Star Air

When a Boeing 767 without windows heads into approach at Cologne/Bonn in the evening, you probably think of UPS first. Often you’re right – and still off. Because since 1993, part of the cargo flights in the UPS network have been flown by a Danish airline: Star Air, the cargo subsidiary of the Maersk group. Since 2022 it has been called Maersk Air Cargo. This page shows you where the airline comes from, which aircraft it flies and how to cleanly tell it apart from UPS.

Star Air at a glance

Star Air is a Danish cargo airline and belongs to the logistics and shipping group A.P. Møller-Mærsk. It doesn’t sell its own cargo space to end customers but flies on behalf of others – above all for the express service UPS. The principle is widespread in the cargo business: the customer determines the network and the cargo, while the airline provides aircraft, crews, maintenance and insurance.

Star Air was founded in 1987, when Danish rules for cargo flights were relaxed. The Maersk group already had a passenger airline at the time, Maersk Air, and used the new freedom for a cargo subsidiary of its own. In 1993, Star Air also formally became a subsidiary of Maersk Air. When the passenger airline went to Sterling in 2005, Star Air stayed in the group – one reason the Maersk name still appears on cargo aircraft today.

In April 2022, the Maersk group renamed Star Air Maersk Air Cargo. The background was the expansion of air freight in its own logistics business: Maersk wanted to move part of its air freight with aircraft it controlled itself and set up a hub at Billund Airport for that. The flights for UPS continued.

Codes and callsign

• ICAO code SRR: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers. It is your most important tool for recognizing Star Air.
• Callsign WHITESTAR: how the crew identifies itself on the radio – the name fits the white star in the Maersk group’s logo.
• IATA code: plays hardly any role in everyday use, because Star Air doesn’t sell tickets or air waybills to end customers under its own name.

For you as a spotter, that means: the flight number on a UPS air waybill doesn’t reveal who is flying. The ICAO code on the tracker does. If it says SRR, a Danish crew is in the cockpit, even if the package ends up in a brown UPS delivery van.

The history: from the F27 to the 767

Star Air is a good example of how a small cargo airline adapts to a single major customer over decades. The fleet has changed completely several times along the way.

Period	Type	Spotter tip
1987–1996	Fokker F27	High-wing turboprop, start of flight operations
1993–2004	Boeing 727-100	Retrofitted with Rolls-Royce Tay engines, much quieter than the original
2001–2005	Boeing 757-200	Narrowbody freighter, in service briefly
since 2005/2006	Boeing 767-200	Leased freighters, replaced the 727s and 757s entirely
since 2014	Boeing 767-300	Longer version, first aircraft taken over in 2014
since 2024	Boeing 777F	Two brand-new widebody freighters

The beginnings with turboprops

Star Air got started in 1987 with the Fokker F27: the airline took over the F27 operations of the small Danish company Alkair along with its operating license. The F27s flew mail and cargo until they were retired in 1996. The airline’s only hull loss dates from this time too: in 1988, an F27 crashed on landing in Hanover, partly because of incorrectly distributed cargo. Both pilots were killed.

The UPS contract of 1993

In the early 1990s, UPS was looking for a European partner for flights within Europe from its hub at Cologne/Bonn Airport. After some back and forth, Star Air won the contract: on October 22, 1993, the agreement was signed, and the first flights began just ten days later. The first destinations included Milan, Rome, Zaragoza and Porto. From 1996, Star Air flew exclusively for UPS; further customers such as Royal Mail came only later.

The 727 with Tay engines

For the UPS flights, Boeing 727-100s joined the fleet from 1993, eight in total. The special thing: all of them had Rolls-Royce Tay engines instead of the original, loud Pratt & Whitney engines. This conversion was a specialty of the UPS 727 fleet and made the old three-engine jets quiet enough for night traffic. For spotters back then, the aircraft were a real curiosity – today they are history.

The switch to the 767

Between 2005 and 2006, Star Air returned all 727s and the Boeing 757-200s used since 2001 and replaced them with leased Boeing 767-200 freighters. That made Star Air a pure widebody airline. In 2014, the first 767-300 joined, offering more cargo space. To this day, the 767 forms the core of the fleet.

The fleet: Boeing 767 and 777F

The fleet changes often, because many aircraft are leased or procured for specific contracts. You should therefore always check fixed numbers against current fleet lists. In principle, as of 2026 it looks like this:

Type	Use	Spotter tip
Boeing 767-200 (converted freighter)	UPS network from Cologne/Bonn and East Midlands	Short fuselage, stubby proportions
Boeing 767-300 (freighter)	UPS network and Maersk logistics	Longer fuselage, factory-built and converted freighters mixed
Boeing 777F	Long-haul from Billund, including to China	Large twin with huge GE90 engines

The Boeing 767-300F and its converted variants are among the most important freighter types today. The shorter Boeing 767-200 has become rarer – Star Air is one of the operators where you still see it regularly in Europe. Maersk took delivery of the two Boeing 777Fs in 2024 directly from Boeing; they fly mainly long-haul routes between Europe and China.

One episode of recent history concerns the US: for connections between the US and China, Maersk brought additional leased 767-300 freighters into the fleet that were operated by Amerijet International. According to industry reports, this cooperation ended early, and Maersk gave up three 767 freighters in early 2026.

767-200 or 767-300? How to tell them apart

Both versions show up at Star Air, and both are freighters without a row of windows. You tell them apart mainly by length.

You can also confuse the 767 with the slimmer 757, which Star Air itself flew in the past. The most reliable difference: the 767 is a widebody with a much thicker, shorter-looking fuselage, while the 757 is a long, slim narrowbody jet. The guide Telling the Boeing 757 and 767 apart has more details. You’ll find general features of freighters – cargo door, missing windows, conversion traces – under Recognizing cargo aircraft.

How to recognize Star Air

The livery is not a reliable feature at Star Air. Over the years, aircraft were in service with Star Air titles, with mixed Star Air and Maersk elements and, after 2022, in Maersk’s look. Leased aircraft sometimes still carry traces of former operators. Four other things are much more reliable:

How Danish and other registrations are structured is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

Spotting Star Air: Cologne/Bonn, East Midlands, Billund

Cologne/Bonn

In Germany, Cologne/Bonn is the place for Star Air. UPS runs its European hub here, and the cooperation began here in 1993. The freighters arrive mainly in the evening, the parcels are sorted, and during the night the aircraft take off again toward their destinations. For photos in daylight, you therefore need patience and long summer evenings. The guide Plane spotting at Cologne/Bonn gives a good overview of locations and times of day; the observation deck at Cologne/Bonn Airport is a good starting point.

Why freighters fly at night and which rules apply in Germany is explained in the article on the night flight ban at German airports. Cologne/Bonn is one of the airports where cargo traffic is possible at night – one reason UPS is based there.

East Midlands

In Britain, the airline flies from East Midlands Airport for UPS and for the British postal service Royal Mail, including to destinations within the United Kingdom. A well-known photo spot there is the East Midlands Aeropark.

Billund and Copenhagen

Since 2022, Billund has been the hub for the flights Maersk operates for its own logistics – including the connections with the 777F to China. Before that, its home base was Copenhagen Airport. If you’re traveling in Denmark, the guide Plane spotting at Copenhagen Kastrup has the right info for the capital.

Star Air in context: UPS and other cargo partners

Star Air is not the only airline that flies for an express service. The big integrators – UPS, DHL and FedEx – all use partner airlines alongside their own fleets. How the system works is explained in the article Express integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

UPS’s own airline is UPS Airlines, with US registrations and a large freighter fleet of its own. ABX Air in the US follows a model similar to Star Air’s, flying mainly for DHL with 767 freighters. In Denmark, Danish Air Transport is another airline that carries cargo on behalf of others in addition to passenger flights.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking every windowless 767 at Cologne/Bonn is UPS Airlines – part of the flights come from Star Air with a Danish registration.
• Thinking Star Air and Maersk Air Cargo are two airlines – it is the same company, renamed in 2022.
• Confusing Star Air with Maersk Air – Maersk Air was the passenger airline and has not existed since 2005.
• Telling the 767-200 and 767-300 apart by livery – the fuselage length is what counts.
• Looking for the 777F in the UPS network – the two 777Fs fly mainly for Maersk’s logistics from Billund.
• Noting the customer as the operator – UPS is the customer, Star Air flies.

Conclusion

Star Air is one of the quiet heavyweights of European air cargo. Launched in 1987 with the Fokker F27, the Danish Maersk subsidiary has flown parcels for UPS since 1993, first with the 727, today with the Boeing 767 and – under the new name Maersk Air Cargo – with two 777Fs as well. If you photograph a windowless 767 at Cologne/Bonn, look closely: the OY registration and the code SRR turn a supposed UPS sighting into an entry of its own.