Ethiopian Airlines

Return to the skies of passengers doesn’t spell the end of passenger freighters

Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
June 22, 2020
Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Freighter Fleet Analysis, Logistics, Narrowbody Fleet Analysis, News, Strategy, Widebody Fleet Analysis

Even as passengers return to the skies, passenger freighters aren’t immediately headed for their demise. The uptick in passenger flights recorded from mid-June onward has not led to an immediate end to the use of passenger aircraft for cargo-only service. Although some aircraft have traded out cargo for passengers — or at least a mix […]

Reconfigured passenger-freighter fleet tops 130

Jeff Lee
June 9, 2020
Aircraft, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Logistics, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

More than 130 passenger aircraft have now been reconfigured for cargo by removing seats from the main-deck cabin, according to Cargo Facts research. Meanwhile, the total number of passenger freighters, which includes aircraft that have not had seats removed, has grown to more than 1,800. Airlines that have opted to reconfigure passenger cabins have done […]

Fleeting solutions: Passenger freighters lack longevity

Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
June 8, 2020
Aircraft, All Posts, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Features, News

[Note: All figures and information in this feature were correct as of May 30.] Just outside East Africa’s bustling Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airlines has been toiling endlessly to modify a significant proportion of its passenger fleet to carry additional cargo. Some twenty-two reconfigured aircraft, a wide mix of fleet types ranging in size from the […]

Ethiopian grows reconfigured pax-freighter fleet to 20+

Jeff Lee
May 20, 2020
Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Logistics, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Ethiopian Airlines now has the largest fleet of reconfigured passenger-freighters by far, having modified twenty-two of its passenger aircraft by removing some or most of the seats from their cabins. The airline told Cargo Facts the twenty-two aircraft consist of four A350-900s, five Dash 8-Q400s, five 737-800s, two 767-300ERs, four 777-300ERs and two 787-9s. Together […]

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 […]

DHL-Ethiopian JV plans additional growth, but does that mean additional freighters?

Jeff Lee
September 24, 2019
Aircraft, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Narrowbody Conversions, Production Freighters, Strategy

DHL-Ethiopian Airlines Logistics Services, the joint venture between DHL Global Forwarding and Ethiopian Airlines, is looking to expand its operations in Ethiopia and has appointed Berhanu Kassa as its general manager. Kassa was previously director of logistics services at Ethiopian. While the JV isn’t solely focused on air logistics, this particular mode will be especially […]