737 Classic freighters to fly in LatAm beyond 2030

737 Classics will remain in service with Latin American carriers well into the next decade as the 737-400F continues to make its way to operators throughout the region. “I would argue that the 737-400F will be with us for the next decade, at least until the mid-2030s before it finally gets out the door,” AEI Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Robert Convey said during a panel discussion on freighter conversions and leasing at Cargo Facts LATAM 2025 on Feb. 11. [caption id="attachment_57148790" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Cargo Facts Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke, far left, moderates a panel with, from left, Dora Alexander of Hamden Aviation; Robert Convey of AEI; Tadashi Mabee of Boeing; Rafi Matalon of IAI; and Nicole Moraes Sarno of Embraer. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] Although the 737 Classic may lack efficiency, it is an inexpensive narrowbody freighter, Convey said. “They’re really expensive to maintain,” he said. “But they’re also really cheap — and when you can buy four or five 737-400Fs for the price of a 737-800F, that creates a unique economic situation, and at least rates will reflect what those lower costs are.” The appetite for 737 Classics in Latin America has been an opportunity for some lessors. For example, Hamden Aviation this month placed a second 737-400SF with Brazil-based Total Linhas Aereas . “I think it’s appropriate to be conservative,” Dora Alexander, executive vice president of Hamden Aviation, said during the discussion. “The Classics still have a lot of life left and still make sense for a lot of those smaller size operators here in the Latin American market.” Moving on from Classics With every new aircraft type a carrier adds to its fleet, whether it’s transitioning from a Boeing to Airbus or Embraer, a new maintenance and certification program is required, creating an additional hurdle, Alexander said. IAI Aviation Group Vice President and General Manager of Marketing Rafi Matalon agreed with Convey on the high costs required to maintain a 737-400F and its CFM56-3C1 engines, but said operators in the region should replace the 737 Classics with next-generation freighters. The decision whether to continue operating 737 Classics or to add next-generation freighters presents carriers in Latin America with challenges similar to operators in Africa and Southeast Asia, Tadashi Mabee, product marketing director for Boeing Converted Freighters, said during the discussion. “Some of those aging pains of the Classics are starting to become more painful,” Mabee said. “I think that’s oftentimes the turning point to what makes a Classic operator move to the next-generation freighter.” For now, the low acquisition costs of the 737 Classics outweigh the increasing maintenance costs for Latin American carriers such as Brazil’s Total, Colombia-based Aerosucre , Dominican Republic-based Sky High and Mexico-based Aeronaves TSM, which continue to build their fleets with 737-400Fs and -300Fs. Register now for Cargo Facts' essential regional events for industry stakeholders: Cargo Facts Asia 2025 on March 24-26 at the W Shanghai in China; and Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 on May 6-8 at the Shangri-La Bosphorus in Turkey.

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