IAI receives STC for 737-800BDSF

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• April 3, 2020
• Aircraft, Conversions, Editorial, Exclusive, Narrowbody Conversions, News

On April 2, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) a supplemental type certificate (STC) for its 737-800BDSF freighter conversion program, Cargo Facts has learned. IAI has completed two aircraft at its facility in Tel Aviv (TLV) – unit 30498 (ex-Transaero Airlines), which began flight tests in March 2019, and unit 28619 […]

Polar, China Southern and Emirates to speak at Cargo Facts Asia

• Charles Kauffman
• April 3, 2020
• All Posts, Cargo Facts Asia, Editorial, Events, News

In just a few weeks, Lars Winkelbauer, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Polar Air Cargo; Zhang Dezhi, vice president of cargo at China Southern Airlines; and Ravishankar Mirle, vice president of cargo commercial for Far East and Australasia at Emirates, will speak at the virtual edition of Cargo Facts Asia. Don’t miss your […]

Lufthansa Cargo keeps MD-11 retirement plan

• Jeff Lee
• April 3, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Editorial, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Strategy

For now, Lufthansa Cargo is sticking to its plan to withdraw all six of its remaining MD-11Fs by the end of the year, despite the current high demand for capacity. Lufthansa Cargo CEO Peter Gerber told Cargo Facts the carrier had begun an internal discussion earlier this year about phasing out the MD-11Fs even earlier […]

Pandemic to boost feedstock availability for conversions [VIDEO]

• Charles Kauffman
• April 2, 2020
• Aircraft, All Posts, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Video, Webinars, Widebody Conversions

Although passenger aviation faces the grim reality that it may take two to three years for traffic to bounce back to 2019 levels, feedstock for new and upcoming conversion programs, such as the 737-800 and A321-200, will soon be available at price points viable for conversion, said Doug Kelly, senior vice president of asset valuation […]

Atlas Air begins reactivating stored 747s

• Jeff Lee
• April 2, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Equipment, Logistics, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Atlas Air has started to bring its converted 747-400Fs out of storage to handle the surge in demand for freighter capacity. One of the four freighter-converted aircraft previously parked by Atlas, a 747-400BCF (24833) was ferried from Marana (MZJ) to Los Angeles (LAX) on April 1, after being stored in MZJ since Jan. 2. The […]

Join our ‘Aircraft Values in the Age of Coronavirus’ Zoom meeting (Subscribers Only)

• Charles Kauffman
• April 2, 2020
• Aircraft, All Posts, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Strategy, Webinars, Widebody Conversions

Cargo Facts will hold a Zoom meeting today at 11:30 ET to discuss the implications of the coronavirus pandemic on values for freighters and conversion feedstock. The Zoom meeting will feature Doug Kelly, senior vice president of asset valuation at AVITAS. He will provide analysis on how past crises have affected aircraft values and will […]

AA to retire dozens of 737s, releasing more feedstock

• Jeff Lee
• April 1, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Logistics, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

American Airlines is reportedly planning to retire seventy-six 737-800s, nine A330-300s and twenty E190s in light of the COVID-19 crisis, making a large batch of potential conversion feedstock available. American Airlines President Robert Isom shared the plans during a video session with employees during the weekend, according to Reuters. Although no precise timeline for the […]

Express appetite for 777F eclipses 747-400F fleet

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• April 1, 2020
• All Posts, Editorial, Equipment, Features, News, Production Freighters, Widebody Fleet Analysis

In the first part of our analysis of the global widebody freighter fleet, we found that the overall number of in-service aircraft grew by about 5% year on year to 1,176, with seventy-eight operators as of Jan. 15, 2020, despite 2019 being a generally weak year for air cargo. In the second part of our […]