Listen: Freighter orders and LOIs from Dubai — oh my

While Airshows are often a feast-or-famine affair for freighters, the 2021 Dubai Airshow kept the momentum going with orders and commitments for dozens of freighters and conversions. In this episode of the “Cargo Facts Connect” podcast, Senior Editor Charles Kauffman and Deputy Editor Jeff Lee discuss some of the highlights from Dubai, which saw orders and commitments announced for forty-one freighter aircraft, including ten new-build, thirteen widebody conversions and eighteen narrowbody conversions. The editors also discuss CMA CGM’s ever-evolving air cargo strategy which includes A330Fs, 777Fs and, if an MoU with Airbus is executed, eventually A350Fs. 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 of cargo facts, the newsletter of record for the air cargo and freighter aircraft industries for over 40 years. I'm your host, Charles Kauffman, senior editor of cargo facts. Jeff Lee And I'm Jeff Lee, deputy editor of cargo facts. Charles Kauffman To those of you tuning in thank you for joining us. Jeff, in our last episode of Cargo facts connect, we discussed our expectations for the Dubai Air Show. Remember, you weren't convinced we'd see much activity involving freighter aircraft. But in many ways, freighters actually stole the show. Were you surprised by this? Jeff Lee I was, especially considering there were orders, commitments, deals, etc, involving 41 freighter aircraft, including 10, new builds 13 wide body conversions and 18 narrow body conversions. Compare this with the passenger side? Yes, there were narrowbody orders, but there actually wasn't a single deal involving any large, large wide body aircraft. So yes, I guess you could say that freighters stole the show. Just a shame that they didn't have any freighters there at the show. Almost always flashy new passenger aircraft. But first, of course, the there was the LOI from ALC for 7 350 freighters, which is noteworthy not only because it was the first publicly announced commitment for linear program, but also because LC had always kind of stayed away from three two aircraft. So this was a nice endorsement of the 350 freighter. And I'm sure Airbus would have been happy heading back to lose with that in the pocket, so to speak. And then the other highlight was the audit from Emirates for more triple sevens in both production and converted forms to new triple seven EFS and least for triple seven 300 arsf conversions. And the first of those conversions, they've confirmed to us is going to be kicking off iai new Etihad engineering, conversion line in Abu Dhabi. So it's nice to see Emirates expanding its free to fees again, because it has already removed three triple sevens off lease. And a fourth is likely to leave the fleet early next year around February or March. But of course, after the show, perhaps even more surprising is that CMA CGM has now announced a memorandum of understanding with Airbus for the purchase purchase of 4 350 freighters. Charles Kauffman Yeah, that did come as somewhat of a surprise, particularly since we just saw not too long ago. CMA CGM order. triple seven prayers from Boeing CMA CGM has been been making waves in this space. And I'm curious, do you have a sense for the long term vision taking shape here? To me, it seems like they're really pursuing a mixed fleet strategy. And when I try to think of other examples of carriers with fleets of a similar size, I can't really think of any examples of such a small and diversified fleet. Jeff Lee I mean, it is interesting, isn't it because assuming CMA CGM firms, the MOU will end up with both triple seven freighters and a 350 freighters along with the Four A330 200s. Playing with air Belgium. We do know that they aim to have their own AOC early next year. They're working on that with the authorities in France, As we first reported in September, and that they will put all of the triple sevens and the 350s on that certificate. But it's unclear. I mean at this point if they what they intend to do with a 330 is of those will be staying with a Belgium and actually speaking of the A 330s. I'm also looking into what could be another interesting development on that front. Charles Kauffman Something another new project with the airline will I hope we can hear more about that soon. There is An important distinction regarding the order classification and delivery timelines for the triple sevens and the 350. So the the triple seven freighter order was obviously firmed there and even the the four a 330s. Those have been acquired by by the airline. And so I guess one thing that comes to mind is maybe we'll see the airlines scale up its large wide body freighter fleet in advance of 2025, when, when the 8350 freighters would be nearing delivery, if you're assuming the the MOU is firmed. Jeff Lee Right, I mean, that is at least four years away. And as we've seen over the past 18 to 20 months, and a lot can happen over that amount of time. So and also, Boeing still has a number of 22 to be exact, triple seven freighter orders belonging to unidentified customers. So, you know, we suspect we'll see more of these being revealed as we go on, but it wouldn't surprise me to see some of those possibly ending up in the CMA CGM fleet. And also, remember, we're seeing more and more of the older and triple seven freighters coming off lease. And that will continue to happen in the next few years. Charles Kauffman are good points we will see those end up with other operators have as we've already started to see with your ex Emirates units and up but Kalita air and croutons up. So going back to the show, with regards to the conversion orders, obviously Boeing bags and 77 800 BCF orders. They're not in not from Dubai. But during the same period, we also saw Adi announced orders for for additional seven or seven 800 SF conversions, including returning customer arrow capital solutions and a new customer for the program. Air Castle B. Tell us a bit more about those orders. Jeff Lee Yeah, so Aero capital solutions, ACS is already the largest, or was already the largest customer for the 737 800 SF program with a UI, but it has now topped up its conversion order for the third time adding 13 more conversions. And so we'll have a total of 34 737 800 SS in its portfolio. And all this is done at this point anyway. But I mean that growth is pretty significant, especially considering they they only just placed their first order last year. Now, part of that could just be rushed to secure slots as we know, those running into 2023 2024. But possibly, I mean, I will also say that apart from their first aircraft, all four of the subsequent conversions have arrived in Ireland wearing Amazon colors. So we'll see whether you know, something is behind all that growth. But in the meantime, were just putting the finishing touches on our annual overview of free to conversion orders and read deliveries. So yeah, keep an eye out for that in December issue. Charles Kauffman Yeah, no doubt, certainly no shortage of orders to report in that issue. And next year is looking to be just as busy probably easier with all of the new lines coming on new conversion lines coming online, next year and in 2023. So definitely going to be an interesting feature. That is all the time we have for today. To those of you listening. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of cargo facts Connect. For more multimedia content like this, check out cargo facts.com and search cargo facts connect on iTunes and Spotify. We hope you'll join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor .

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