Listen: Drone, GlobalX and A321F milestones

In this week’s episode of the “Cargo Facts Connect” podcast, Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee and Associate Editors Andrew Crider and Robert Luke discuss a string of new entries into the drone market, with launch orders for products from Dufour Aerospace and Sabrewing. Both Dufour and Sabrewing are pursuing European regulatory approval prior to American certification. Dufour provided some insight as to why. Meanwhile, Global Crossing Airlines is nearing the delivery and entry into service of its first two A321Fs, which will join the fleet before the end of the year, and another lessor is entering the A321F segment. Tune in for a discussion of these topics and more for the week ended Nov. 4, 2022. 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 week's episode of cargo facts connect the podcast of cargo facts, the newsletter record for the freighter and aircraft industries for over 40 years. I'm your host, Andrew Crider, associate editor of cargo facts. Robert Luke And I'm your co host, Robert Luke, associate editor of cargo facts. Jeff Lee And I'm Jeff Lee, editor of cargo facts. Andrew Crider I want to begin today talking about drones. It's been a monumental week with a lot of really key insights. Starting off on the heels of the new twin tailed Scorpion cargo drone, a four engine conventionally powered cargo aircraft in China, ADMC placed a launch order for the Sabrewing Rhaegal a now air cargo world covered the Rhaegal a's first flight, there's some good coverage there. And I encourage all of our listeners to check that out. shortly after the company Sabrewing and attracted a large order for the new drone. The new drone is something that's very exciting, capable of carrying 374 kilograms powered by a hybrid electric system. So that's 50% capable helicopter turbine to power its motors. It's a very capable aircraft and deliveries are going to be relatively on the horizon planned for December of 2023. One thing that really stuck out to me is that this company sabering is pursuing the European Union Aviation Safety Agency certification. They're also in conversations with FAA. Something that I was told that they don't brag about. But true is they were the first company to have a basis of certification agreement with the FAA. But the European certification will come first. That's key because news that came out today, a different drone the Aero2 which will be able to carry slightly smaller 20 kilogram for long ranges and 40 kilogram for standard ranges. That's a tilt rotor drone powered by four motors. That drone was ordered by the drone Division of Air methods. The famed medical airlift company their drone division Spright, placing the order for 40 with options for 100 more. Now, we had a conversation with spright about this order today. What they told me is that they were prioritizing the European certification simply because the European certification and regulatory requirements had been published before and they thought that it was much easier than the FAA. This is something that I'd like to explore a lot in the coming weeks ahead. And if you're a drone manufacturer out there and you want to talk on these, these issues, please reach reach out to us. I'd love to hear your inputs. But the what we were able to write once wasn't the only news that happened in the Drone World. Elroy, which is manufacturing another hybrid electric vertical takeoff and landing capable drone started production on their second prototype aircraft. Now, the goal there, they they told me is that the idea is they want to minimize downtime between test flights. And they're going to be incorporating lessons learned from the original aircraft onto the design and construction of this aircraft as it's being built, which is truly interesting stuff. That's all I have for the unconventional drone space. Robert, what happened this week in the conventional freighter aircraft space? Robert Luke Well, I'm glad you asked Drew. We had quite an eventful week this week with global crossing airlines aka global x coming in strong with their quarterly profit results. And in addition to that, they announced that they will be taken on the first two a321 freighters by the end of the year. We do see that 1438 was supposed to actually begin operations earlier this year. But the global x CEO Ed Wegel did verify that there was still an existing backlog happening with the conversion orders that stemmed from the build up that took place over the last couple of years which resulted in the delays but nonetheless, global x will be freighter x in a very short time coming up as they prepare to take on their first a321fs and begin to put them into full operation. CEO Wegel also did verify that they have contracts in place With the first aircraft with the third one expected to arrive the first quarter of 2023 Sometime around February. So kudos and we tip our hats to the global x family as they begin to embark on their cargo operations. Elsewhere in the News Central airlines continues to modernize their fleet as they took on their 3rd 737 800BCF, which was a unit 36545, the ex Air China 737 800. They are definitely making some strides over in that region as they are showing their commitment not only to the Boeing platform, but the next gen platform as they continue to build their fleet up around that particular freighter type. That's all the news that I have to cover this week. I think it's definitely very noteworthy news, but I'm gonna pass it back to you drew so we can get Jeff on the horn to keep us updated with what's going on in the other realm of the cargo Facts world. Andrew Crider Thanks, Robert. Jeff, I believe global x isn't alone as far as a321 developments. Jeff Lee That's right. And I was going to say just a quick note on central airlines. It is interesting that they are very seemingly very quickly growing the 737 ng 800s particularly but throughout this past year, we've seen several other carriers in China building their 737 800 fleets. And so you know, earlier this year, we reported that JD airlines which got approval from the Chinese authorities, you know, they've got two or 3 737 8 Hundreds. And, more interestingly, we also had Shandong airlines, right which which is new to the freighter space and they of course have a large passenger 737 800 feet but they got their first 800 BCF earlier this year. And so you know a bit apart from those we already had China postal airlines Tianjin cargo which is also taking on more eight hundreds. And then we've got China Central longao airlines so you know, just continuing to see more and more 7378 Hundreds freighters entering the Chinese market. It is interesting though, that all of these are BCF's. But moving Yeah, moving on to the 321. Of course, global crossing, along with their partners SmartLynx, you know, these two are going to be based on the information we have right now at least, these are going to be the two largest operators of a321 freighters. They are depending on a number of vessels to source these a321 freighters. But this week, we also reported that we'll soon be seeing a new lessor entering the 321 conversion space, and that is Worldstar. Aviation. Interestingly, world star aviation is already in the process of converting some 737 800s and recently took the first one from AEI. Earlier this year, we also reported that the door was cut on their first iai conversion in China. But so But world star aviation told us that this the first one will be basically ready around the end of next year, they did say that this is going to be the first of several, we don't know the exact number. But it does make sense that there will be more to come. And the question is, are these backed by a customer commitments? We don't know. But on the a321 side we have seen in contrast to the 737 NGS most of the conversion orders from the lessors on the 321s have backed by customer deals already in place. So we'll see. I mean, it's still quite a long time away, but we'll see when when that one gets to be delivered. And hopefully we'll also find out when or how many Worldstar intends to convert. That's actually similar to JLPS Ireland, which is also converting a number of a 320 ones. And we think they've actually their second one, I believe, just headed to China for conversion. This earlier this week, or end of the last week, but very recently. Anyway, so yeah, that's that's all I have to say. Andrew Crider Thank you, Jeff. That's a really exciting information on what is relatively a new freighter type Robert Luke yet the end of an era for or the Queen of the Skies has been prolonged. Jeff, what did you hear about that? Jeff Lee Oh, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, an existing freighter type but of course, and one of the most iconic, and it seems like the end is very near, but not as near as previously was. Because now, Boeing has confirmed to us that. And this was also in the atlas air earnings call. The final, the final final final seven four seven dash eight freighter is currently in the factory undergoing assembly, but it will now join atlas next year, early next year, as opposed to the end of 2022. So, you know, we, I mean, we all know there's no avoiding the fact but, you know, Robert Luke we hold on to the Queen for a little while longer. That's all. Jeff Lee Yeah. The final final one. And it's interesting, because the that final one, and the second, last one. Both are in this hybrid, Atlas, and kuehne and Nagel livery which I've seen photos and yeah, looks quite nice. Andrew Crider I trade all of my tomorrow's for a single yesterday with the queen of the skies. The end is prolonged for the 747. But it's time for us to end the podcast today. For those of you tuning in, thank you. And for more multimedia content like this, search cargo facts connect on iTunes and Spotify and check out cargofacts.com. Join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor .

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