West Atlantic

A white 737 freighter with no windows, landing shortly after midnight, with a G- or an SE- registration on the tail: that is often West Atlantic. The group from Malmö is one of those cargo airlines that hardly anyone knows, even though it flies letters and parcels across Europe every night. For spotters it is fascinating because behind one name there are two flight operations, two ICAO codes and a fleet history from the HS 748 propeller aircraft to the Boeing 767. Here you will learn how to identify West Atlantic with confidence.

West Atlantic at a glance

West Atlantic is a Swedish-British cargo group headquartered in Malmö. Under the shared name, two flight operations work, each with its own air operator certificate: West Air Sweden in Sweden and West Atlantic UK in the United Kingdom. The British operation has its office and operations control right at East Midlands Airport, one of the country’s most important cargo and mail airports.

The business is clearly defined: West Atlantic flies mail, express shipments and general cargo, mostly on behalf of postal operators and parcel services. According to the company, Royal Mail, the Norwegian postal service with its logistics brand Bring, Posten, DHL, FedEx, UPS and Chronopost are among the customers it has flown or flies for. The group also offers charter, ACMI – that is, aircraft with crew, maintenance and insurance –, leasing and maintenance for third parties.

By its own account, West Atlantic operates its own maintenance hangars at East Midlands, on the Isle of Man and in Oslo. The maintenance organization is approved under EASA Part 145; according to the company, the approval covers all of its own fleet types as well as the ATR 72 and Saab 2000.

Since 2019 the Spanish holding company Lusat Air has been the majority owner. It also owns the cargo airline Swiftair from Madrid – which is why aircraft between the two companies keep turning up in changing roles.

Codes and callsigns

With West Atlantic one code is not enough. Because two airlines fly under one name, there are two identifiers you should know:

• West Air Sweden: ICAO code SWN, callsign “AIR SWEDEN,” IATA code T2. The aircraft carry Swedish registrations with SE-.
• West Atlantic UK: ICAO code NPT, callsign “NEPTUNE.” The aircraft are registered in the United Kingdom with G-.

The IATA code hardly matters in everyday cargo operations because there are no ticket sales and hardly any public timetables. For you, the ICAO code is more important: it appears on the flight tracker and on the radio. The callsign NEPTUNE dates from the days of Atlantic Airlines and is a nice example of how callsigns are often older than the current company name – you will find more such stories in the article on airline callsigns.

From two cargo airlines to a group: the history

The story of West Atlantic is the story of two small cargo airlines that joined forces. Both halves have a long prehistory.

West Air Sweden is listed in reference works with a founding year of 1955. The company itself cites 1962 as the start of its cargo business – so the accounts differ. From small beginnings it grew over time into a specialist for cargo and mail flights in Scandinavia, for a long time with turboprops such as the Hawker Siddeley HS 748, a robust design from the 1960s.

Atlantic Airlines came from the circle of the British Air Atlantique in Coventry, which built up its own cargo division in 1994. In 2001 the cargo division was established as a separate company, and in 2004 management took over the business. Atlantic Airlines was famous for its classic propeller aircraft: until 2013 it still flew the Lockheed L-188 Electra as a freighter – by then a real vintage aircraft.

The 2008 merger also explains the name: West from West Air Sweden, Atlantic from Atlantic Airlines. The fleet has changed greatly since then. The Swedish part in particular has shrunk: according to fleet lists from 2024, only a few aircraft fly there, while the British operation uses around ten freighters. The focus has clearly shifted to the United Kingdom.

The fleet: freighters from turboprop to 757

West Atlantic’s fleet consists exclusively of freighters. According to current fleet lists (as of 2025) it looks roughly like this – the exact numbers vary depending on the source and date because aircraft move between the operations and the sister company Swiftair:

Type	Operation	Registration	Payload according to West Atlantic	Spotter note
Boeing 737-400F	West Atlantic UK	G-	about 21.8 t	Classic 737 with cargo door, workhorse of the mail network
Boeing 737-800BCF	West Atlantic UK and West Air Sweden	G- and SE-	about 24 t	Next-Generation 737, converted by Boeing
ATR 72 freighter	West Atlantic UK	G-	about 8 t	Rarest type in the fleet, came from Swiftair in 2020
Boeing 757-200 freighter	West Air Sweden	SE-	about 32 t	Largest aircraft in the group

Boeing 737: the backbone

The 737 is the type you see most often at West Atlantic. For a long time, mostly Classic-generation freighters flew: Boeing 737-300 and 737-400 converted into freighters after passenger service. West Atlantic UK retired the last 737-300s in 2025; the 737-400Fs remain in service for now.

From 2017, more modern Boeing 737-800BCFs were added – West Atlantic was the launch customer for this conversion and initially leased four aircraft. BCF stands for “Boeing Converted Freighter” – that is, a conversion that Boeing itself is responsible for. The 737-800 is longer than the 737-400 and has more room on the main deck. How to reliably tell the generations apart is shown in the guide Telling the Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart.

ATR 72: the turboprop

Since November 2020, West Atlantic UK has also flown an ATR 72 freighter, taken over from its sister company Swiftair. With a payload of about eight tons it is the smallest aircraft in the fleet and suits shorter mail routes and smaller airports. The manufacturer is ATR from Toulouse. Whether it is an ATR 72-500 or an older version is ultimately revealed by the registration in a register lookup – visually the variants are hard to tell apart. Tips for distinguishing it from other turboprops can be found under Telling turboprops apart.

Boeing 757: the big freighter

The group’s largest aircraft is a Boeing 757-200 freighter with a Swedish registration. With a payload of about 32 tons it closes the gap between the 737 and the widebody freighters of other airlines. Since there is only one, it is a rewarding target for collectors. You can easily confuse it with a 767 – the article Telling the Boeing 757 and 767 apart helps with that.

Historic types: ATP, HS 748, CRJ200 and 767

If you go through old photos, you will find a remarkable variety of types at West Atlantic. The most important historic types:

Type	Period (approximate)	Role
Hawker Siddeley HS 748	1990s and 2000s	First mail aircraft of West Air Sweden
BAe ATP	2000s to early 2020s	For decades the trademark of mail operations
Lockheed L-188 Electra	until 2013	Classic at Atlantic Airlines
Bombardier CRJ200	until the early 2020s	Rare freighter conversion of a regional jet
Boeing 767-200	from 2015, later returned	Widebody freighter in the ATSG era

The BAe ATP in particular shaped the group’s image. West Atlantic was one of the largest operators of this British turboprop and used it in its freighter version on mail routes in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. In the British network the ATP was retired by autumn 2022.

The CRJ200 as a freighter was also a rarity: only a few airlines have used the regional jet as a pure freighter. At West Air Sweden it flew mail routes for years. On January 8, 2016, a CRJ200 on a mail flight from Oslo to Tromsø crashed in northern Sweden, killing both pilots. The Swedish accident investigation authority SHK found the cause to be that the operational prerequisites were lacking to properly handle the failure of a redundant system on board.

How to recognize West Atlantic

The livery is simple: white fuselage with no row of windows, plus the “West Atlantic” titles. Because the aircraft are often taken over used and deployed for individual contracts, you will also see aircraft with a different or very neutral look. On flights for a customer, the aircraft may additionally carry hints about the client.

The most reliable feature is therefore not the color but the combination of registration and callsign:

On the 737 itself you recognize the freighter by the large cargo door at the front left behind the cockpit and by the missing windows. How to tell freighters from passenger aircraft in general is shown in the guide Recognizing cargo aircraft. And for registrations, the article Understanding aircraft registrations helps, and for the United Kingdom in particular British G- registrations.

Spotting West Atlantic

East Midlands: the first address

The best place for West Atlantic is East Midlands Airport in the central United Kingdom. The British flight operation is based here, and the airport is a magnet for cargo spotters anyway: besides the mail, large express services land here, including DHL Air UK. A comfortable view of the action is offered by the East Midlands Aeropark at the edge of the airport.

In addition, West Atlantic UK has a base in Edinburgh. Mail and express flights connect the British sorting centers with airports across the country, plus flights to continental Europe. Many assignments are contracts that can change – a look at the tracker before your trip is worthwhile.

Scandinavia and continental Europe

In Sweden and Norway, West Atlantic was present for decades with mail flights, for example in Oslo, where the group still operates a maintenance hangar today. Because the Swedish operation is now small, the group has become much rarer there. The Swedish fleet is small, and assignments change. If you are looking specifically for SWN in Scandinavia, it is best to plan at short notice with tracker data.

In Germany you will encounter West Atlantic only rarely, and mostly on charter or contract flights. At major cargo hubs such as Leipzig or Cologne/Bonn, where the integrators call the shots, it is still worth watching for unusual callsigns. How the big express services organize their networks is explained in the article on the integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

Tips for night freighters

Because mail and express fly mainly at night, for West Atlantic you often need fast lenses, high ISO values or a steady hand. The guide Photographing aircraft at night shows how to get sharp pictures even in low light. Keep local rules in mind: what is allowed at the fence and what is not is explained in Is plane spotting allowed?.

Common mix-ups

• Thinking West Atlantic is one airline – there are two flight operations with their own codes: SWN in Sweden, NPT in the United Kingdom.
• Assuming every white 737 freighter is West Atlantic – ASL, Swiftair and others also fly converted 737s. Registration and callsign decide.
• Confusing the 737-400F with the 737-800BCF – the 800 is much longer and has the Next-Generation engines with a flat underside.
• Assigning “NEPTUNE” to another airline – the callsign dates from the Atlantic Airlines era and now belongs to West Atlantic UK.
• Logging historic types as the current fleet – ATP, HS 748, CRJ200, Electra and 767 are retired.
• Logging Swiftair aircraft with EC- registrations as West Atlantic – despite shared owners, that is a separate airline.

Conclusion

West Atlantic is an airline for spotters who look closely. Behind the plain titles are a Swedish and a British company, two callsigns and a fleet that has evolved from propeller classics to converted Boeing 737s. If you stand at East Midlands at night and note down the registration along with the ICAO code, you turn the unassuming mail freighter into a clean entry in your log – and with a bit of luck you will catch the ATR or the single 757 too.