2021: The year of the freighter

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In a complete reversal from 2020, in which the number of production freighter orders was the lowest it had been since 2013, Airbus and Boeing in 2021 received net orders for ninety-one production freighter aircraft — the most in at least ten years, breaking the previous record of ninety in 2015. The orders came from ten known customers and one or more that are unidentified. Of course, another notable difference from the past five years is that Airbus is no longer mentioned in the context of the production A330-200F’s backlog being stagnant or dwindling. In fact, this will be the final appearance of the A330-200F in our table of five-year net production jet freighter orders and deliveries, which now shows the latest member of the large widebody segment.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] Airbus in the large widebody game Having announced the new A350F program in the summer without any customers, Airbus finally revealed commitments for the 109-tonne freighter in the final quarter of 2021, starting with Air Lease Corporation at the Dubai Airshow in November. The lessor, which does not have any freighters in its portfolio, signed a letter of intent (LOI) for seven units that it later finalized in December. Next came French shipping and logistics group CMA CGM, which announced a memorandum of understanding for four A350Fs. CMA CGM also firmed up the order in December. Then, in December, established combination carriers Singapore Airlines and Air France-KLM announced LOIs for seven and four units, respectively. While Singapore, which also has options for five more A350Fs, intends to replace its seven production 747-400Fs, Air France-KLM holds options for an additional four units and plans replace its current two 777Fs. The LOIs are not included in our order tally. Boeing inches closer to the final 747-8F Moving to Boeing, another order that was new — but did not count toward 2021’s net orders — was Atlas Air’s deal for four 747-8Fs early in the year. The four units, which will be the final four 747-8Fs to leave the factory and delivered from May through October 2022, became available following Russia-based Volga-Dnepr Group’s dispute with Boeing in 2020. UPS is taking up the first of four units Volga-Dnepr had originally ordered and canceling one of its own 747-8Fs on order. Apart from the 747-8Fs for Atlas, Boeing also has two more left to deliver to UPS. 777F attracts new customers Boeing’s large twin-engine freighter sold well in 2021, with forty-two 777Fs being added to the backlog — almost double the rolling five-year average. Unlike in 2020, where all of the production orders came from existing operators, three of the known customers are new to the 777F platform, accounting for nine units. All-747 operator Silk Way West announced an order for five aircraft in late April but did not say whether they will replace the 747s, while CMA CGM and Maersk each signed deals to buy two units, with the former to put the 777Fs on its own upcoming air operator certificate and the latter to place them with in-house airline Star Air. Meanwhile, Emirates announced an order for two new 777F at the Dubai Airshow for delivery in April and June 2022, although the carrier removed a 777F (35612) in the second half of 2021 and will likely withdraw at least another in 2022. Lufthansa Cargo also ordered and took delivery of a 777F (67146) in 2021. Twenty-two 777Fs on order were still attributed to unidentified customers at the end of November 2021. The final month of the year yielded an order for four 777Fs from Atlas Air, the first direct 777F order the group has placed. Although Atlas Air Worldwide currently flies nine 777Fs and has five on lease to customers, none of these aircraft were originally ordered by and delivered to the company.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image="417372" img_size="full" alignment="center"][vc_column_text] More purple and brown 767s When it comes to the 767-300F, both FedEx Express and UPS placed double-digit orders for the medium widebody, with FedEx still holding options for up to fifty more. The only other customer for the 767-300F in 2021, assuming no other undisclosed or unidentified deals in December, was Air Tanzania, which announced its entry into the freighter market with an order for a single frame at the Dubai Airshow. At thirty-eight 767-300Fs, the number of net orders was well above the five-year average of around sixteen. As Airbus is not set to hand over A350Fs for the next couple of years, Boeing again accounted for all of 2021’s forty-one production jet freighter deliveries, including six 747-8Fs, sixteen 777Fs and nineteen 767-300Fs. While the 747s and 767s all joined the fleets of the three integrators, the 777Fs were delivered to six different customers: China Airlines, DHL Express, FedEx Express, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, and EVA Air. The non-express customers were all combination carriers and took just under half of the jets. June was the busiest month for deliveries with four 777Fs and two 767-300Fs leaving the Boeing facility, but overall the number of deliveries was roughly on par with the five-year average and below 2020’s forty-six. 2021 was undoubtedly the year of the freighter, given record-breaking numbers on the conversion side of the market as well. It may be some time before Airbus and Boeing see similarly strong production freighter orders again, particularly with more widebody conversion options becoming available, but the potential launch of a 777X freighter by Boeing could change the picture, assuming the planemaker secures one or more customers to support the jet’s formal reveal. This story originally appeared in the January 2022 issue of Cargo Facts . Cargo Facts EMEA will take place LIVE May 9-11 in Dubai. Learn more and register. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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