Slot availability pushes Cargo Air to AEI for conversion

Boeing’s 737-800BCF conversion lines are booked through to 2022. [caption id="attachment_414884" align="alignright" width="500"] Cargo Air currently has three 737-300SFs and seven 737-400SFs. (Photo: Cargo Air)[/caption] Bulgaria-based Cargo Air will therefore have its first 737-800 converted to freighter configuration by Aeronautical Engineers Inc. ( AEI ) instead of Boeing , with which it already holds two conversion slots. Cargo Air does not plan to acquire any more -800s this year and told Cargo Facts it is in discussions with Boeing regarding its two slots, saying it would not have been able to secure availability before 2022. The carrier was part of the first group of customers to announce commitments for the 737-800BCF when the program was launched in 2016 , and has two firm orders with two options, but decided to postpone its two slots last year due to higher-than-expected feedstock prices. Cargo Air, which acquired unit 30664 (ex-Smartwings) in late October, said it expects the aircraft to be inducted for conversion in January 2021 and be ready for service by May. Unit 30664 is currently at Tarbes Lourdes Pyrenees Airport (LDE) in France, where it has been stored since February. Cargo Air already operates three 737-300SFs and seven 737-400SFs, all converted by AEI, and expects redelivery of its final -400SF in January. That aircraft (28882, ex-Go2Sky) arrived at the Commercial Jet facility in Dothan (DHN) early September. AEI, Boeing and Israel Aerospace Industries ( IAI ) are all increasing their capacity for 737-800 conversions. AEI announced in August it had appointed HAECO Xiamen as its fifth facility for -800SF conversions and expects to start there in January — around the same time AEI could also begin -800SF conversions at the KF Aerospace facility in Kelowna (YLW). In addition to HAECO Xiamen and KF Aerospace, AEI converts 737-800s at the Commercial Jet facility in Miami (MIA) and at the Taikoo (Shandong) Aircraft Engineering Company (STAECO) facility in Jinan (TNA). In early 2021, Boeing will begin converting 737-800BCFs with a second line at Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Company Ltd. ( GAMECO ), which completed its first frame last month. Boeing also uses STAECO and Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services (BSAS) in Shanghai (PVG) for -800BCF conversions. IAI, meanwhile, recently confirmed to Cargo Facts it had started its first 737-800 conversion at the Mexicana MRO Services late July, adding to its own facility in Tel Aviv (TLV), where the only two 737-800BDSFs currently in service were converted.

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