Amerijet hires Titan Airways A321P2F U.S.-based Amerijet, currently an all-767F operator, started piloting A321-200P2F operations Feb. 14 with a wet-leased aircraft from U.K.-based Titan Airways.
The freighter was brought in to cover some of Amerijet’s routes while its own aircraft undergo maintenance, but also to test how the new type could fit into its network.
“It’s a proof of concept so we know what the plane looks like, operates like, and whether it fits into our system without having to make a full investment in a long-term lease,” CEO Tim Strauss told Cargo Facts.
On Jan. 14, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued six-month approval for Titan Airways’ application to operate the aircraft on an ACMI basis for Amerijet, according to a regulatory filing. Points to be served include the United States, Caribbean, and Central and South America. The exemption will allow Titan to operate Amerijet’s foreign air services until July 25.
Titan’s only A321-200P2F (1238, ex-Thomas Cook) departed London Stansted (STN) on Feb. 11, and landed in Miami (MIA) on Feb. 12. The aircraft entered revenue service with a roundtrip flight between MIA and Santo Domingo (SDQ) on Feb. 14, according to FlightRadar 24.
Amerijet said it would use the narrowbody aircraft on some of its scheduled routes that see north-south imbalance. While exports put southbound routes out of Amerijet’s Miami (MIA) hub nearly at capacity with a 767 freighter, some of the northbound return flights to the U.S. are lighter. “We’ll get some ability to play because we really have a one-size-fits-all approach right now,” Strauss said. Amerijet’s active fleet consists of seven 767-300BDSFs and one 767-200BDSF. In the past, Amerijet has also operated 727 freighters.
“It makes sense on a couple of different levels and we’re very excited to see the airplane, on both a physical and commercial level,” said Strauss.
Titan Airways is the second operator of EFW’s A321-200P2F, which it added to its AOC last month, on lease from BBAM. Redelivery had been expected ahead of peak season 2020 flying, but was ultimately delayed. After the freighter was delivered, it was utilized for short flights within the United Kingdom and between STN and Belfast (BFS) on behalf of the Royal Mail and for ad-hoc charters to other destinations in Europe. Air cargo charter booking platform CharterSync told Cargo Facts it was the first company to book an ad-hoc charter utilizing the A321-200P2F in January, before the freighter entered service on a longer contract.
Titan is expecting a second A321P2F (1250, ex-Thomas Cook) from BBAM. The aircraft was expected in January, but remains at the ST Engineering facility in Singapore (XSP).
Titan Aviation adds first freighter to Bain leasing JV Titan Aviation, the dry leasing arm of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, and Bain Capital Credit have kicked off their freighter leasing joint venture, Titan Aircraft Investments (TAI), with the addition of the first aircraft to the portfolio.
TAI acquired a 777F from Atlas in November 2020 and dry leased it back to the group for an eight-year term, according to Atlas Air’s annual report for 2020, released Feb. 18 [FATs 005977-5978]. Atlas received $80.7 million in proceeds from the transaction. Boeing’s list price for a 777F is around $350 million.
The aircraft in question is unit 35606, the 2009-vintage 777F previously owned by Titan Aviation and reactivated last April after almost a year of storage for Atlas subsidiary Southern Air to fly on an ACMI basis for DHL Express. The 777, returned off lease by Emirates in 2019, was one of three “non-essential” aircraft Atlas had been looking to sell around the beginning of 2020.
Titan owned seven 777Fs, twenty-one 767-300Fs and one 737-300F as of Dec. 31, 2020.
During Atlas’ earnings call, President and CEO John Dietrich said Titan and TAI will look closely at all opportunities in the market to grow the portfolio, whether through the conversion of passenger aircraft or otherwise.
Titan and Bain announced the launch of TAI in December 2019, with Titan holding a 10% interest and committed to contributing up to $40 million of capital before December 2022. As of Dec. 31, Titan had contributed $4.7 million, according to the report.
Atlas said last November that it had secured $500 million in financing facilities for TAI.
Looking at Atlas Air’s 2020 results, the company reported $379.0 million in adjusted net income, a 171% increase from 2019. Adjusted net income in the fourth quarter of 2020 grew by about 46% compared to the same period in 2019.
Overall block hours for the year were 7.4% higher than in 2019.
The revenue contribution of Atlas’ ACMI and CMI segment fell from 45.6% in 2019 to 37.7% in 2020, mainly because of freighters being redeployed to long-term charter flying. As a result, charter revenue accounted for 57.8% of overall revenue in 2020, compared with 47.7% in 2019.
Also of note, Amazon acquired approximately 1.4 million shares of Atlas Air’s common stock in Q4, and acquired approximately 1.3 million more shares of Atlas’ common stock this January, after exercising shares that had vested under warrants Atlas granted to Amazon in 2016. Rather than increasing its stake in Atlas, Amazon appears to be selling shares to keep its stake below 5%. For the full story on Amazon's warrant activity, see our website.
No immediate action required after DHL 757 lands with open cargo door A 757-200PCF (25620) operated by U.K.-based DHL Air returned to Leipzig (LEJ) minutes after takeoff on Feb. 13, with the main cargo door in full-open position. The aircraft landed safely with no reported injuries, cargo losses or major structural damage to the aircraft reported, although the fiberglass lining was torn off the interior of the door.
While unit 25620 is currently still at LEJ, DHL’s other 757-200PCFs — as well as those with other operators around the world — have continued to fly. Neither the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) nor the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have issued any applicable airworthiness directives since the incident.
Precision Aircraft Solutions, which converted the aircraft to freighter configuration in 2011, is not recommending any operator action at this time, according to a bulletin sent to operators and seen by Cargo Facts.
Precision told Cargo Facts it has dispatched a technical advisor to support the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) as it investigates the cause of the incident. It is also working with the operator to provide a repair assessment to return the aircraft to service.
Most modern freighter conversions, including the 757-200PCF, are equipped with indicator systems and safeguards to alert flight crews to issues with the cargo door prior to, or during takeoff. While the regulators’ requirements for these warning systems are all similar, subtle differences exist between FAA and EASA requirements.
Precision confirmed to Cargo Facts that the aircraft is equipped with the required door-status indication systems, and in compliance with EASA service bulletins related to door-status indication systems.
Leipzig saw snow and frigid conditions last week, and inclement weather has not yet been ruled out as a contributing factor. DHL declined to comment on specifics, confirming only that “during the flight lightweight parts of an aircraft cargo door frame were torn off.”
A spokesperson for EASA told Cargo Facts, “At this stage it is too early to draw any conclusions.”
In December 2014, another 757-200PCF (25597) operated by Russia-based Yakutia Airlines also made an emergency landing in Magadan (GDX) with the main cargo door fully open. Ice and compressed snow were found in and around the door’s locking mechanism after landing. In that incident, the aircraft had been on the ground for around eight hours in snowy conditions, with “periodic opening and closing” of the cargo door, according to a letter by the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency.
Texel Air adds second NG freighter type with 737-800BCF Bahrain-based Texel Air has placed an order with Boeing for one 737-800BCF conversion [FAT 005974]. The carrier expects to take redelivery of the freighter by the end of the year.
Texel, which took PEMCO’s first 737-700 FlexCombi (30293, an ex-Yakutia) last summer, is also the first airline customer in the Middle East to order a 737-800BCF conversion with Boeing. The carrier told Cargo Facts that the larger -800 is “better suited to growing express and e-commerce markets.” Although Texel operates for DHL Express in the region, the -800 is not being added solely for the express integrator.
With the -800BCF, Texel expects to grow its fleet to four aircraft by the end of 2021; the carrier currently operates two 737-300Fs and a 737-700 FlexCombi, but will return one of the -300Fs (28200) off lease when a second FlexCombi joins this summer. That aircraft (34170, ex-Transavia) was inducted for conversion at PEMCO’s facility in Tampa (TPA) in November 2020.
Texel Air CEO George Chisholm said that, while moving to an all-NG fleet “makes a lot of sense,” the carrier will keep the remaining -300 (27459) — at least in the short term — since it owns the aircraft and can still make good use of it.
Texel told Cargo Facts that it has already identified a few candidate 737-800 frames and hopes to acquire an aircraft soon, ahead of its conversion slot around the end of the third quarter. “We have a few offers on the table, but will be confirming in the next two weeks,” said Chisholm.
For the cargo loading system on its -800BCF, Texel selected a configuration capable of transporting various pallet types, including military pallets. Supplier Ancra told Cargo Facts that this more flexible configuration has been more popular with lessors and accounts for a significantly larger share of the in-service fleet.
Unit 30293, meanwhile, is currently still in a seven-pallet, twelve-seat layout that has allowed Texel Air to carry extra sets of crews on longer flights, Chisholm said.
Two of those aircraft (1688 and 1708) were registered to Air Belgium on Feb. 11 and 18, respectively, and ferried to Dublin (DUB) to be painted. The other two (1584 and 1594) are currently still parked in Doha (DOH).
Air Belgium, which declined to comment at this stage, announced at the end of January that it will add at least four freighters to its fleet, with the first two expected to begin flying on a CMI basis in March [FATs 005963 and 005976].
While Air Belgium’s passenger fleet of A340-300s are based in Charleroi (CRL), freighter operations will be based in Liege (LGG) to help CMA CGM “connect Europe with the rest of the world,” according to a release from the shipping line.
CMA CGM, which acquired CEVA Logistics in 2019, also said it plans to expand into airfreight with the creation of a division called “CMA CGM Air Cargo.”
Qatar Airways owned a fifth A330-200F that it sold to the Hungarian government in September 2020.
EVA, Singapore Airlines shatter cargo load factor records in January Although traffic continues to reflect available air cargo capacity and remained lower in annual comparisons for the first month of 2021, cargo load factors remain significantly elevated in preliminary traffic reports from Asia-based cargo carriers.
Taiwan-based EVA Air reported cargo load factors up 22.3 percentage points in January, to 93.9%. Previously, the carrier’s highest-reported load factor was 93.6% for the month of December 2020. Cargo traffic, measured in freight tonne kilometers, rose 34% to 271.2 million FTKs. Cargo revenue jumped 150% compared to January 2020, to $171.6 million.
Echoing the rise in load factors, Singapore Airlines reported January cargo load factors of 89.2%, an increase of 37 percentage points from January 2020 and a record for the carrier. All regions saw record cargo load factors, with the East Asia region measuring load factors of 96.6%, and West Asia and Africa clocking load factors of 107.3%.
The load factor boost reflects unchanged capacity assumptions for cargo-only flying utilizing passenger aircraft. “Cargo capacity for passenger aircraft is based on the payload that is typically set aside for cargo carriage. However, when a passenger aircraft operates with low passenger loads or on a pure cargo mission, the cargo carried could be in excess of such capacity,” Singapore Airlines said in a traffic release.
Singapore Airlines’ cargo division reported a 17.6% decline in January cargo traffic compared to the same month in 2020, reflecting a 51.8% drop in capacity from significantly lower passenger flight activity.
The carrier operates a freighter fleet comprising seven relatively young factory-built 747-400Fs ranging in age from fifteen to twenty years old.
CAM also took redelivery of a 767-300BDSF (29431, ex-American Airlines), after conversion to freighter configuration by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in Tel Aviv (TLV) [FAT 005975].
DHL Express acquired a 767-300ER (33082, ex-American Airlines) from Jetran [FAT 005962].
ASL Aviation Holdings exercised options for nine 737-800BCF conversions [FATs 005964-5973]. The carrier group had taken one option early and has firmed up the remaining nine.
ASL Airlines also acquired a 737-800 (33595, ex-Ryanair), ahead of induction for conversion by Boeing [FAT 005960].
