Listen: Assorted freighter milestone easter eggs

While this week appeared to be slower than usual, it was not without notable developments, with at least a couple of milestones in the world of freighters and a couple more on the way. In this episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” Cargo Facts Deputy Editor Jeff Lee and Associate Editor Andrew Crider discuss several news items this week, including GlobalX’s first A321P2F having its door cut and the new carrier’s growth plans, and another A350F commitment being finalized. The editors then look ahead to leads they will be exploring next week, a few of which involve 737NG freighters. A transcript is available below. This transcript has been generated by software and is being presented as is. Some transcription errors may remain. Andrew Crider Hello and welcome to this episode of cargo facts connect the podcast of cargo facts, the newsletter of record for the air cargo and freighter aircraft industries for over 40 years. I'm your host Andrew Crider, Associate Editor of cargo facts. Jeff Lee And I'm Jeff Lee, deputy editor of cargo facts. Andrew Crider This past week has been a little bit unusual for the cargo industry. We haven't seen the sheer volume and notoriety of transactions that we've grown accustomed to in the last few years. However, there were some important milestones weren't there, Jeff? Jeff Lee Yes, there were. Firstly, we saw global crossing airlines in the US cutting, participating in the door cutting ceremony for their first a321 P2F that they're going to be leasing from St Engineering that took place at the ST Engineering facility in San Antonio. And it's actually the second frame that that facility is working on at the moment. And what's interesting about global crossing is that there'll be starting to operate a321 freighters later this year. And this particular aircraft will be their second a321 freighter because they're they've got another one. That is a precision conversion. That's taking place in Lake City. Now, global crossing has ambitious plans for its freighter fleet. And they told us, they confirmed that they are looking to have as many as 25 a321 freighters by the end of 2025. And if you think about it, that's significant growth for you know, just a new carrier. And that's a rather short timeframe. And their aim is basically to the, in their words, be the sort of ACMI specialist with Airbus freighters. Now, I think longer term they even plan to maybe look at a 330 freighters as well. But in any case, they have this timeline and plan for 25 321 freighters in the next two, three years. And moving across the Atlantic to Europe, specifically England, where we saw the first what will be the first 737 800 BCF conversion at Boeing's London Gatwick facility. This aircraft is an Icelease aircraft. And it will be entering that conversion line shortly. But actually another conversion line will be starting another Boeing conversion line. Because coopesa in Costa Rica is becoming another Boeing 737 800 BCF conversion line. And actually, these two are going to be the first ones outside China. And I hear that the competitive facility is going to start imminently and so we're looking at, again, the aircraft it is going to be at first induction down there. So we may have something to say about this next week. Andrew Crider I'll certainly be very excited to hear about those stories as they develop. I think one thing that we saw a major development this week, was actually out of France with a new generation of freighter aircraft, Air France and KLM finally firmed up their order for four a 350 F freighters. Now they had written an LOI with the French manufacturer back in December, where so we've been on pins and needles to see when that commitment would be firmed up. So that's an another solid win and victory in the next generation freighter battle between the A 350 and triple seven dash eight F, which we kind of spoke about, because there's plenty of opportunity that we've covered just yesterday among current 747 400 operators that haven't yet made firm commitments toward either of the next generation freighter type. So there's 28 carriers who operate the 747 400 freighter, whether that was a factory direct model or conversion, and only six have signaled commitments to next generation freighter types for their replacement So that market will only continue to see drama and see more developments as far as who will be replacing these 747 dash four hundreds that are currently playing a vital role in maindeck capacity service. Jeff Lee And I think on Air France, I think the some might say it's not too surprising that they went for the Airbus product. Although it what is a bit surprising is that they, at least, when they told us last time, they signed the initial LOI they actually are not replacing the 747. With these a 350s, they are replacing the two triple sevens that they currently operate. And so these will be an operation with Air France. And this is exciting, because they will be growing, their freighter presence again, they used to have a larger footprint, but that at least Air France is now down to two triple sevens. But with these, and you know, there's potential for for more. So that's quite impressive growth on the freighter front. And I mean, when you were saying that we looked at 747 400 operators this week, and actually, we've been trying to talk to some of those operators. And we again, we might have something on that next week. But what we're also looking at for next week is potentially a pair of ATR 72 Freighters that will be making their way from Europe, Spain, specifically down to South America. And staying within Europe, there's also a number of ATRS that we're looking at. That will be joining some operators in in the region. And another possible development we're looking at is again, of course, we can't go a week without mentioning 737 NGS, but looking at some of DHLs, incoming 737 800 conversions. And that in itself is interesting because they have one in the new IAIs new conversion line in Naples. And that might be nearing completion. And we're looking at where these will end up. And I think we are looking at some interesting new carriers partner carriers. Andrew Crider Certainly I it will be a lot of exciting stuff to look forward to next week. You know, Jeff, I speak for myself. It's always a question on a Monday, does is this going to be a 737 week again, or maybe a 330 week those have been very popular freighter types that have themed our weeks in the past and only time will tell what next week has in store. We've also been monitoring developing situations as far as the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in China, and how they're affecting conversion facilities there. We reached out to our friends at precision and whoever didn't say that there was any disruption currently. But these are stories that we will continue to to follow and monitor for everyone's appraisal to keep on top of the market as things develop. That's all we have time for today. So for those of you listening, thank you for tuning in to this episode of cargo facts connect. And for more multimedia content like this, check out cargo facts.com and search cargo facts connect on iTunes and Spotify. Join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor . Cargo Facts EMEA will take place LIVE May 9-11 in Dubai. Learn more and register.

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