E-commerce delivers Estafeta fleet growth

Mexico-based Estafeta Carga Aerea intends to expand its narrowbody freighter fleet on the back of booming e-commerce volumes. [caption id="attachment_413436" align="alignright" width="500"] Estafeta plans to add to its fleet a sixth 737-400F. Photo/Estafeta[/caption] Although Estafeta saw a rapid decline in commercial activity at the onset of the pandemic, a domestic e-commerce explosion quickly tested the limits of the company’s handling capacity, forcing it to scale up sorting capacity and its freighter fleet. The express company confirmed to Cargo Facts that it is in the process of finalizing an agreement that will add a sixth 737 freighter to its fleet. “We had two alternatives,” said CCO Javier Gutiérrez Sola in a company blog post. The first was to “stop receiving cargo that came from our large clients,” while the second was to scale up, said Sola. Additional staff and doubled operational capacity have relieved pressure, but is still insufficient to meet growth targets. Estafeta said the AEI-converted freighter it is considering has already been converted and is owned by Vx Capital. The deal mirrors a fleet addition last year when Estafeta grew its 737 Classic fleet to five units with the lease of a 737-400SF (28661, ex-Asia Cargo Express) from Vx Capital. Growing domestic and e-commerce volumes are behind the fleet expansion. Estafeta this month announced plans to invest 350 million pesos in a new parcel sort facility in Mexico City. The facility is expected to commence operations in April 2022 with a sort capacity of 18,000 parcels per hour and later expandable to 50,000 packages per hour, CEO Ingo Babrikowski told Forbes Mexico. In June 2020, UPS and Estafeta partnered to expand export logistics for small businesses in Mexico under the USMCA (T-MEC) trade agreement, which replaced NAFTA. With Estafeta handling domestic logistics, small businesses have access to next-day service to the United States and globally via flights to UPS’ Louisville (SDF) hub. UPS Airlines serves Mexico City (MEX) from SDF with 767-300Fs, and Guadalajara (GDL) from San Antonio (SAT) and SDF with A300 freighters, according to FlightRadar24. Estafeta does not serve SDF from its air hubs at San Luis Potosi (SLP), Veracruz (VER) or Mexico City (MEX). Other Mexico-based operators of narrowbody freighters to see fleet growth since 2020 include TUM AeroCarga, which added a third 737-400F (25101, ex-Alaska Airlines), and Aeronaves TSM, which is in the process of adding its first (28150, ex-Comair). Cargo Facts Asia, taking place April 20-21 as a virtual experience, is the event for exploring opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region. The event continues to bring together the best, brightest, and most innovative executives in the global air cargo industry. Learn more and register at www.cargofactsasia.com .

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