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 […]

European freighter fleet analysis (Part II): 777F on the rise

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• December 30, 2019
• Aircraft, Carriers, Conversions, Features, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions, Widebody Fleet Analysis

This is the second part of our analysis of the European jet freighter fleet. Last week, we looked at narrowbodies in Part I. Turning to the widebody jet freighter fleet operated by European carriers, the chart shows that the total number increased 8.3% since last year to 209 units. Notably, the overall number of 747-400Fs […]

Production freighters outnumber conversion redeliveries in August

• Charles Kauffman
• September 23, 2019
• Aircraft, Conversions, Equipment, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Production Freighters, Widebody Conversions

Despite being a comparatively slow month for freighter aircraft transactions (FATs) with just 26 transactions logged in August, compared to 51 in July, it was a busy month for production freighter deliveries. Boeing delivered a total of five widebody freighters to express carriers with FedEx adding two 777Fs and two 767-300Fs, and UPS adding a […]

Air Atlanta Icelandic acquires second EVA 747F

• Jeff Lee
• August 23, 2019
• Aircraft, All Posts, Carriers, Conversions, Features, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, News, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Air Atlanta Icelandic has acquired a 747‑400BDSF (27899) from EVA Air [FAT 005104]. The aircraft was ferried from Jakarta (CGK), where it had been stored, to Liège (LGG). Air Atlanta Icelandic told Cargo Facts that this is the second of two 747-400BDSFs recently purchased from the Taiwan-based carrier, confirming our previous suggestion that the Icelandic […]

Widebody freighter transactions accelerate during first half of May

• Caryn Livingston and Charles Kauffman
• May 27, 2019
• Freighter Aircraft Transactions

During the first fifteen days of May 2019, Cargo Facts recorded a total of fifteen freighter aircraft transactions, up three transactions month-over-month from April. In a major shift from last month, transactions involving widebody freighters represented 80% of the transactions during this period (twelve units) compared to just five units last month. Below, we include […]

Air Atlanta Icelandic preparing for a future post-747 ops

• Charles Kauffman
• January 9, 2019
• All Posts

ACMI and charter airline Air Atlanta Icelandic said it would enact a series of fleet modernization initiatives in the coming years as its ageing 747s exit service, the company announced in a statement yesterday, concurrently with a number of organizational changes. Although clear replacement options have emerged for passenger-configured 747-400s, Air Atlanta Icelandic’s freighter fleet […]