[2] The airline was established and started operations in 1972, as Air Bridge Carriers at East Midlands Airport.In June 1998 the Hunting Group sold its aviation arm to a joint consortium of CMB Compagnie Maritime Belge and Safair (part of the Imperial Group) and the airline was rebranded Air Contractors.In 2010 Air Contractors entered a new era with the start of passenger flying on a Boeing 737-300 aircraft in conjunction with its Group partner, Europe Airpost.[8] ASLI maintains crew bases in 10 European countries and has its own maintenance hangar in Shannon, Ireland.The airline's operations span a network of more than 50 regular destinations across Europe, North America and the Middle East under its own brand name and on behalf of customers such as DHL, Amazon and FedEx.