Korean Air’s 2018 freighter fleet reductions buoy yields amid market weakness in 1H19

Korean Air reported 1H19 cargo traffic down 10.7% year-over-year, to 3.6 billion FTKs on headwinds from the US-China trade war. A precipitous drop in yields or load factors was avoided by capacity reductions, including the removal of two 747-400Fs from its freighter fleet in 3Q18, which led to a 2.8% y-o-y drop in cargo capacity […]

• Charles Kauffman
• August 15, 2019

Third NCA 747-400F arrives for maintenance before reentering CMI service with Atlas

The third and final 747-400F (36133) to be reactivated by Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) arrived in Taipei (TPE) at around 16:10 local time today, ahead of planned maintenance at the Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. (EGAT) facility at the airport. The aircraft was ferried from Victorville (VCV), where it had been stored since November 2018, to […]

• Jeff Lee
• July 31, 2019

No 747-8F upgauge yet for Qantas Freight

1 August 2019: This post has been updated to reflect additionally commentary Atlas Air provided during a 2Q earnings call with analysts. Two Atlas Air 747-400Fs (29253 and 29254) that had been flying on an ACMI basis for Qantas Freight ceased operations on Sunday as part of a planned transition to larger 747-8Fs. Surprisingly, they […]

• Jeff Lee
• July 30, 2019

Freighter aircraft leasing part II: E-commerce behind growing leasing market

Last week, we began our two-part annual analysis of the increasingly complex world of freighter aircraft leasing. In part I, we started with an overview of how the freighter fleet belonging to lessors has evolved since our analysis a year ago. In part II, we consider the leased fleet by carrier, and how year-over-year shifts […]

• Jeff Lee
• July 19, 2019

Qantas looks to replace aging 737-300SFs

Australian carrier Qantas Freight is currently planning the renewal of its narrowbody freighter jet fleet, consisting of four 737-300SFs (23478, 23486, 23488 and 23490) and one 737-400SF (24796). While the company didn’t specify which types are being considered, it confirmed to Cargo Facts that the older of its 737-300SFs “will start to be replaced over […]

• Jeff Lee
• July 5, 2019

UPS receives 12th 747-8F and celebrates 50th anniversary of the Queen of the Skies

UPS took delivery of its twelfth 747-8F (64262) late last week [FAT 005036]. While UPS is part of a select group of carriers to operate the -8F, this particular aircraft is unique in that it features a special decal near the nose, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Boeing 747, as can be seen from […]

• Jeff Lee
• July 2, 2019

Top 5 Cargo Facts stories during the first half of 2019

With the first half of 2019 now behind us, the move into the second half of the final year of the decade presents a good opportunity to reflect on those stories that struck a chord with our readers. As you’ll see when looking through those stories that were most popular during the past six months, […]

• Caryn Livingston
• July 1, 2019

Volga-Dnepr firms up order for nine 777Fs

Less than one year after expressing interest in the 777F platform, a UK offshoot of the Russia-based Volga-Dnepr Group has firmed up an order for nine 777Fs. Although the deal was finalized in December 2018, the order from Volga-Dnepr UK Ltd. is only now surfacing in a recent update to Boeing’s order book. While a […]

• Charles Kauffman
• June 13, 2019