Watch: CF EMEA highlights and Cargolux’s fleet future

At last week’s Cargo Facts EMEA event, players in Europe, the Middle East and Africa came together to discuss the latest air cargo and freighter developments in the region. With the cargo market busier than ever, elevated demand and environmental considerations are both driving operators’ fleet planning decisions, as new types and carriers enter into the picture. In this episode of Cargo Facts Connect, Senior Editor Charles Kauffman and Associate Editor Jeff Lee recap some of the major highlights from the event, including Astral Aviation adding the 757 platform to its fleet , Bluebird Nordic looking to make the transition to NGs , and Texel Air ordering a second 737-800BCF conversion. They then take a closer look at Cargolux, which has long been an all-747 operator but is thinking about its future fleet development . See our full coverage of Cargo Facts EMEA . A transcript is available below. This transcript has been generated by software and is being presented as is. Some transcription errors may remain. Charles Kauffman Hello and welcome to this episode of cargo facts connect the podcast and video series of cargo facts, the newsletter of record for the air cargo and freighter aircraft industries for over 40 years. I'm Charles Kauffman, Senior Editor of cargo facts. Jeff Lee And I'm Jeff Lee, Associate Editor of Cargo Facts. Charles Kauffman It's Monday June 7, and this is our cargo facts and media 2021 recap. Special thanks to our sponsors and advertisers 321 precision conversions ancra international AEI ATR Amerijet c cubed aerospace EFW telair and ULD rentals.com. Jeff we've just wrapped up into their cargo facts EMEA, we were not in Europe this time around we we rebroadcast the event from from our various offices around the world and had delegates from from across the world tune in. And we do expect this to be our final virtual event before we return to live events this fall with cargo facts symposium. Jeff Lee Yes, finally, and I hope we can all make it to CFS Vegas this October. Charles Kauffman should be a great event. Cargo facts events are known for deep dive discussions. There were also a number of freighter aircraft transactions identified a Carfax me, Jeff, can you walk us through a few of those highlights. Jeff Lee So the word quite a few highlights. And one of the either just in the first session, we had astral aviation and Kenya revealing plans to enter into 757 freight operations, which is interesting, and they also will expand their zone 670. So we've got quite a bit of expansion to look forward to. And then we have blue boat Nordic in Iceland, planning to take 77 800 freezes. Just it's worth noting that they actually recently just took seven 400. So they'll they'll be looking to begin that transition to NGS soon. And then we have Ethiopian Airlines, which we kind of knew that they they would expand that triple seven to eight, but it sounds like the in the immediate short term, there'll be focusing on expanding their shorter and medium range, for instance. So it's presumably more 737 800. And we know that they were converting to seven, six sevens. And we have texts or they're in Bahrain, doing taking second 737 800 PCs. So and as a side side note, we also have cargo lights, talking about the well it's unlikely they will see more seven, four sevens joining the cargo speak but we'll talk about that in a moment. Charles Kauffman Certainly and then also last week, not directly related to or announced a cargo fax me but Lufthansa ordered yet another triple seven from Boeing. The latest in a string of smaller, smaller deals. This wasn't, you know, a massive five unit order. They're they're taking delivery of the aircraft later this year. So that's a pretty pretty clear sign that this was a delivery slot that was originally allocated to another carrier. And it's interesting that we just reported a few weeks ago that lads ham is going to forego the final triple seven freighter has on order. And of course, that's really not a surprise considering they've removed the platform from their fleet and are moving forward with an all 767 freighter fleet. Jeff Lee So it's interesting, I guess then really keen to get more triples and classy online because they will also take least triple seven this fall and we think that's coming from Emirates. So by the end of the year, they will have added two more triple sevens. But just going to cargo like going back to cargo lights, we've often where we've always described him as an all 747 tweeter operator. And it sounds like we will have to change the way we be called cargolux in the future and that will be quite quite a shift. As you know, CEO Richard Forsen kind of often hints as to what speed in your slash expansion might might look like in the future, didn't he? Charles Kauffman Yeah. Certainly forcing did in the past there has, there has been some chatter as to whether cargolux might consider a freighter converted triple seven 300 er. And while you know he didn't rule it out with with with full certainty there, there is a reluctance for high density high utilization carrier like cargolux, which is operating assets more than 14 hours per day to look at an older conversion, you know, when it comes to to fleet renewal forcing was also not keen on on waiting for an STC. You know, there's not really certainty as to how soon that could be certified. Of course, that's it's really the same with with any aircraft programming. If we look at some of the new passenger wide body types on the horizon, there are delays with those those types of programs as well, for us and did say that, if we're going to launch their own passenger to freighter conversion program, it might change the calculus a bit but really seem to be looking at production freighters before for the future? Jeff Lee I mean, I guess it's that I'll go next just isn't a huge operators are working with a carrier of the less dense carrier that really seven to be on duty RSF is targeted that but with Boeing, the offering them production, freighters or this potential triple 7x base phrase, or maybe both. Charles Kauffman Yeah, you're right. And that actually brings back another point. So during during part of academia, there was there's a question for one of our panelists, Jeff Kerr, you're asking for a bit of color as to how cargo densities have changed for Express carriers. And that really that's that's holding, quite constant for for many Express carriers. And so anyone with cargo Lex, in particular, Richard Forsen, was was pretty clear that they're going to continue to serve their existing customer base for the the time being and for the near future. And so, you know, there's there's not a huge expectation that those densities are going to change. As for production freighter, you know, based on the legacy triple seven freighter or the triple 7x, or a combination. It really depends on on timelines. And right now that triple seven 200 LRF is really the only aircraft on on offer. But I could certainly see cargolux taking us triple sevens and later adding brand new triple seven legacy production faders or a triple 7x. And that is certainly an incumbent advantage for for Boeing when it comes to wide body freighters and certainly, carriers would have no problem transitioning to a triple 7x freighter if the triple seven is already in their fleet. That being said, there are some combination carriers that are looking at renewal and certainly some of them have a 350 in their fleet already. You know, we have seen other 747 carriers recently may take the plunge and move into triple seven freighters. airbridge cargo and China Airlines come to mind they both add the platform last year was it in April we saw Silk Way West place their first order for triple sevens right now, of course they don't all 747 operator. But there there are still some, you know, primarily all 747 operators that haven't really made fleet renewal decisions aren't there. Jeff Lee They're on we actually looked at this several weeks ago didn't weigh in and the list wasn't very long, but it was an interesting list because it contained you know, well basically into large 747 operators. And this included unless every example ups cafe Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Asiana NCA and these carriers certainly the country Relation areas, interestingly, are all in 350 operators and you would think, I mean, we don't know what goes on, and what's going on behind the scenes. But you would think that Airbus is also looking to carriers like these for a potential a 350. freighter. So the economy, we'll just have to see how this how this turns out. But it is an interesting list. And actually KLM and Martin Ale, they have a few older seven, four sevens. But, you know, they just have to see I'd like I said, but it's interesting when you think of, there's there is, you know, a lot of potential for this, either in huge freezer or in a 350 freezer. And we'll, we will, of course, follow this this battle, I guess, between Airbus and Boeing in the months and months ahead. But what else is on top from the EMBA conference? Yeah, good Charles Kauffman question. So as you know, well, Jeff, we have published some analysis pieces from various media sessions. And we do have a few more of those coming up, including a regional snapshot from the Gulf region, and a piece that looks at the newer narrowbody types. Of course, as always, we'll have comprehensive coverage of transactions involving production figures and conversions. So a mix of stories this week. Jeff Lee Right, well, that's all we have time for. So thank you for tuning into this episode of Cargo facts Connect. For more multimedia content like this, check out cargofacts.com and search cargo facts connect on iTunes and Spotify. Join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor .

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