Listen: A growing list of 737-800F operators

Following an onslaught of 737-800 freighter conversion orders from lessors over the past year, operator and customer commitments are on the rise . In this episode of Cargo Facts Connect, Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee discuss Bluebird Nordic’s ambition to become a major player in the European ACMI market , and the integrators and e-tailers driving narrowbody freighter fleet renewal and growth across Europe. 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 and video series of cargo facts, the newsletter of record for the air cargo and freight aircraft industries for over 40 years.I'm Charles Kauffman, Senior Editor. Jeff Lee And I'm Jeff Lee, Associate Editor. Charles Kauffman For most of the past 18 months, we've reported on orders for 77 800 freighter conversions, which have largely been dominated by leasing companies. Several mentors have even been pretty candid about their willingness to convert the type on spec, that is without Alessi lined up at the time of this lack commitment, causing some industry observers to question whether we'll see an oversupply of seven or 700 traders. In this episode, we'll look at a recent wave of new operator commitments. Jeff Lee Some As we reported this week with compass cargo airlines in Bulgaria starting we've now seen eight carriers becoming new 737 100 freighter operators so far this year. And with at least a couple more joining them this in the months ahead, and certainly more to come after that. And in total, we now have around 25 737 mg freighter operators around the world with around 17 units in service, many of those 7378 hundreds. Charles Kauffman Right And speaking of operators to come iceland based Bluebird Nordic plans to become one of the largest 737 800 operators. They recently announcing its ambition to add 20 573 70 100 freighters by the end of 2024. That's a pretty condensed timeline. Jeff, what are some of the highlights of bluebirds growth strategy here? Jeff Lee That was a pretty interesting announcement and it is a substantial growth for this company. They currently a 737 Classic ECM I provide them with you know, single digit fleet and the partner of the Cypress headquartered ABS Solutions Group, which is, appears to be expanding its present exposure to the mark cargo market. Most of those 7378 hundreds will be purchased by the leasing affiliate, and will operate and pacts service until the until being adopted Vulcan version. And Bluebird tells us that they expect Pete around 80% of those 25 737 800 phrases to be BCS near incorporating the Boeing conversion. Charles Kauffman So it sounds like there may be room for other less orders on related to the the the leasing affiliated Bluebird or perhaps even other STC holders, although on a limited basis. This strategy strongly, strongly suggest some kind of customer deal at the end of the tunnel. What What does boobers customer makes look like today? Jeff Lee Well, they currently operate for a number of integrators and express companies. I mean, it's it's all the usual suspects, but it is, you know, it is pretty interesting that they plan to take their fleet over 3737 freighters and, you know, they're not even immediately replacing the old retiring with the older classics. And they may even extend the basis on those, you know that it does suggest some kind of, you know, some kind of deal or arrangement that is backing this growth. And they also tell us that they intend to add at least, you know, one or two MCs either in Bulgaria or Romania or some of these new 800 conversions. So they've got some pretty exciting plans in the works. Charles Kauffman That is definitely the case. And we'll get to this in a moment. But this is somewhat reminiscent of a shift towards towards moto that we're, we've seen with a 321 freighters. If I look at the 737 Classic freighter fleet that is in service with Icelandic and EU based operators, as of March as of our March 2021, freighter fleet analyse analysis, just around 100 were in service operators in this region, and will likely be replaced in the coming years. Which integrators are taking the lead on narrowbody fleet renewal, and where do you see opportunities for growth to the fleet? Jeff Lee Well, it does seem like in Europe, there is a sort of a greater drive to replace some of these holder seven, three sevens, you know, particularly given the EU EU requirements and regulations on emissions in the environment. But, you know, just as noteworthy example, Amazon is adding 737 800, for instance, to European operations, you know, having started with two of its own branded 800 PCs last year, and now they see them preparing to begin operations with, you know, an 800 sf, and those are being operated by SL airlines. And we you know, we would assume that they've got more planned for deployment in Europe. But, you know, we're also seeing the 321 coming into the picture in Europe, Titan airways in the UK already has to and smartlink motor has one and another one joining very, very soon. And those are being operated for DHL. We also know that Titan plans to grow it's a 321 freighter fleet through a new Maltese affiliate. So there are underwriting now with Bluebird and probably a couple will see a couple of others joining the this list so the it does seem like the pendulum is slowly swinging towards the side of the the new generation of phrases and versions. And I would say that, you know, as the snowball kind of gets bigger and bigger, will only continue to see a growing list of operators with either 737 mg for instance, or a 321 freighters. Charles Kauffman That definitely does seem to be like the case we already knew to expect upwards of 100 or perhaps more than 177 800 freighters be delivered over the next two years and, and clearly many of these will end up in in fleets serving the EU region. That about does it for this week. To those of you listening today. Thank you for tuning into this episode of cargo facts Connect. The more multimedia content like this, check out cargo packs, comm and search cargo bags connect on iTunes and Spotify, Spotify. Join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor . Cargo Facts Symposium, taking place LIVE October 25-27 at the Wynn Las Vegas, is the essential event for stakeholders in the air cargo industry. Learn more and register at www.cargofactssymposium.com .

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