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 […]

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 […]

FEMA moves medical supplies into the US via air

• Caryn Livingston
• March 31, 2020
• Aircraft, News

As the country faces a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by medical personnel treating COVID-19 patients, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is utilizing chartered freighter flights for shipments into the U.S. The first flight, an Atlas Air-operated 747-400F, arrived at New York’s JFK Airport on Sunday after departing from Shanghai Pudong […]

Wallace on Kalitta’s COVID-19 operations

• Jeff Lee
• March 27, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Podcast, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

For a cargo carrier like U.S.-based Kalitta Air, which specializes in ACMI and charter operations, the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing capacity crunch has resulted in extremely high fleet utilization, as shippers and forwarders have turned to freighter operators for help in flying their freight. Of course, one factor working in Kalitta’s favor is its […]

Freighters carry medical aid from China to Europe

• Jeff Lee
• March 25, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Logistics, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

As the COVID-19 crisis worsens in Europe, a plethora of medical equipment and aid is now being flown in from China by a range of freighter aircraft, whether production, converted or makeshift. ASL Airlines Belgium is currently operating ten flights a week using 747-400Fs between Liege and China. While these flights transported medical supplies from […]

ACE leverages serendipitous 747 addition

• Jeff Lee
• March 24, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Editorial, Equipment, Logistics, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

When Challenge Group was planning two years ago for the reassignment of a 747-400F (35169) from its Israel-based subsidiary CAL Cargo Airlines to ACE Belgium Freighters, it could not have imagined that the world would be paralyzed by a pandemic and in sore need of airfreight capacity. But the redelivery of ACE’s second 747 freighter in […]

Kalitta sees record fleet utilization

• Jeff Lee
• March 23, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

U.S.-based ACMI and charter operator Kalitta Air is experiencing one of the highest fleet utilization rates in its history. As much of the passenger fleet around the world is parked in storage for at least the next couple of months to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, cargo carriers are benefiting from the ensuing […]

As main-deck demand surges, 747Fs remain in storage

• Jeff Lee
• March 13, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Editorial, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

While the passenger airline business suffers from capacity cuts on an unprecedented scale due to the coronavirus pandemic, freighter operators are experiencing a surge in demand and charter activity as less and less belly capacity becomes available. However, no parked freighters appear to have been removed from storage and brought back into service so far. […]