Challenge Airlines IL

Challenge Airlines IL,^[1] formerly CAL Cargo Airlines Ltd. (Hebrew: ק.א.ל. קווי אוויר למטען), is a cargo airline with its corporate headquarters in Shoham, Israel.

Challenge Airlines

IATA ICAO Call sign 5C ICL CAL
Founded	1976
Hubs	Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv Liège Airport, Belgium
Fleet size	1
Destinations	4
Headquarters	Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel
Website	https://www.challenge-group.com/

History

CAL was established in June 1976, starting charter operations in November of that year. Originally, the airline leased aircraft from El Al as required; however, on 1 December 1999, it began operating scheduled services using its own aircraft following receipt of Israeli government licences.

In 1997, CAL purchased the Liège Airport Cargo Handling Services (LACHS) cargo terminal in Belgium. The facility, which is still fully owned and operated by CAL, caters to CAL's specialty in nonstandard cargo. In 2010, CAL was purchased privately by Offer Gilboa and expanded its flight operations to include daily flights to and from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and New York's John F Kennedy International Airport.

In 2017, the airline made news headlines for buying a Boeing 747 on Chinese e-commerce website Taobao.com for around US$23.3 million.^{[citation needed]}

Operations

Cargo Airlines Boeing 747 at London Heathrow

CAL 747-400ERF 4X-ICA on short final to Hong Kong International Airport

Challenge IL operates daily scheduled cargo flights and charter services carrying nonstandard goods and general cargo internationally. Its main base is Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and it has a hub at Liège Airport in Belgium. The airline carries approximately 100,000 tons of cargo annually, including all categories of nonstandard cargo: temperature-controlled pharmaceutical and healthcare products, live animals, dangerous goods, oversize and overweight cargo, fresh perishable products, and valuable goods such as fine art.^[2] The company slogan is Challenge accepted.

Destinations

Challenge IL operates freight services to the following scheduled destinations (as of May 2024).

Country	City	Airport	Notes	Refs
Belgium	Liège	Liège Airport	Hub
China	Zhengzhou	Zhengzhou International Airport
Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Hong Kong International Airport
Norway	Oslo	Oslo Gardermoen Airport
Israel	Tel Aviv	Ben Gurion Airport	Hub

Fleet

Current fleet

The Challenge Airlines IL fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of November 2024):^{[3][4][needs update]}

Challenge Airlines IL fleet

Aircraft	In fleet	Orders	Notes
Boeing 747-400ERF	1	0	4X-ICA
Boeing 747-400F	1	0	4X-ICK
Boeing 767-300BDSF	1	0	4X-IAJ
Total	3	0

Retired fleet

Challenge Airlines IL historic fleet

Aircraft	Total	Year introduced	Year retired	Replacement	Notes	Refs
Boeing 707	1	1986	1987	Boeing 747-200F		[5]
Boeing 747-100F	1	1993	1993	None	Leased from Atlas Air	[citation needed]
Boeing 747-200F	4	1999	2017	Boeing 747-400F	One aircraft was written off in a landing accident in Liège Airport.	[6][7][8]
Boeing 747-400BCF	1	2016	2019	None	Transferred to Challenge Airlines BE.	[citation needed]
Boeing 747-400ERF	2	2019	2022	None	Transferred to Challenge Airlines BE.	[citation needed]

See also

• List of airlines of Israel
• Economy of Israel