Air Incheon preps for 1st 747-400F commercial flight

Air Incheon took delivery of one of Asiana Airlines’ 747-400 freighters last month as it aims to begin revenue large-widebody flights around June. Air Incheon received the 1997-vintage 747-400BDSF (25782) on Feb. 11 under a lease agreement valid through June 30 to facilitate the approval process and prepare for commercial operations after it closes the acquisition of Asiana’s cargo business this summer, Air Incheon told Cargo Facts . [caption id="attachment_57149300" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Unit 25782 ended service with Asiana in February. (Courtesy/Air Incheon)[/caption] Air Incheon obtained a certificate of airworthiness for the 747 on Feb. 14, and from Feb. 19 to March 6 conducted demonstration flights with the CF6-powered freighter between Seoul (ICN) and Jeju (CJU) for a total of about fifty flight hours, the carrier said. Air Incheon is targeting early June for its first commercial flight with a large-widebody freighter, although if it still has not completed the necessary preparations by then, the latest possible start date is July 1, it said. The cargo carrier said in a Jan. 3 application filed with the United States Department of Transportation that it plans to commence 747-400F and 767-300F operations on July 1 on routes including: ICN-Anchorage (ANC)-Chicago (ORD)-Dallas (DFW)-Seattle (SEA); ICN-ANC-ORD-Atlanta (ATL); ICN-Los Angeles (LAX); ICN-LAX-San Francisco (SFO); and ICN-ANC-New York (JFK)-Brussels (BRU). These are routes that Asiana operates with its 747-400 freighters. Air Incheon will take over their operation once it acquires Asiana’s cargo business — including Asiana’s freighters, freighter slots and traffic rights, employees and customer contracts — after Korean Air’s acquisition of Asiana Airlines. Acquiring Asiana Cargo Asiana’s shareholders approved the sale of its cargo business to Air Incheon for about $322 million and Asiana expects to complete the transfer in June, it said in February. Air Incheon told Cargo Facts in December that it expected to amend its AOC in February or March before transferring Asiana’s freighters to its own fleet. Excluding unit 25782, Asiana’s freighter fleet consists of: Six 1994- to 2004-vintage production 747-400Fs (25781, 25783, 29170, 30765, 30768 and 33748); Five 1991- to 1999-vintage 747-400BDSFs (25405, 25777, 25779, 25784, 29375); and One 1996-vintage production 767-300F (25761). Air Incheon does not intend to take the two oldest 747-400BDSFs (25405 and 25777), according to the application. The widebodies will join Air Incheon’s own fleet of four 737-800SFs. Air Incheon signed a final agreement with Korean Air in January to acquire the Asiana Cargo business after Korean Air became Asiana’s largest shareholder on Dec. 12, 2024. Korean announced in June 2024 that it had selected Air Incheon as the preferred bidder for Asiana Cargo. 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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