Boeing adds new 737-800BCF conversion lines in Canada and the U.K.

Boeing is continuing to diversify its conversion locations outside China and will open three new conversion lines for 737-800BCFs in Canada and the U.K., the company announced Sunday at the Dubai Airshow. The first conversion line will open in Spring 2022 at Boeing’s own maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at London Gatwick Airport (LGW), the company told Cargo Facts . The other two conversion lines, launching in 2023, will be located at the KF Aerospace facility in Kelowna (YLW), Canada. [caption id="attachment_416994" align="alignright" width="560"] The Boeing MRO facility at LGW opened in late 2019. (Photo/Boeing)[/caption] Iceland-based Icelease is the launch customer for the LGW conversion line . Boeing confirmed to Cargo Facts that it currently has nine 737-800BCF conversion lines. Following the opening of the U.K. and Canadian lines, Boeing could have up to fifteen lines operating in four countries. Earlier this year, Boeing announced it would open two conversion lines in 2022 with Costa Rica-based Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Aeroindustriales (COOPESA), in San Jose (SJO), representing the manufacturer’s first 737-800BCF conversion site outside of China. Jens Steinhagen, director of freighter conversions at Boeing, said last month at Cargo Facts Symposium 2021 that the company had been actively looking at Europe for additional conversion capacity , given the number of operators and lessors with feedstock in the region. Boeing’s 737-800BCF conversion sites in China are at the Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. facility, where a third line will begin in 2022 ; the Shandong Taikoo Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (STAECO) facility in Jinan (TNA); and the Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services (BSAS) facility at Shanghai Pudong (PVG). The KF and STAECO facilities also provide touch labor for Aeronautical Engineers Inc. (AEI) and its 737-800SF conversions. Approximately 1,720 freighter conversions will be needed during the next twenty years to meet demand, according to Boeing. Of those, 1,200 will be standard-body conversions, with about 20% of that demand coming from European carriers and 30% from North American and Latin American carriers. The popularity of Boeing’s 737-800BCF freighter conversion program, particularly with lessors, has pushed orders past 200, with commitments from at least nineteen customers, according to the company.

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