GAMECO angling for narrowbody freighter conversions with new maintenance lines

Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co., Ltd. (GAMECO), in which China Southern holds a 50% stake, is in the process of constructing a third hangar with up to eleven maintenance lines as it seeks to support China Southern’s growing fleet and increase its involvement with third-party projects including passenger-to-freighter conversions and freighter maintenance. GAMECO broke ground […]

• Charles Kauffman
• July 16, 2019

Freighter orders, deliveries slow in 1Q19

Freighter orders and deliveries fell 5.6% last quarter to 14 deliveries and redeliveries of production freighters and freighter conversions, Cargo Facts reports. Cargo Facts tracks global freighter aircraft transactions in its FAT database here. Starting with orders for production and converted freighters during 1Q19, totals were significantly slower than during 1Q18, when fifty-two orders or […]

• Caryn Livingston and Charles Kauffman
• May 2, 2019

Who’s who in freighter conversions part II: the major conversion houses

Today we conclude our two-part analysis of the passenger-to-freighter conversion market. In part I yesterday, we began with a look at that market’s move into conversions of Next Generation, or NG, aircraft, and some thoughts on how future widebody conversion programs are likely to play out. In part II today, we take a look at […]

• Caryn Livingston
• December 12, 2018

Who’s who in freighter conversions part I: the next generation and beyond

Last year, the conversion industry finally pushed forward the next generation of conversions with the redelivery of the first freighter-converted next-generation (NG) narrowbody aircraft – Alaska Airlines’ 737-700BDSF converted by Bedek Aviation Group. Boeing aircraft weren’t the only airframe types to find new life as freighters among the next generation, either, as a year ago […]

• Caryn Livingston
• December 11, 2018

Revisiting the 747-400 Freighter

In November 2017, air freight traffic was growing 8.0% year-over-year, jet fuel was selling for about $1.75/gallon, Cargolux CEO Richard Forson was telling journalists that he was thinking about expanding his fleet of 23 747 freighters, and Boeing’s production of new 747-8Fs had slowed to a crawl. From where were these additional freighters to come? […]

• Alan Hedge
• August 10, 2018

EgyptAir outlines timeline for A330-200P2F redeliveries [video]

Cairo-based EgyptAir says the first of three freighter-converted A330-200Fs it has on order with EFW will be redelivered later this month, around 30 June. A second A330-200P2F, meanwhile, is expected in October. EgyptAir became the launch customer (and so far the only customer) for EFW’s A330-200P2F program, when it placed an order for two conversions […]

• Charles Kauffman
• June 8, 2018

The next big freighter?

What are the widebody freighter options going to be five years from now? As things stand today, those options look to be diminishing rapidly. There are currently four active production freighter programs: Airbus offers the A330-200F, while Boeing offers the 767-300F, 777F and 747-8F. But not only is the clock ticking on all four of […]

• David Harris
• March 22, 2018

10 most-read stories on CargoFacts in 2017

With 2017 now in the history books, we take a look at the stories that drew the most attention from our readers in a year that turned out to be one of the best ever for our industry. 10: More Freighter Orders for Boeing. Despite the ever-increasing demand for air freight over the last two […]

• David Harris
• December 29, 2017