Challenge Group’s Zak joins Cargo Facts Symposium 2026

Or Zak, chief commercial officer of Challenge Group, will join Cargo Facts Symposium for the panel discussion “Technical aspects of freighter conversion and fleet management” on Thursday, Oct. 22, at 12:00 (GMT -5).

The 32nd annual Cargo Facts Symposium will take place Oct. 21-23 at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tenn., where industry leaders and decision makers will gather to assess the latest trends and developments in the freighter sector, while sharing their insights to project the market’s growth trajectory.

View the Cargo Facts Symposium 2026 agenda.

Zak was promoted to chief commercial officer of Challenge Group in April 2023. Over the past fifteen years, he has held various executive management roles in aviation, including commercial vice president for Challenge Group and deputy manager and managing director for Global Airline Services.

He will join Gudny Genskowsky, senior vice president of alliances and network at LATAM Cargo, to discuss:

• The challenges of keeping conversion programs and heavy maintenance events on schedule;

• What happens when unexpected issues are found once an aircraft enters modification; and

• Best practices for managing limited MRO slots, maintenance planning and fleet availability.

Challenge Group is planning to add six 777-300ERSFs to its fleet by the end of 2027 after taking delivery of its first Big Twin conversion on lease from AerCap early this year.

A second unit (33863) will join the company’s freighter fleet shortly. That aircraft was flown to Addis Ababa (ADD) for paint on July 21.

The group won a bid in March to acquire two additional ex-Jet Airways 777-300ERs (35157 and 35160) that it will use as conversion feedstock.

Challenge Group also operates five production 747-400Fs, one 747-400BCF and four 767-300BDSFs across its AOCs in Malta, Belgium and Israel.

Cargo Facts Symposium 2026, the premier event for the freighter aircraft and air cargo industries, will take place in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 21-23. Find out more and register by Sept. 4 to take advantage of early-bird pricing.