargo said: “This is a major milestone for IAG Cargo. It’s been exciting to see the business grow and transform into one of the largest cargo carriers in the world today.
“We’ve built a strong relationship with our customers across the world to understand their needs and adapted our products, as well as launched new products and routes to support them. We’re very proud of our ‘always moving’ spirit to provide some of the most flexible options for customers, helping them get their freight across the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We look forward to continuing to expand our offering in the years to come.”