The carrier operates air cargo services throughout Europe, America, Asia, Middle East and Africa.

It started flying operations in November of that year, originally leasing aircraft from El Al, Israel's flag carrier.

On 1 December 1999, following receipt of Israeli government licenses issued earlier that year, CAL began operating scheduled services using its own aircraft, two Boeing 747-200Fs.

With these new extended range freighters, Challenge Airlines IL was now able to fly non-stop to locations such as Latin America and Asia Pacific from its Liège hub.

In 2016 the owners started laying the foundations for the establishment of the Challenge Group and spearheading its strategic expansion, from an Israeli focused company to a global air cargo conglomerate.

[7] Challenge Handling Back in 1997, CAL established a joint venture with AGREXO, (then Israel's leading exporter of fresh produce), and setup the Liège Air Cargo Handling Services (LACHS) at Liège Airport, a major cargo hub located in Belgium, at the heart of ’the golden triangle’ (Frankfurt -Paris -Amsterdam), in Europe.

Its first flight carried to Malta 17th Century Baroque silk tapestries commissioned at the time by the Grand Master of the Order of St John.

It operates a network of more than 40 trucking partners, the logistics provider reaches most main European markets within 12 hours, out of Challenge Group's Liège hub.

The company and its subsidiaries are the Group's leasing arm, focusing on providing it with the needed wide body aircraft and respective spare engines.

Together with a closely-knit MRO network, they ensure that airline customers are never parted from their assets due to maintenance, for longer than necessary.

[1][20] From its bases in Liège and Tel Aviv, the Challenge Group flies cargo operations to the following destinations: New York, Houston, Atlanta, Hong Kong, Zhengzhou, Ningbo, Oslo and Larnaca.