Listen: New entrants crowd 777 conversion arena

At least two firms plan to cut into 777s at U.S.-based MRO facilities and plan to develop a conversion program for the widebody platform following news last week that Mammoth Freighters was given the green light by a Texas bankruptcy court to bail out GDC Technics. In doing so, Mammoth secured future conversion lines for its in development P2F programs for the 777-200LR and 777-300ER. At the same time, elsewhere in the U.S., an ex-Emirates 777-300ER (37704) arrived in Wichita earlier this month. Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research and the Kansas Modification Center are working on developing their own STC and they say they will eventually convert it into a freighter, targeted specifically at the express and e-commerce market. In this episode of Cargo Facts Connect, Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee explore recent developments across the 777 freighter conversion landscape, and discuss what is known so far about operator commitments to freighter-converted 777s. A transcript is available below. This transcript has been generated by software and is being presented as is. Some transcription errors may remain. Charles Kauffman Hello and welcome to this episode of cargo facts connect the podcast and video series of cargo facts, the newsletter of record for the air cargo and freighter aircraft industries for over 40 years. I'm Charles Kauffman, Senior Editor of cargo facts. Jeff Lee And I'm Jeff Lee, Associate Editor of cargo facts. Charles Kauffman To those of you tuning in. Thank you for joining us. In this episode, we'll be discussing some of the more recent developments among the passenger to freighter conversion programs in development for the triple seven platform. Jeff Lee But before we take that dive, there was some exciting news on the international travel from that came through last week because on September 20, the United States announced that it would lift its ban travel ban on 33 countries, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, starting in November. So obviously wild transatlantic passenger flights won't return to pre pandemic levels overnight. That is a pretty welcomed development that will allow the gradual return of international leisure and business travel, as well as some much needed belly cargo capacity. Charles Kauffman That's a great segue into what we'll be talking about today because as a consequence of the international travel restrictions and lighter passenger demand for long haul flights, you know, large numbers of passenger wide bodies remain in storage and out of service. And some of these airframes are not expected to be returned even as travel demand picks up, making feedstock for freighter conversions more widely available and potentially attractive prices. Right and while Time will tell if the values eventually do return to their historical trajectories, we are seeing some transactions. Earlier this month, a 14 year old Jet Airways triple seven 300 yard was scrapped for around $9 million. Jeff Lee Now that jet had been in storage in Amsterdam for more than two years. And obviously that figure is well below Half Life in values for the triple seven 300 er but of course, when it comes to insolvency, things are a bit different. Plus, I can't say that that aircraft was in the best condition. And in fact, I struggle to see a future other than scrapped for most, if not all of the 10 triple seven 300 yards that Jet Airways had, even if not necessarily at that price. Charles Kauffman Yeah, that aircraft was maybe not the best feedstock candidate. But there are certainly others that have been stored in conditions that are much more favorable to conversion feedstock for a conversion. Unfortunately, unlike the narrow body and medium wide body size categories, there really aren't any active wide body freighter conversion programs that are fair were no large wide bodies redeliver during the pandemic, based on that, but I am aware of and, you know, this will begin to change over the next two to four years after some of the triple seven. Passenger to freighter conversion programs that are in development today are certified. But yeah, for now, there's really no, no solution for a parked large wide body aircraft. Jeff Lee Right. And as you said, that is changing because while the number of MRO facilities around the world that could accommodate wide body free to conversions, and that are actually willing to allocate space to do so is limited. It now looks like that the US could be home to a couple of large wide body conversion sites, doesn't it? Charles Kauffman Yeah, that's a that's a good point. Last week, mammoth fraters was given the green light by a Texas bankruptcy court to bail out GDC techniques with a super priority debtor in possession credit facility and exit loans of up to $13 million. And this matters to mammoth which is developing a PDF program for both the triple seven 200 lr and 300 ar variants because GDC techniques is worth Alliance MRO stores or houses six, six wide body bass. And as you might expect, the conversion house plans to utilize at least two of these to convert the conformity aircraft for the 200 lr and the 300 er and beyond that while the conformity aircraft are in conversion, mammoth will also store the remainder of its 10 owned aircraft at the facility so it's a good fit. Alright, Texas aside, those aren't the only triple seven passenger aircrafts on the move in the United States are there Jeff Lee no. And then when it comes to possible free to conversion bargains I mean, elsewhere in the in the States, and ex Emirates triple seven 300 yard actually arrived in Wichita, Kansas earlier this month. And the unit, which is our State University's National Institute for aviation research, and the Kansas modification center, are working on developing their own STC. And they say they will eventually convert the aircraft into a freighter targeted specifically at the Express and e commerce market. And we've tried actually reaching out to see if we can learn more about what this program and the aircraft actually entails. But so far the details are few and far between. But what we do know is that the ni AR does have a background in aviation research, modifications, engineering, and that's a thing and of course, Kansas itself. Or even specifically, Wichita itself does have a rich aviation heritage. So we'll have to see where that goes. Charles Kauffman Yeah, that's, that's definitely worthwhile to mention. However, we would be remiss not to point out that for for now, at least, the most advanced triple seven program so far is the the one in development by Israel Aerospace Industries. Last month, I cut metal on its prototype triple seven 300 er, which coincidentally was also an Emirates aircraft. And II is pretty far along in terms of its MRO partnerships. Of course, it is converting the conformity aircraft at its own facility in Tel Aviv. It is also partnered with Etihad engineering and Abu Dhabi for a third conversion site. And this does follow current agreement with a facility in Seoul earlier this year. So in a few years time, it's definitely conceivable that the overall conversion map for for triple sevens will look quite diverse. Are there any other triple seven projects some on the radar? Jeff Lee Yes. Eastern Airlines, meanwhile, is in the process of reconfiguring its first to triple seven to hundreds as a as an initial step towards what they tell us will be a full sec for a class II cargo compartment on the main deck complete with smoke barrier. Now Eastern told us that they will develop their own containers and that further iteration of the STC calls for a cargo door that door won't be as large as what we see on conventional freighters today, so that should be an interesting modification. We should note that this will be a step up from the more kind of basic passenger freighter reconfigurations that airlines and vessels have done on triple sevens over the past year and a half, particularly on the triple seven three hundred er, which as we previously pointed out, has been the passenger freighter of choice, including those without seats and those with the passenger cabin still intact. Charles Kauffman Right that that is definitely the case that the three ADR is the passenger freighter of choice and To summarize, we have a lot of momentum behind triple seven p two f conversions and to a lesser extent, modifications geared towards cargo and Mr. Rose around the world seem to be stepping up to do the work. One big question that remains and maybe we haven't quite answered yet is really which carriers are going to or could potentially commit to these conversions? Jeff Lee Right, That's the 100 million dollar question, isn't it? Because for now, Kalitta air in the US is the only operator with public commitments to the IHI triple seven 300 arsf conversion. And while cargo jet in Canada hasn't publicly announced conversion orders with AI, we know that they do expect to introduce the type to their fleet in a few years time, but has for any other potential customers or orders. So far, we aren't aware of any. Charles Kauffman Yeah, we've certainly heard of rumblings of potential orders and commitments that may be close to closing but nothing to report on. As of today, but I'm sure that in the months to come as these programs advanced that will change. That's all the time we have for today. To those of you listening Thank you for tuning into this episode of Carfax Connect. For more multimedia content like this check out cargo facts.com and search cargo facts connect on iTunes and Spotify. We hope you'll join us again next time. Subscribe to Cargo Facts Connect on iTunes or Spotify , or download the episode on Transistor . Cargo Facts Symposium, taking place LIVE Oct. 25-27 at the Wynn Las Vegas, is the essential event for stakeholders in the air cargo industry. Learn more and register at www.cargofactssymposium.com .

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