ACT Airlines on the hunt for 747-400Fs

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

Turkey-based ACT Airlines is on the hunt for more 747Fs. The carrier told Cargo Facts it plans to add two more units to its all-747-400F fleet either later this year, or in 2021. ACT said it had decided on the expansion and begun the search last year, but is currently still evaluating the most feasible assets, […]

New freighter additions spotted

• Jeff Lee
• July 27, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Logistics, News, Production Freighters, Strategy

Several widebody freighter aircraft poised to be added to operators’ fleets have been snapped by photographers around the world. First, it appears that Russia-based Volga-Dnepr Group plans to add the 777F platform, after all. A 777F has been newly painted into AirBridgeCargo (ABC) colors at Boeing’s Everett (PAE) facility, as seen in this photo posted […]

Air Atlanta Icelandic grows 747-400F fleet

• Jeff Lee
• July 14, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Air Atlanta Icelandic is expanding its freighter fleet with two production 747-400Fs. The carrier currently only has one production -400F, along with one -400BCF and five -400BDSFs. The first of the additions is the twenty-six-year-old unit 26563, which El Al Israel Airlines withdrew from service at the end of June 2019. After just under a […]

Saudia 747-8Fs idled during height of crisis

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• July 9, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Saudia Cargo is looking to shed its pair of 747-8Fs, Cargo Facts has learned. Meanwhile, during the unprecedented cargo capacity crunch brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, almost half of the carrier’s freighter fleet is currently inactive. The seven-year-old 747-8Fs (37562 and 37563) have both been parked in Jeddah (JED) since January 2020. In fact, […]

Astral Aviation looks to 767 platform for growth

• Charles Kauffman
• May 21, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Editorial, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Widebody Conversions

Kenya-based Astral Aviation plans to add to its fleet two freighter-converted 767Fs, Cargo Facts has learned. The medium-widebody freighters will soon complement the carrier’s existing large widebody fleet, and are expected to open up new routes in support of the region’s perishables exports. Astral expects to take a 767-200F within a matter of months, and […]

Chapman Freeborn parent acquires Bluebird Nordic

• Jeff Lee
• January 30, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Equipment, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Strategy

Lithuania-based Avia Solutions Group will fully acquire Iceland-based Bluebird Nordic from BB Holding and enter the narrowbody freighter segment for the first time. Bluebird, whose fleet currently consists of a single 737-300BDSF alongside five 737-400Fs, operates flights within Europe on an ACMI basis for several carriers, including ASL Airlines Belgium, EAT Leipzig, Swiftair and Poste Air […]

Air Atlanta Icelandic looks to 777 platform

• Jeff Lee
• January 9, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Conversions, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Air Atlanta Icelandic could soon be adding 777s to the list of aircraft it operates. The Iceland-based carrier has begun recruiting 777 type-rated captains and first officers through Confair, a Dutch recruitment agency for cockpit crew, flight attendants and technical maintenance personnel. According to the job description, this new batch of pilots will be based […]

Top widebody freighter developments of 2019

• Jeff Lee
• January 3, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Conversions, Equipment, Production Freighters, Widebody Conversions

As the first week of 2020 draws to a close, we look back and reflect on some of the most important and newsworthy developments affecting freighter aircraft types in 2019, starting with widebodies. To begin with, we note that while stories involving the 747 are consistently among our most popular, in 2019 this seemed to […]