CargoLogic Germany (GCL, Leipzig/Halle) is facing imminent liquidation, having failed to attract new investors, a spokesman for its insolvency administrator has confirmed to ch-aviation.
"Insolvency proceedings will probably be opened against CargoLogic Germany before the end of today [August 3, 2022]. Except for one interested party, all possible investors have bailed out. There is now one remaining interested buyer, but he would have to make a decision this week, which is considered rather unlikely," he said.
The reason for the lack of interested investors was "a great reluctance to invest in a company with a Russian background," he explained. "This is all the more regrettable because the insolvency administrator, Lucas F. Flöther, had succeeded in enabling flight operations to continue despite the existing sanctions."
He said most of the remaining 40 employees would have to be laid off in the next few days, although some would be kept on for a while to assist the insolvency administrator in liquidating the company.
The Leipzig-based cargo carrier applied for insolvency restructuring in May 2022, nearly two months after it was banned from operating in European Union airspace over Western sanctions against the Russian owner of its parent Cargo Logic Holding and UK sister firm CargoLogicAir. Alexei Isaikin (also known as Isaykin) resigned as director from CargoLogicAir in June. He is also the President/Founder of Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Group, hard hit by Western sanctions against Russian companies following Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.
As reported, the German civil aviation authority (Luftfahrt Bundesamt - LBA) had banned CLG from operating in the country's airspace on March 11, 2022, following EU sanctions targeting Russian industry. The decision effectively grounded the airline, which lost all revenue while still facing leases and staff costs, among other recurring expenditures.
Following talks with the German Federal Ministry of Transport (Bundesverkehrsministerium), CLG had been removed from the sanctions list, but a lack of money and investors prevented it from continuing operating.
The cargo carrier mainly flew for logistics giant DHL International, which has its European logistics hub at Leipzig/Halle.
The company’s four B737-400(SF)s leased from Vx Capital Partners remain grounded at various airports in Europe, including Budapest (Hungary), Katowice Pyrzowice (Poland), Helsinki Vantaa (Finland), and Ostrava (Czechia), ch-aviation fleets data reveals.
