Emirates to operate 10 reconfigured 777-300ERs

• Jeff Lee
• June 25, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Emirates has begun operating reconfigured 777-300ERs with seats removed to create additional cargo capacity. The airline has already modified seven aircraft, with three more to follow by mid-July. These reconfigured 777s, called “mini freighters” by Emirates SkyCargo, add to the carrier’s substantial fleet of passenger freighters — 777-300ERs that have their passenger cabins intact — […]

10 carriers where cargo contributes the most

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• June 17, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Editorial, Logistics, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Between 2018 and 2019, the contribution of cargo to a combination carrier’s top line decreased almost unanimously as the airfreight market entered cool-down mode after a multi-year growth streak. With the exception of Qatar Airways, all of the top-ten carriers by cargo revenue contribution saw cargo play a reduced or unchanged role in 2019. With […]

Capacity crunch thrusts idled Southern Air 777F back into service

• Jeff Lee
• April 28, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Equipment, Express, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, News, Production Freighters, Strategy

A 777F that has been sitting on the ground for almost a year has taken to the skies again, thanks to the COVID-19 crisis and the widespread shortage of airfreight capacity. The aircraft (35606) is owned by Titan Aviation, the dry-leasing arm of Atlas Air, and was previously operated by Emirates until January 2019. It […]

CFA 2020: COVID-19 rewrites air cargo playbook

• Charles Kauffman
• April 21, 2020
• All Posts, Cargo Facts Asia, Carriers, Equipment, Features, Strategy

With cargo charters booked through May, and increasingly into June and beyond, the slow start to 2020 is already a distant blur to most involved in the current boom times of airfreight. But just as dwelling on the initial slow-start of the year is now irrelevant, so too are most of the seasonal patterns typically […]

‘COVID-19 freighter fleet’ tops 350

• Jeff Lee
• April 13, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Equipment, Freighter Fleet Analysis, Logistics, News, Strategy

The number of aircraft that carriers have operated for the sole purpose of transporting cargo during the COVID-19 crisis has more than doubled in the past two weeks to more than 350, based on analysis by Cargo Facts. See also: 130+ passenger aircraft added to ‘COVID-19 freighter fleet’ The nature of these makeshift freighter operations […]

130+ passenger aircraft added to ‘COVID-19 freighter fleet’

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• March 31, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Equipment, Exclusive, Freighter Fleet Analysis, Logistics, News, Strategy

As borders are severely restricted and passenger flights are cancelled around the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic, at least forty airlines have operated some 135 empty passenger aircraft for the sole purpose of carrying cargo, analysis by Cargo Facts has found. With bellyholds traditionally moving 40%-80% of the cargo on a given lane, the […]

Atlas posts $400M loss, parks four converted 747Fs

• Jeff Lee
• February 20, 2020
• Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings today reported a net loss of $410.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2019, partly resulting from a non-cash special charge of $485.2 million related to the write-down of the company’s whole 747-400F fleet due to lower cargo yields and aircraft utilization. Atlas posted the loss despite block hours in the […]

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 […]