In shuttering 747 program, Boeing shuns consortium’s proposal, Cargo Facts learns

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• July 6, 2020
• Aircraft, All Posts, Equipment, News, Production Freighters, Widebody Conversions

Not only is Boeing abandoning the 747 platform, continuing its trend in recent years of turning away customers seeking to purchase the iconic widebody, the aerospace giant has also declined an offer to acquire the program, Cargo Facts has learned. Efforts to save the 747-8 have failed, requiring the air cargo industry to face the […]

Boeing nabs freighter-only orders in May

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• June 9, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Editorial, Express, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, News, Production Freighters, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Boeing secured firm orders for only nine aircraft in May, all relating to freighters, according to the planemaker’s orders and deliveries tally for the month. With the update, Boeing confirmed suspicions that UPS is the customer for a hotly contested 747-8F (63784) originally ordered by the Volga-Dnepr Group. FedEx also upped its official 767-300F backlog […]

IAI redelivers two 767-300BDSFs to CAM

• Jeff Lee
• June 2, 2020
• Carriers, Editorial, Equipment, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, News, Strategy, Widebody Conversions

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has redelivered two freshly converted 767-300BDSFs to Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM), the leasing arm of ATSG, after another 767-300 (29429, ex-American), arrived May 28 at IAI’s facility in Tel Aviv (TLV) to undergo conversion into freighter configuration [FATs 005443-005446]. The first of the two freighters (29229, ex-LATAM), which arrived at TLV in August […]

Cargo Facts Connect: Carriers add capacity with passenger-freighter reconfigurations

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• May 15, 2020
• Aircraft, All Posts, Business, Capacity & Demand, Carriers, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, Freighter Fleet Analysis, Narrowbody Conversions, News, Podcast, Production Freighters, Video

At least twenty-two carriers have reconfigured close to seventy passenger aircraft, and Cargo Facts this week released an update to its new Passenger-Freighter Database that illustrates the degree to which passenger aircraft have been modified to boost capacity to carry cargo . In the video below, Cargo Facts editors Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee discuss […]

Boeing delivers first freighter since production restart

• Charles Kauffman and Jeff Lee
• May 13, 2020
• Aircraft, Carriers, Editorial, Equipment, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, News, Production Freighters

Boeing has delivered its first production freighter aircraft since it resumed production of all its commercial airplanes April 20. The aircraft, a 767-300F (65791) for UPS, was ferried from Everett (PAE) to San Antonio (SAT) on May 12 [FAT 005410]. The COVID-19 pandemic led Boeing to a fourteen-day suspension of production in the Puget Sound […]

ATSG growth fueled by e-commerce in Q1

• Charles Kauffman
• May 6, 2020
• Aircraft, All Posts, Carriers, Conversions, Equipment, Widebody Conversions

Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) reported first-quarter net income from continuing operations of $134 million, up from $23 million in Q1 of 2019. The increase reflects the demand for ATSG’s core business of leasing and operating 767 freighters. “Despite the pandemic, we remain cautiously optimistic about the rest of 2020, as we deploy more 767 […]

Widebody freighter retirement plans stall in March FATs

• Charles Kauffman
• April 27, 2020
• Aircraft, Conversions, Editorial, Equipment, Freighter Aircraft Transactions, Narrowbody Conversions, Widebody Conversions

Large widebody freighter aircraft transactions (FATs) have slowed, dropping to just three in March and down from eight in February, as COVID-19 disruptions drove carriers to reevaluate retirement plans. Although February marked the first month in recent memory during which there was a net reduction to large widebody capacity, that trend reversed in March. ACE […]

CFA 2020: Pandemic refreshes vision for Asian express

• Jeff Lee
• April 21, 2020
• Capacity & Demand, Cargo Facts Asia, Equipment, Express, Strategy

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented challenge for the air express business, but also provides an opportunity for the industry to cooperate on a greater scale, both during and after the pandemic, according to speakers in Session 7 of Cargo Facts Asia 2020. Referring to the rise of online retailers Alibaba and JD.com in […]