Category Archives: 737-800 Freighter

Analysis: Is the wind in the right direction for Amazon to snap up Atlas Air?

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(Updated August 2019)

The Loadstar, a much respected and often analytically correct Air Cargo magazine has published an opinion piece on the ongoing drama and negotiations at Atlas Air, Southern Air and ATSG and Amazon.

The peculiar case of Atlas management and its increasingly poor relationship with its pilots is indeed confusing – unless, that is, it turns out to be a strategy that allows its executives to cash in big time via a smart trade sale to a key client, Amazon.

Read the entire article here…

Analysis: Is the wind in the right direction for Amazon to snap up Atlas Air?

944332E0-2455-4BF9-9327-811F2232A6E4The Amazon 737-800 Passenger to freighter conversions are finally being operated by Southern Air.

Growth would seem to be assured, except for the annoying part about paying pilots a fair wage. The bitterness amongst Southern Air and Atlas Pilots has reached new lows as it’s clear the mediocre attempt at “parity” last year was just another sleight of hand in a grand scheme to prevent a new contract at Atlas and Southern Air for the foreseeable future.

It is inconceivable that a large corporation would forfeit their entire work force by attrition unto their competitors staffing formulas but this is where things are at today. The Loadstar article written last year only seems more accurate than ever before.

Atlas / Southern 777Fs are reportedly being parked because of lack of crews. Meanwhile Atlas Air’s closest competitor is hurriedly staffing an entire 777F operation which is being launched with 4 tail numbers. Compare that to the 8 airframes under Southern Air‘s operation and that is half their fleet.

So to spell this out in laymen’s terms, the appearance on the surface is that Atlas is under marching orders to keep the 767 and 737 Amazon operations staffed while allowing their wide body fleets begin to go idle.

20170325_LDD001_0SOMETHING must be more valuable to Atlas’ executives than actual revenue flying airplanes. In this business, when the executives pass up assured GROWTH, that’s usually a signal that a bankruptcy or a merger or a sale is around the corner. Since in this case Atlas is very cash rich now, the smart money says it’s another merger or a sale vs. any kind of bankruptcy.

So the Loadstar basically just published what many of us have been observing now for the past 6 months or a year now. These are still great opportunities out there in Air Cargo for anyone else who can read the ti leaves.

hunter_killer

I for one have adjusted my course. The first airline to deploy pilot-less drones will be Amazon. Plan accordingly my friends!

/pau for now

boeing-737ng-cargo-cutawayThis morning Spectre Air Capital has announced they are ordering 15 conversions from Israeli Aerospace Industries IAI for deliveries beginning in 2017.

Of the 15 airframes, three are confirmed to be going to Air Incheon. The other 12 remain a mystery. Air Cargo News and American Shipper both have reported the same news.

Aircraft leasing giant GECAS has also entered the 737-800 passenger to freighter conversion market with an announcement of their first placement of two 737-800 P2F with Dublin, Ireland based ASL Aviation Group.

I have officially stopped keeping a tally on how many 737-800 freighters are on order now. This must be somewhere near the 50 airplane mark and is estimated to go into the hundreds over the next few years as there really is no other narrow body freighter that will be able to do what the NG Boeing narrow body can.

According to Jordan Jaffe from Spectre;

Spectre’s large B737NG freighter commitment follows its 20-aircraft Boeing 767-300ER programme collaboration earlier this year with aircraft trading partner Jetran, the majority of which will become freighters and be operated in support of e-commerce giants such as Amazon’s Prime Air and China-based Alibaba.

Jordan Jaffe, Spectre’s chief executive and co-founder, said: “Demand for express freighters is at an all-time high, with hundreds more required in the coming years to meet the demand created by rapid growth in e-commerce and expansion of the global middle class.

“The classic freighter feedstock is becoming increasingly scarce and overly expensive for their age. We intend to leverage our ability to purchase in fleet-sized transactions to offer next-generation freighters with attractive economics.”

What he is saying is exactly what this blogger has been saying all along. This airplane will effectively render all other 737 freighters obsolete, not to mention any still operating 727s and even the 757 which are all getting very very old. DC-9/MD8X freighters never really made a big impact. The old Pratt engines are fantastic but the corporate pencil pushers will always prefer the CFMs in the newer Boeing airplanes.

2059300

already obsolete, possible future as an “Aloha Tacos” lunch wagon?

Another big problem for these old airplanes will be the ADS-B requirements which will be mandatory by 2020. I am curious to see who the rest of these unannounced customers will be, or where they will find the pilots to fly all these airplanes.

Much Aloha

Next-Generation 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter

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I could have waited a day or two with that last post updating the 737-800 freighter.

Just today, Boeing is officially announcing production of the 737-800BCF with confirmed order up to 55 airframes so far. Some nice new high quality images are available as well!

image

Boeings new fuel saving extended range narrow body freighter is here to replace the aged 727 (1960’s-1970s) 737-2/3/4 (1970s-1980s) also the 757 (1980s-1990s) freighters.

The press release is available from several sources. ADS out of the U.K. is also providing some details which are a little more revealing that what we knew yesterday.

Boeing has won a total of 30 firm orders and 25 commitments for the 737-800BCF:
•    YTO Airlines, based in Hangzhou, China, has ordered 10 conversions with commitments for 10 additional conversions
•    China Postal Airlines, based in Beijing, has ordered 10 conversions
•    GE Capital Aviation (GECAS), which will provide the initial airplane for conversion, has ordered five conversions
•    An unannounced customer has ordered five conversions with two commitments

In addition, Boeing has secured 13 commitments for conversions from:
•    SF Airlines, based in Shenzhen, China
•    Cargo Air, based in Sofia, Bulgaria
•    An unannounced customer

Thats about it for now. This won’t change things much in the long haul freight market but shorter domestic runs can expect to see the 738 sooner now, rather than later.

If anything new comes up or any new customers are announced I’ll put out another update then.

Much Aloha

737-800 Freighter Update

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Several developments over the past few months have prompted me to do an update post on the 737-800 Freighter. See my original post from 2014 here 737 Freighter Conversions.

Boeing 737 Passenger to Freighter Conversions

Boeing 737 Passenger to Freighter Conversions

Since the writing of that article, several STCs have been launched, Aeronautical Engineers Inc (AEI), IAI Bedek, Pemco and Boeing will all be producing 737-800 P2F conversions.

Best I can tell, AEI is leading the pack with 15 orders from Aviation Capital Group and 20 more orders from GECAS.

Boeing’s version of the 737-800 Freighter has two firm customers at this point. China Postal Airways has ordered ten, another Chinese start up YTO Express is buying the Boeing version but I can’t find any published numbers.

IAI Bedek has also applied for a license for the 737-700/800 however they have yet to announce any orders.

PEMCO has not announced any orders either but I do like that PEMCO may be offering a QC which have been very popular in the past with both scheduled and charter operators.

I will keep this site updated as any more orders are announced and especially when deliveries actually begin. I really like the 737-800 for several reasons such as ETOPS out of the box, and superior range and efficiency. The 737-800 Freighter is the ideal replacement for the 737-2/3/4 and 727-200’s currently doing the majority of the narrow body cargo work all around the world.

In Hawaii for example, Asia Pacific’s intended “upgrade” was to be a pair of 20+ year old Boeing 757s but FAA certification still eludes the operator eight months after delivery of the first bird. The 757 is not by any definition a “new” airplane and to be fair, some 737-800 P2F conversions will be only slightly younger, in the 15 to 18 year old age range. The 757 is overall a remarkably capable airplane, but they are not true next generation aircraft. The 738F will carry comparable loads to the 757 while using tons less fuel.

Sometimes a picture is worth 1000 words and instead of me going on and on and on, Boeing has produced some high quality images on their 737-800BCF page. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

737BCF02

The 3700km max payload is roughly 2300 miles.

737BCF03

737-800BCF range rings are at max revenue payload.

GCmap is a great place to make your own range rings using any variety of parameters such as payload or locations such as KCVG or PHNL.

I suspect more announcements to be forthcoming in this arena. I know it is kind of a niche interest but if anyone else shares my enthusiasm for it, feel free to leave a comment and check back here often for any more updates.

Much Aloha

 

 

 

 

737 Freighter Conversions

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Happy New Year!

In late 2012 the widebody air cargo market took a plunge. For the most part it has not recovered and remains stagnant.

photo (3)

As 2014 begins the narrow body “passenger to freighter” conversion market is heating up. Below are a quartet of articles that describe the market conditions today with special consideration to the 737 freighter conversions.

As legacy carriers across the planet re-fleet with 737-NG’s, the 737-Classic market has finally reached liquidation prices. Aircraft can be acquired for the price of engines and paint mostly.

Alaska and Ethiopian Airlines are demanding a 737-800 freighter to replace their aging 737-400’s. A 737-800 Freighter will change everything with increased range and 180 min ETOPS capability the 737-Classics do not have.

The race is on for this aircraft. Hopefully we find out soon who will be doing the STC for the 737-NG freighter conversion.

Freighter conversions

Narrow-bodies pace conversion market

A 737-800 Freighter may be closer than you think

Future Of 737NG Freighter Conversions Could Be Decided By Boeing This Year