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The story
Polar was formed in 1993 as a joint venture between Southern Air Transport and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). It started operations in June 1993 and began with charter flights, later adding scheduled services. During 1994, Polar was certified as a supplemental air carrier by the Federal Aviation Administration and on 4 July 1994 as a US all-cargo carrier by the United States Department of Transportation. After several years of continued growth, the remainder of the company was acquired by GECAS.
In November 2001, Polar was acquired by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW), whose Atlas Air subsidiary is a provider of ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) freighter leasing. Polar became the scheduled service provider for AAWW, while Atlas continued to supply Boeing 747-400 freighters on a wet-lease basis to major airlines. On January 30, 2004, Atlas Air Worldwide entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In July 2004, the parent company completed its restructuring plan and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In October 2006, it was announced that DHL Express would be acquiring a 49% stake in Polar. As of March 2007, Polar is still majority-owned by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (51%) and has 736 employees.
In April 2023, former Polar Air Cargo COO Lars Winkelbauer was arrested in Thailand and charged, along with 10 others, with defrauding the company of an estimated $52m.
In February 2025, Atlas Air and DHL announced that Polar Air Cargo would be dissolved, with the 4 747-8s and 2 777Fs in Polar’s fleet continuing to be operated by Atlas. Atlas Air will provide CMI (Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance) services on the 2 Boeing 777 freighters for DHL under separate, long-term vendor agreements.
From Wikipedia’s article on Polar Air Cargo, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4