Regional freighter growth provides spark to industry

The regional freighter sector continues to thrive during the market downturn, even as other carriers streamline operations, remove freighters from service and delay or cancel orders for production and conversion freighters. “2023 has been a continued year of growth for us,” Donald Kamenz, vice president of marketing and sales at regional aircraft specialist Jetstream Aviation Capital, said during a panel on regional freighters at Cargo Facts Symposium in late October. “The demand for aircraft has continued. As a point of fact, in 2022 we repositioned twenty-two aircraft into the market, and seven of those were freighters. In 2023, we’re on track right now to twenty-four aircraft and ten of those will be freighters.” A major driver of regional freighter growth has been next-day delivery requirements to smaller and mid-size cities under the guidance of companies like Amazon, FedEx, UPS and DHL, Jetstream Chief Executive Stuart Klaskin told Cargo Facts earlier this year . “We see the market both growing and maturing to a large extent,” he said. Cargo Facts tallied 319 freighters in service with payloads of approximately 3.4 tonnes to 8.8 tonnes across fifty-five regional operators globally as of Nov. 30. The number of regional freighters in service increased by twenty-three when compared to last year. Most growth in the regional freighter sector in 2023 appears to have stemmed from the Cessna SkyCourier, which accounted for nineteen of the aircraft operating worldwide, after making its service debut in January 2023. The pie chart below shows the geographical distribution of the 319 freighters, while a more detailed table can be found here . At first glance, nearly 65% of the regional freighters operating globally are registered in the Americas, which reflects a YoY increase of five percentage points. More than 90% of the aircraft flying within the region are domiciled in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Europe’s regional freighter count declined by four percentage points, and European carriers now operate 30% of the world’s regional freighter aircraft. Africa and Asia combined account for less than 1%. SkyCourier gains altitude [caption id="attachment_56866354" align="alignright" width="450"] FedEx has taken delivery of fifteen SkyCouriers. (Photo/Mountain Air Cargo)[/caption] The most notable change seen in Cargo Fact s’ 2023 regional freighter fleet list is the addition of the Cessna 408 SkyCourier, which began flying commercially with operators in the U.S. early 2023, though it gained type certification with the FAA in March 2022. Textron Aviation delivered twenty of the freighter version as of Nov. 30. FedEx remains the largest — but not the only — customer for the type. All FedEx’s SkyCouriers will be operated by its feeder partners; Mountain Air Cargo, with ten, is the largest operator followed by Empire Airlines with five. Since 2022, four new customers for the SkyCourier freighter besides FedEx have emerged and taken delivery of the type. All are based in Hawaii or Alaska: Kamaka Air took delivery of one in February; Bering Air took its first in March and a second in August; Lana’i Air received its first freighter version in October; and Everts Air took delivery of its first unit in September but has not started flying it. Saab 2000F close to certification Meanwhile, another new regional freighter conversion is on the horizon, with the Saab 2000F conversion in the final stages of the certification process after making its first test flight in March 2023. Taby Air Maintenance announced the program in January 2022 with lessor Jetstream Aviation Capital as the launch customer. At that time, Taby hoped to receive an STC by the end of 2022. [caption id="attachment_56866358" align="alignleft" width="450"] The Saab 2000F conversion will soon achieve certification. (Photo/Taby Air Maintenance)[/caption] “Taby Air Maintenance is currently working toward EASA certification this year with anticipation of FAA acceptance to be completed by the end of Q1 2024,” Jetstream’s Kamenz told Cargo Facts in late November 2023. Taby and Jetstream had anticipated bringing the prototype unit to the U.S. for a demonstration in the fourth quarter of this year but the timeline is still fluid, Kamenz said during a panel on regional freighters at this year’s Cargo Facts Symposium in late October. The Saab 2000F “is an aircraft that bridges two groups: both the Part 121 and the Part 135 marketplace, depending on how an operator wishes to use the aircraft,” Kamenz said. “It has a 15,000-pound cargo payload which can be palletized or uploaded into thirteen zones. So, it’s a great product and it will be to market, I would hope, within the next quarter.” When the Saab 2000F enters service, it will provide the additional lift capacity needed in the regional freighter segment that is expediting growth for express shipping. African boom Africa’s growing demand for short- to medium-haul air cargo service has led operators to expand their fleets with dedicated regional freighters in the past year. ProFlight Zambia and ValueJet became two of the most recent passenger operators in the country to add regional jet freighters to their fleets, each taking delivery of a CRJ without a large cargo door. Meanwhile, Kenyan startup EnComm Aviation acquired a fleet of ATP turboprop freighters from Sweden-based West Atlantic and intends to place them on a CMI basis with Transafrican Air after forming a joint venture with the carrier. De Havilland Aircraft secured deals at the Dubai Airshow for three Dash 8-400 quick-change conversion kits , with two being ordered by United Arab Emirates-based Falcon Aviation and one by Kenya-based Advantage Air. Supply chain constraints linger Although the steady demand for regional freighters may be encouraging to an industry looking for signs of recovery, lingering pandemic-spurred supply chain issues pose a significant challenge to the freighter industry cycle, according to the regional freighter panel at the recent Cargo Facts Symposium. The engine supply chain and the shortage of pilots have made operations more expensive, Air Cargo Carriers Chairman Jim Germek said. Jetstream’s Kamenz shared his insights from a lessor’s perspective, noting that setbacks caused by supply chains can be problematic for the leasing company. [caption id="attachment_56866355" align="alignright" width="450"] Donald Kamenz, vice president of marketing and sales at Jetstream Aviation Capital, speaking at Cargo Facts Symposium 2023. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] “We have older aircraft — our typical regional aircraft that’s being redeployed is somewhere between twenty-two and thirty years old,” Kamenz said. “As a result, we have put together very vigorous programs around how to get the aircraft back, so post-Covid, if it’s supply chain, product, simple touch manpower, there have been a lot of issues trying to fulfill a customer need.” As an airline that has its own MRO facility, Empire Aerospace specializes in maintenance and modifications on large turboprops. The company handles IPR Conversions’ bulk freighter conversions and is the U.S. installer of large cargo doors on ATRs. “Each one comes with their own supply chain problem,” Empire Chief Executive Tim Komberec said during the panel discussion. The Switzerland-based IPR has worked hard to overcome challenges to improve the supply chain and get ahead of it, Komberec said. Heavy maintenance on planes is delayed at the facility mostly due to a lack of structural parts from the manufacturer because of pandemic-induced delays from suppliers, which ultimately raises the cost. It takes just one delayed component to cause an airplane to “literally lose weeks of production,” Komberec said. Supply chain constraints not only hinder the operational status of existing freighters, but could cause a chain reaction that impacts development and delivery of new production freighters, the panel speakers agreed. Looking ahead Will 2024 see another new regional freighter variant in the form of the ATR 72-600 conversion? IPR Conversions and Sabena Technics have both started working on extensions of their ATR 72-500 conversion STCs to cover the newer -600, but neither has announced certification yet. Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) was the launch customer for the ATR 72-600 bulk freighter conversion from Aeroconseil, now part of Sabena Technics. The lessor told Cargo Facts in September that, as a large owner of ATR 72-600s, it placed its order for five kits requiring “a modest capital commitment” and holds the right to convert the order to -500F kits. [caption id="attachment_56866357" align="alignleft" width="450"] Empire Airlines Chief Executive Tim Komberec speaking at Cargo Facts Symposium 2023. (Photo/Cargo Facts)[/caption] “We wanted to provision ourselves with an off-the-shelf kit for the development of the -600 freighter market as the fleet ages,” an NAC spokesperson said. Given that the average age of conversion for the ATR 72-500F has been around sixteen years and the oldest passenger ATR 72-600 on the market is just twelve years old, it will be a few more years before ATR 72-600F conversions ramp up, NAC said, although a lack of suitable ATR 72-500 feedstock could expedite that timeline. “A straight cash sale of a -500 generally makes more sense for our portfolio versus a conversion,” the lessor said. “Our ATR 72-600 fleet is also fully employed as pax demand has been strong with the rebound in traffic post-Covid. While feedstock is tight now, having kits does enable us to have a conversion option for our ATR fleet as necessary.” Leaving aside the status of ATR 72-600F conversions, the first Saab 2000 freighter is set to enter service in the U.S. with launch customer Berry Aviation, which will lease it from Jetstream to join its two Saab 340Bs from the lessor, Jetstream’s Kamenz confirmed to Cargo Facts . More production ATR 72-600Fs and SkyCouriers will also make their way to operators around the world, but mostly to FedEx’s feeder carriers. “We’ve seen a little bit of re-engagement and moving airports around the system, but from our standpoint, we’re not seeing a retraction on service,” Empire’s Komberec said at Cargo Facts Symposium 2023. “You’ve got to remember that much of what we do is serve ZIP codes, and small-city ZIP codes are very important to our customer.” Cargo Facts EMEA 2024, the essential event for stakeholders in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will take place Feb. 5-7 in Amsterdam. Register today to take advantage of early-bird pricing .

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