AEI inductions highlight surging conversion demand

Aeronautical Engineers Inc. (AEI) expects six inductions between now and the first week of February, kicking off a solidly booked year for the conversion house. [caption id="attachment_412529" align="alignright" width="550"] An Everts Air Cargo MD-80SF. (Photo/Everts Air Cargo)[/caption] An MD-83 (53450, ex-Ryan International Airlines) for Everts Air Cargo and a CRJ200 (7691, ex-ExpressJet) for Mexico-based Aeronaves TSM were ferried to Dothan (DHN) on Jan. 7 and 8, respectively, ahead of conversion to freighter configuration by AEI at the Commercial Jet facility there [ FATs 005895-5896 ]. Unlike recent years, during which a single platform has dominated AEI’s order books, this year, it is seeing broad interest across all of its active conversion types. Those in possession of aircraft needing to be converted in the near term may be out of luck; AEI says this week it sold its remaining slots for 2021. “We are on track to start thirty-seven-plus conversions this year,” said SVP of Sales and Marketing Bob Convey. “We are now booking well into 2022.” AEI is due to start 737-800SF conversions at the HAECO Xiamen facility shortly, and had previously indicated it could also begin converting -800s at the KF Aerospace facility in Kelowna (YLW) around this time. Convey added that AEI has “never seen such strong demand for all aircraft types,” referring to the five conversion programs it currently offers: the 737-800SF, the 737-400SF, the 737-300SF, the MD-80SF and the CRJ200 SF. In addition to the MD-83 and CRJ200 conversions for Everts and TSM, the next few weeks will see the induction of three variants of the 737: a -300 for Nauru Airlines, a -400 for KF Aerospace and -800s for Cargo Air , GA Telesis and BlackRock. Both Nauru Airlines and Cargo Air recently took redelivery of fresh conversions in December: another -300SF (28732) for the former and a -400SF (28882) for the latter.

AEI inductions highlight surging conversion demand

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AEI inductions highlight surging conversion demand

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Weekly Wrap: Flurry of freighter orders in first weeks of 2021

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Pivot to cargo insulates Taiwan's combination carriers

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Follow Us