ST Engineering sets up narrowbody freighter leasing JV ST Engineering’s aviation asset management division and Singaporean state-owned investment company Temasek will establish a joint venture to purchase passenger aircraft, convert them into freighters and offer them for lease.
ST told Cargo Facts that the new company will, at least initially, focus on the A320 Family of narrowbody freighters, and plans to build up a portfolio worth approximately $600 million within five years from launch.
Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), a joint venture between ST Engineering and Airbus, has now redelivered three A321-200P2Fs, having obtained the supplemental type certificate in 2020, and recently inducted and cut metal on the first A320-200 conversion at the ST facility in Singapore (XSP), with certification expected in the first quarter of 2022.
That aircraft (2737, ex-IndiGo) is part of ST’s own asset management and leasing portfolio and arrived at XSP in February.
ST told Cargo Facts that the 50-50 joint venture with Temasek, the name of which it declined to provide at this stage, will specialize exclusively in freighters, while ST’s own leasing unit has a portfolio that also contains passenger aircraft and engines.
ST said it had always planned to grow its aviation asset management business, and that the pandemic presented an opportunity to expand: the demand for freighter aircraft is strong and will continue to be strong in at least the short to medium term, while narrowbody feedstock such as A320s and A321s are now available at lower prices than before.
The new company will be incorporated “in the coming months,” ST said.
Apart from the Temasek joint venture and EFW, ST also has a 50-50 joint venture with SJ Aviation Capital in Keystone Holdings, which in February 2020 signed a letter of intent with Qantas to convert and lease an A321P2F. At the time, ST said the A321 was already on lease to the Qantas Group and that it expected to redeliver the aircraft by the end of 2021.
Aerovista to foray into A321 conversions U.A.E-based Aerovista will move into the A321 freighter market and has acquired two A321-200s that it intends to send for conversion next year.
The two aircraft are Aerovista’s first A321s. The lessor told Cargo Facts that it finalized its plans, timelines and capital requirements in the first two months of 2021, but had begun studying the feasibility of adding A321Fs to its portfolio in the first quarter of 2020 and started to seriously consider the opportunity toward the end of last year.
Aerovista declined to identify the specific aircraft for now, but said that the two frames were manufactured in 2001 and are equipped with CFM56-5B3 engines.
Aerovista told Cargo Facts that it is in active discussions with both 321 Precision Conversions and Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), and that it plans to induct the first aircraft for conversion with the former in the first quarter of 2022 and the second with the latter in the first quarter of 2023. The lessor said it will also consider C Cubed Aerospace as a backup alternative.
The two aircraft are undergoing maintenance and repaint. Aerovista hopes to have them available for passenger service from June 2021 while it awaits the conversion slots. The lessor also said it intends to acquire two more A321-200s in 2022 for conversion and will focus on A321 freighters as opposed to other models.
321 Precision Conversions obtained certification for its A321-200PCF conversion at the end of April, while EFW received the supplemental type certificate for its A321-200P2F in 2020. The status of C Cubed Aerospace’s A321 conversion program is currently unclear, although the company inducted its prototype A320-200 for conversion in late 2019.
Aerovista, which also has three A320-200s in operation with Bulgaria-based affiliate Fly2Sky in its portfolio, said it is in the process of identifying a launch customer for the A321F. The group also has a continuing airworthiness and engineering arm based in Bulgaria, called Avion Engineering.
On May 12, a DHL-owned 767-200BDSF (22571) previously operated on a CMI basis by Atlas Air was transferred to 21 Air’s air operator’s certificate, according to the FAA registry [FATs 006229-6230]. The aircraft had spent about a month at Lake Charles Airport (CWF), where it received a new coat of paint at the Landlocked Aviation facility, before flying to Miami (OPF) on May 9, using a 21 Air flight number and now showing 21 Air’s logo near the nose instead of Atlas Air’s.
The transfer resembles DHL’s reassignment of CMI ops for four GE CF6-powered 767-200BDSFs from Atlas Air to Amerijet International, completed in February of this year. The duration of the new CMI placements is unclear, and we note that DHL Express’ nine U.S.-based 767-200BDSFs are all around thirty-eight years old.
Unit 22571 is one of five Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered 767-200Fs DHL had placed with Atlas in 2011. DHL could not be reached to comment on whether it plans to reassign any of the other four 767-200BDSFs currently on Atlas Air’s AOC. For now, two of the 767-200BDSFs (23058 and 22570) continue to operate as normal while another pair (22572 and 22566) is not currently in service. Unit 22572 had been idle at MIA and was flown to Roswell (ROW) on May 12 while 22566 appears to be undergoing maintenance at STS in Melbourne, FL (MLB).
Atlas reported its 767-200F operating fleet measured in average aircraft equivalents had decreased from 9.0 to 5.6 year on year in the first quarter of 2021. The group did not respond to a request for comment with regard to its 767-200BDSF CMI operations for DHL.
Previously, 21 Air has operated its own 767-200BDSFs on an ACMI basis for DHL Express.
This past year has seen DHL greatly diversifying its list of partner carriers. Apart from Amerijet and 21 Air, the integrator has transferred five 737-400Fs away from Atlas-affiliate Southern Air and placed one with Kalitta Charters II, two with iAero Airways, and two with Mesa Airlines. One year ago, DHL also handed over its first two 737-800BDSFs to iAero.
As for 21 Air, the carrier is in the midst of a restructure that will bring in new investment. Effective April 6, Adolfo Moreno, previously the chairman of 21 Air, is no longer part of the company, according to an e-mail statement from Moreno’s former account. 21 Air declined to comment on its new ownership structure or fleet plans.
LATAM disengages from 777F plans Chile-headquartered LATAM has cancelled an outstanding order with Boeing for a single 777F [FAT 006222].
Instead of adding a second type to its all-767 freighter fleet as had previously been an option, the carrier’s freighter fleet plans now focus solely on the medium-widebody 767 platform.
“On April 29, 2021, LATAM and Boeing entered into certain arrangements with respect to purchase agreements…the parties agreed to terminate orders for four B787 and one B777F aircraft,” LATAM reported in its second-quarter earnings release. In March 2020, the carrier group motioned to reorganize and restructure debt in the U.S. under Chapter 11 bankruptcy and thus the arrangements are subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which took up the case.
Boeing’s order and delivery summary through April 30 has not been updated to reflect the change and continues to show an unfulfilled order for a single 777F from LATAM Airlines Brasil.
Had the 777F been delivered, it would have reintroduced large widebody freighters to the group’s freighter fleet, which in 2018 consolidated around the 767 freighter.
Shortly after the 2012 combination of Chile-based LAN and Brazil-headquartered TAM to form LATAM, LAN’s cargo affiliates had operated both the 767F and the 777F. TAM had intended on growing its 777F fleet and in 2014, after the merger had completed, converted existing orders with Boeing for 777-300ERs orders to an order for two 777Fs. However, after sluggish cargo traffic growth following the merger, LATAM moved to begin phasing-out the own-operated large widebody. It has since continued to grow its 767 fleet.
Earlier this year, LATAM firm-ordered four 767-300BCF conversions from Boeing and added options for up to four more. Redeliveries are expected to begin in December and will run through July 2022.
As was almost universally the case, cargo was a strong financial performer for LATAM during the first quarter of 2021. Cargo revenues rose 37% year on year to $345 million. Despite the increased revenue, traffic was still 12.1% lower at 731 million revenue tonne kilometers, in part due to lower bellyhold capacity. Even with increased freighter utilization with the group’s eleven 767Fs and capacity further supplemented by the addition of cargo-only passenger flights, cargo capacity across all aircraft types was still down 29.5% from the first quarter of 2020.
Excluding the LATAM aircraft, Boeing now has forty-two 777Fs left to deliver, including five that Silk Way West recently ordered.
Bluebird Nordic expands 737-400F fleet Iceland-based Bluebird Nordic has added a seventh 737-400F to its fleet, injecting more capacity into the European express market.
Unit 24573 (ex-Flair Airlines) is a 1990-vintage frame converted according to the Aeronautical Engineers Inc. (AEI) STC and on lease from Canada-based KF Aerospace’s Regency Aero Lease affiliate [FATs 006216-6217].
Bluebird Nordic told Cargo Facts that it disinfected the aircraft once it arrived in Keflavik (KEF) in the early hours of May 5, then began working to register the aircraft in Iceland and place it on Bluebird’s air operator certificate. The carrier confirmed that it operated the first revenue flight with unit 24573 today, flying on behalf of an express provider to Liege (LGG) via Dublin (DUB).
The aircraft is the second 737-400SF Bluebird has leased from KF, after the 1991-vintage unit 24751 (ex-Flair Airlines) in November 2020. Bluebird’s fleet of seven 737-400Fs currently ranges from around twenty-four to thirty-three years old.
Bluebird said it does not have any more aircraft confirmed for 2021 at this stage but is keeping its options open, even if 737-400Fs are relatively scarce. The carrier streamlined its fleet around the 737-400F last year when it subleased its remaining 737-300F to Lithuania-based KlasJet, fellow affiliate of the Avia Solutions Group.
KF owns a third ex-Flair Airlines 737-400; that aircraft (24769) is in Kelowna (YLW), where conversion is nearing completion, and will be leased to Phoenix-headquartered Mesa Airlines to boost its operations for DHL in the U.S.
KF placed the conversion order for the three 737-400s with AEI in April 2020, with touch labor all carried out at its own facilities at YLW.
AEI-converted 738s cleared by EASA The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has approved the Aeronautical Engineers Inc. (AEI) STC for 737-800 conversions, clearing 737-800SFs to fly within its jurisdiction. The AEI-converted 737-800SF will enter service with an EU-based carrier as soon as this month.
AEI confirmed to Cargo Facts that Bulgaria-based Cargo Air will become the first EU-based operator of the 737-800SF. The carrier’s first 737-800SF (30664, ex-Smartwings) was ferried to Miami (MIA) on May 11, following conversion in Dothan (DHN). It will shortly be ferried to Sofia (SOF) ahead of service entry, according to AEI.
Lessors with 737-800SF conversions on order had expressed frustration with the program’s lack of an EASA-issued STC. In late April, delays related to the issuance of an EASA STC “ruled out all of our European clients from taking these airplanes,” said Bill Kmiotek, director of BlackRock, during a session at Cargo Facts Asia.
Approximately half of the 737NG freighter fleet is currently domiciled in the United States as a result of the 737-800BCF fleet in service on behalf of Amazon Air. Operators based in China comprise the second-largest concentration of NG operators, while as a block EU-based operators control the third-largest fleet of 737NGs.
AEI’s 737-800SF received an STC from the FAA in 2019, and later received approval from China’s CAAC.
The conversion house has nine conversion lines dedicated to the 737-800SF located in Canada, China and the United States. Across all of AEI’s programs, it expects to deliver twenty-four freighters in 2021, and more than thirty in 2022, according to AEI.
Recent Freighter Aircraft Transactions Atlas Air began operating a Nippon Cargo Airlines-owned 747-400F (36135) on an ACMI basis for U.K.-based Magma Aviation [FAT 006224].
Northern Aviation Services acquired a 767-300ER (30566, ex-Ethiopian Airlines), and ferried it from Goodyear (GYR) to Victorville (VCV) [FAT 006218].
Amazon took delivery of two 767-300BDSFs (27059 and 29430, both ex-American Airlines) on lease from Cargo Aircraft Management, and placed them with Air Transport International for CMI operation [FATs 006225-6228].
AerSale acquired a 757-200 (32387) from American Airlines [FAT 006213].
ASL Airlines took redelivery of a 737-800BCF (33604, ex-Ryanair), after conversion to freighter configuration by Boeing in Jinan (TNA) [FAT 006219].
GECAS took redelivery of a 737-800BCF (33548, ex-Ryanair) after conversion by Boeing in Shanghai, and leased it to Russia-based Atran [FATs 006220-6221].
Uganda-based Zone Four International acquired a 737-200C (22577, ex-Trans Air Congo) [FAT 006223].
