Cargolux will change its operations to field a mixed fleet of large-widebody freighters when its new 777-8Fs come online later this decade to begin replacing its older production 747-400Fs. Introducing the 777-8F platform to Cargolux’s uniform fleet of fourteen 747-8Fs and sixteen 747-400Fs will result in alterations to its operations, President and Chief Executive Richard Forson says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Air Cargo Europe 2025 in Munich this month. “I thin...
Jun 20, 2025•24 min•Ep. 148
Awesome Cargo is on the cusp of putting its first A330-200P2F into service, joining a small group of carriers operating the type. “We’re going to paint the aircraft — that’s going to take a couple of weeks — and then the aircraft is going straight into service as soon as we get it registered.,” Awesome Cargo founder and Chief Executive Luis Ramos says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Air Cargo Europe 2025 in Munich this week. The 2011-vintage, CF6-powered aircraft (12...
Jun 06, 2025•8 min•Ep. 147
U.S. tariffs against other countries and the elimination of de minimis exceptions are the greatest concerns for the freight forwarder community right now, according to Airforwarders Association Executive Director Brandon Fried. “We need to freeze tariffs, not freeze trade,” Fried said at CNS Partnership Conference 2025 in Miami last week. The U.S. imposed a flat 10% tariff against all countries, effective April 5, and has delayed implementation of reciprocal tariffs pending negotiations with aff...
May 24, 2025•25 min•Ep. 146
BBN Airlines will soon become the newest widebody-freighter operator in Turkey when it starts flying the first Mammoth Freighters 777-300ERMF conversion. The carrier ventured into the freighter market in 2023 , shortly after it got its AOC, with an A321-200P2F (2005, ex-Red Wings) on lease from BBAM and leased another (1094, ex-Aer Lingus) toward the end of that year. “We started with two. We were a little bit hesitant about the third one, to be perfectly honest,” Fleet Director Douglas Anderson...
May 10, 2025•22 min•Ep. 145
Despite increasing restrictions on global trade and the potential effect on the market, Astral Aviation founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia believes new opportunities will emerge in Europe, the Middle East and Africa amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. Gadhia will join a panel discussion on the growing narrowbody freighter demand at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 , taking place May 6-May 8 in Istanbul. “All in all, I’m feeling very positive and bullish, and I'm also looking forward to actually exp...
May 03, 2025•10 min•Ep. 144
Astral Aviation is kicking off the next phase of its fleet expansion with the imminent arrival of its first 767-300 freighter. With two more 767s potentially following in 2025, Astral has obtained its own aircraft maintenance organization certification and will soon conduct its own C check on its 767-200BDSF for the first time. “In the past, we’ve always outsourced the C checks, but now we’re going to do it ourselves,” Astral founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia says in this week’s episode...
Apr 18, 2025•12 min•Ep. 143
New Philippines-based carrier Skyway Airlines hopes to expand its fleet and network after stretching its wings with its first international flight earlier this month. Skyway obtained its AOC in July 2024 after leasing a 1998-vintage 737-400BDSF (29208) from AerCap . It is the first 737-400 freighter operator in the Philippines and intends to add more of the type . “It took us two and a half years to get our AOC,” founder and Chief Executive Jose Peralta says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Fact...
Mar 29, 2025•24 min•Ep. 142
IATA and carbon-inset platform 123Carbon are developing interoperability between their sustainable aviation fuel registries to increase transparency, avoid emissions reporting errors and streamline certificate management. The IATA SAF Registry , scheduled to launch in April, aims to help create a global SAF market , IATA stated in January. The registry is designed to enable airlines to document SAF benefits to show compliance with regulatory and voluntary obligations. The interoperability will f...
Mar 15, 2025•16 min•Ep. 141
New lessor Hanwha Aviation is exploring adding freighters to its portfolio as part of its growth strategy. Hanwha Aviation, a subsidiary of South Korea-based conglomerate Hanwha Group, launched in May 2024 and appointed Laura Ivaskaite as vice president of commercial and investments in September. Ivaskaite joined Hanwha after almost four years looking after the aircraft and engine fleet at SmartLynx, which expanded its fleet to fourteen A321 freighters in 2024 . “The core service, the core of [H...
Mar 01, 2025•19 min•Ep. 140
Azul will become the second carrier based in Brazil — and all of Latin America — to operate an A321 freighter when it launches scheduled commercial flights this weekend. The airline plans to put its two A321-200P2Fs into service on Feb. 15, it announced last week. The two 2006-vintage, V2500-powered freighters (2741 and 2759), which Azul has leased from AerCap , arrived in Brazil in the fourth quarter of 2024 and will be based in Campinas (VCP). “We are very, very excited to have this airplane f...
Feb 15, 2025•22 min•Ep. 139
Vaayu Group is capitalizing on the capabilities of the A320P2F to develop its cargo business. The group’s own airline, Fly Vaayu, obtained its AOC in October 2024 and is flying the Middle East’s first A320 freighter around the region as well as to India and Vietnam. “We’ve been really pleasantly surprised,” Vaayu Group Chief Executive Vijay Arumbakkam says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “The A320 compared to its competition has a very high level of reliability, which our custom...
Jan 31, 2025•18 min•Ep. 138
SolitAir plans to take delivery soon of its first dry-leased 737-800 freighter to grow its narrowbody operations after it receives its United Arab Emirates AOC. SolitAir’s own freighter will add to three ACMI 737-800BCFs operated by ASL Airlines Ireland. “The 730-800 was the best of its class to do the work that I’m looking for,” SolitAir Chairman and Chief Executive Hamdi Osman says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” SolitAir intends to become an express cargo airline offering a d...
Jan 18, 2025•16 min•Ep. 137
The FAA imposed additional flight restrictions over parts of New Jersey and New York last month in response to increased reports of unauthorized drones. But merely telling drone operators that they cannot fly in certain airspace does not solve the problem, as these restrictions lack enforcement. This is where San Francisco-based Dedrone comes in. Acquired by technology and weapons manufacturer Axon in October 2024, Dedrone develops smart airspace security technology such as counter-drone detecti...
Jan 11, 2025•21 min•Ep. 136
Chisholm Enterprises will proceed with its plans to grow its fleet of 737-800BCFs in 2025 after hitting several important milestones in 2024 with its two airlines, Bahrain-based Texel Air and New Zealand-based Texel Air Australasia. While Texel Air Australasia obtained its AOC in 2023, Texel Air in September celebrated its 10th year of operations. “We never set out to own an airline and we sort of got into it by default, but it’s been a fantastic journey, starting with very humble beginnings,” G...
Dec 20, 2024•22 min•Ep. 135
RwandAir continues to see growing demand for dedicated freighter operations after taking delivery of its first 737-800SF two years ago. \The 2007-vintage unit 35131 (ex-TUI Airways) joined the RwandAir fleet in November 2022 on lease from Merx Aviation, marking the airline’s entry into the freighter segment. RwandAir has used the 737-800SF on routes within Africa as well as to the Middle East to complement its belly operations. “We’re looking at ways to accommodate the demand that has been broug...
Dec 14, 2024•16 min•Ep. 134
Crestone Air Partners plans to continue enlarging its presence in the freighter and engine markets. The Denver-based lessor has grown its portfolio to about $500 million in assets under management since becoming an independent subsidiary of Air T in July 2022. That portfolio includes freighter and passenger aircraft and engines as well as landing gear, Crestone Chief Executive Kevin Milligan says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” The lessor started its freighter activities by buyi...
Nov 12, 2024•17 min•Ep. 133
ATSG Chief Executive Mike Berger is looking forward to receiving the group’s first A330P2F even as demand for 767 freighters remains solid. Over the past year, carriers in countries including Georgia and Uzbekistan have entered the medium-widebody market and grown using 767s from ATSG’s leasing arm, CAM. “The thing that we’re very keenly aware of is how much capacity can be absorbed into this market,” Berger said in a fireside chat at Cargo Facts Symposium 2024 in San Diego last week. “And that’...
Oct 26, 2024•18 min•Ep. 132
Prolonged strong demand from the passenger segment for narrowbody aircraft and engines is still creating a challenging freighter leasing market, especially on 737-800s, speakers on a panel agreed at Cargo Facts Symposium 2024 in San Diego last week. The panel on freighter aircraft and engine leasing, moderated by Mylene Scholnick, senior manager and head of worldwide fleet and carriers at Amazon Global Air, discussed recent trends and developments in the segment, including market saturation and ...
Oct 22, 2024•16 min•Ep. 131
TAAG Angola Airlines is keen to capitalize on the potential of the African market to grow its cargo business, having brought on an industry veteran and introduced its first 737NG freighter into operation less than a year ago. TAAG took delivery of a 2003-vintage 737-800BCF (33552, ex-Ryanair) on lease from BBAM in September 2023, but had not yet put it into service when the carrier appointed David Ambridge as director of cargo and mail that November. Ambridge helped put the freighter to work soo...
Sep 27, 2024•16 min•Ep. 130
Canadian regional carrier Pascan Aviation will soon become the first Saab 340B freighter operator in the country after recently entering the dedicated cargo segment. Pascan began a fleet changeover to passenger Saab 340Bs during the pandemic and has carried cargo on its passenger flights since operations began in 1999. Only recently did it give serious consideration to the freighter market and ended up with a deal to fly a Saab 340B freighter for a customer, President and Chief Executive Julian ...
Sep 13, 2024•19 min•Ep. 129
Airship manufacturer Aeros plans to launch two multi-role airships to deliver large payloads globally while serving as aerial hubs for cargo drones. The smaller of the two airships, the Aeroscraft ML866, can carry up to 66 tonnes of payload up to 3,100 miles, while the larger ML868 is expected to carry up to 250 tonnes over a range of 6,200 miles, Aeros Chief Executive and Chief Engineer Igor Pasternak says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at the 2024 FAA Drone and Advan...
Aug 31, 2024•12 min•Ep. 128
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada is progressing past the engineering phase for its bulk and large-cargo-door conversions for the Dash 8-400, and plans to certify the programs in 2025. The two new products build on De Havilland’s Dash 8-400 Quick Change conversion, for which it recently obtained Transport Canada certification . “We feel that there’s significant market potential in the regional space to connect Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities into main distribution hubs for cargo carriers,” Vice President...
Aug 16, 2024•14 min•Ep. 127
AeroUnion in June started flying its first A330-300P2F as part of a fleet renewal and collaboration strategy between it and Avianca Cargo. AeroUnion has based the 2006-vintage unit 791 (ex-SmartLynx) in Mexico City (NLU) for flights within Mexico and to Colombia and the United States, including some on an ACMI basis for the Colombia-based Avianca Cargo. “We are really happy to welcome the new technology to our company because it’s a radical turnover to our numbers in terms of ability and capacit...
Aug 02, 2024•21 min•Ep. 126
ATSG is bullish about its growth strategy after a series of changes that culminated with Chief Executive Mike Berger’s appointment June 4. As part of the leadership change , Jeffrey Dominick became ATSG’s president June 4 after more than seven years as a board member, bringing his Wall Street background to the role. Dominick’s goal for 2024 is to help continue to position ATSG to evolve further, whether on the asset, customer or capital side, he told Cargo Facts during a visit this week to ATSG’...
Jul 19, 2024•18 min•Ep. 125
Brazil added its second 737NG freighter operator this year when Modern Logistics began flying the type, even as some of the country’s other carriers take on more Classics. Modern Logistics is undergoing a transformation to grow its presence in the logistics industry. “Part of this investment plan was to bring new aircraft,” Chief Executive Cristiano Koga said during a fireside chat at Cargo Facts LATAM 2024 in Panama City this month. Excerpts of this conversation are included in today’s episode ...
May 31, 2024•14 min•Ep. 124
Hamden Aviation is focusing on Latin America as it looks to grow its presence in the freighter segment. The Hamden, Conn.-based lessor began supporting the industry by providing CFM56-3C1 engines to cargo operators with 737 Classics. “It was just sort of an organic entry [into the freighter space] from the -3C1 market, then working with Classics, then having opportunities, primarily with a focus on emerging markets,” Executive Vice President Dora Alexander told Cargo Facts at Cargo Facts LATAM 2...
May 17, 2024•13 min•Ep. 123
Singapore Airlines is preparing for the arrival of its first A350F as it continues to manage the hurdles challenging the freighter market. The airline will gradually retire its 747-400Fs as Airbus starts delivering its new large-widebody in 2026, but no estimate has been given for when the transition will be complete. “It’s really a lot of work, and rightly so,” Singapore Airlines Senior Vice President of Cargo Marvin Tan said during a fireside chat at Cargo Facts Asia 2024 in Singapore last wee...
Apr 27, 2024•17 min•Ep. 122
Airbus is making steady progress in the industrialization phase of its new A350F program as components come together and test rigs take shape. “We’re sorting through and finalizing the processes for assembly ready for next year, into final assembly and then first flight,” Airbus Head of Freighter Marketing Crawford Hamilton tells Cargo Facts in this week’s episode of the “Cargo Facts Connect” podcast. “In the meantime, we test and test and test because one of our big targets is to make sure that...
Apr 13, 2024•22 min•Ep. 121
Dubai-based Emirates is due to start taking delivery of some of its five new 777Fs this year as part of a 2022 order with Boeing . The carrier has returned four 777Fs to lessor DAE Capital over the past five years but also added two new units in May and June 2023, bringing its fleet back to eleven 777Fs. Further growth is on the way, with Emirates planning to convert ten 777-300ERs with IAI. Though 2023 may have been a lackluster year for freighter operators, Emirates is more optimistic about 20...
Mar 23, 2024•17 min•Ep. 120
ST Engineering last week took redelivery of the first EFW A321-200P2F conversion to be carried out at the Haite Tianjin facility. Freighter conversions are not new to Haite Tianjin, but the company plans to increase its activity in the segment. “This business is a very strategic decision because we need to have a mixture of work and the type of work is important to us,” General Manager Ivan Chin tells Cargo Facts in this week’s episode of the “Cargo Facts Connect” podcast, recorded at the redeli...
Mar 11, 2024•7 min•Ep. 119
