Mesa Air Group, Inc. has announced plans to begin providing air cargo service for DHL Express with Boeing 737-400F cargo aircraft.
Under the agreement, Mesa will operate two cargo aircraft from DHL Express Americas global hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport for a five-year term. The company will lease the aircraft from DHL with the first scheduled to be in service this October.
“We are very excited to enter the cargo market and diversify our business. Flying under contract on behalf of DHL is essentially the same business model Mesa has operated under for over 20 years,” said Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Cargo transport plays a critical role in the health of communities and economies around the world. Mesa is well-suited for this new mission, and this is just the beginning of what we believe will be a long and productive relationship with DHL.”
“I’d like to thank all the people at Mesa, their counterparts at DHL and the FAA, who worked hard to bring this program to fruition,” said Captain Mike Ferverda, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, who is leading Mesa’s 737 certification process. “While much of the industry is challenged given the present COVID environment, we are pleased to expand our growth opportunities with this project.”
Source: CAAS
Ukrainian carrier Antonov Airlines recently teamed up with KN Airlift to transport two Max Bögl TSB trains from Munich, Germany to Chengdu, China.
The trains, which each weighed 36 tonnes and measured 12.6 m x 2.8 m x 3.7 m, were flown in AN-124-100 aircraft.
Specialised equipment designed by Antonov Airlines was used to load and unload the trains onto the aircraft and they were secured with special lashings to prevent them from getting damaged during their journey.
The trains were transported for Chengdu Xinzhu Road & Bridge Machinery.
Andriy Blagovisniy, commercial director of Antonov Airlines, commented: “For Antonov Airlines this project was both challenging and interesting at the same time. Its realisation required careful preparation and performance of the flight strictly in accordance with the confirmed schedule. We thank our customer KN Airlift for their continued trust and effective cooperation.”
Timo Kaden, manager of sales and operations at KN Airlift, added: “This exciting project was based on teamwork from all involved parties. We highly appreciate the professional performance from our valued partner Antonov Airlines.”
Source: Air Cargo News
Emirates has released extra cargo capacity, by converting ten of its Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft into freighters.
In this change, Emirates modified the cabin of its aircraft, by removing all economy seats – leaving the business and first-class seats aboard.
The removal of the economy seating allows for an extra 17 tonnes or 132 cubic metres of additional cargo capacity per flight on top of the 40-50 tonne cargo capacity in the belly hold of the widebody passenger aircraft.
The modified Boeing 777-300ER aircraft are being deployed on routes to key production and consumer markets where Emirates SkyCargo sees maximum demand for movement of urgently required goods. Aircraft are being modified by Emirates Engineering, in Dubai.
Each aircraft requiring close to 640 man-hours of work for the modification before it can re-enter service.
Emirates Engineering engineers remove 305 Economy Seats from one aircraft, fixing safety equipment and implementing regular load-bearing tests during the process. The seats will be stored and reinstalled when the aircraft is handed back by Emirates SkyCargo.
Currently, seven aircraft have already been modified by the Emirates Engineering team, with three more aircraft due to be ready by mid-July 2020.
Source: Economy Class & Beyond
Dassault Falcon Service (DFS) has converted a Falcon 900B at its Le Bourget facility so that it can temporarily receive goods in its cabin. This modification was carried out in record time, only 8 days between the reception of the aircraft in the hangar and the approval by the French Civil Aviation authorities (DGAC) under a fast-track exemption (without STC).
Dassault Aviation specifies that no major modification has been made to the aircraft and that this conversion is readily reversible back to passenger configuration. By emptying the cabin of its seats and furnishings (with the exception of the galley area at the front), the capacity offered by the business jet thus modified is 13.5 cubic meters for just over 6.300 lbs (2.8 tons).
The goods are placed on the floor and secured using specific equipment. This temporary conversion involved customer service, engineering and operating teams from DFS as well as test and certification resources from Dassault Aviation.
The business jet, which is part of the DFS fleet based at Paris-Le Bourget for its on-demand charter activities, will now perform a completely different type of mission by transporting fabric intended for a factory located in Eastern Europe for making face masks. These masks will then be distributed in France, North Africa and other regions affected by the pandemic.
The French aircraft manufacturer specifies that the use of a business aircraft for this type of transport is considerably faster and offers greater flexibility compared to commercial air transport or ground transport. Air cargo capacities have in fact been considerably reduced in recent months with the immobilization of a very large part of the commercial passenger aircraft fleet worlwide.
Source: Le Journal de l’Aviation
Air Canada is seeking government approval to add five new destinations in Europe and South America to its air freight network starting 1 June. If approved, the Canadian flag carrier would operate air freight deliveries from its hub in Montreal to Bogota, Lima, Amsterdam, Dublin and Madrid.
Air Canada on 27 May announced it would operate the air freight routes with four Boeing 777-300ER aircraft and three Airbus A330-300s that have been converted to carry cargo in passenger cabins.
Air Canada says it has operated 1,200 cargo-only flights since the end of March when airlines began to trim capacity as Canada and other nations began quarantine restrictions. The carrier says it is seeking opportunities to add additional all-cargo flights.
International flights have been the biggest moneymaker for Air Canada. The resumption of international air travel demand will depend on whether coronavirus cases decline and governments ease restrictions that require arrivals to their nations to quarantine for 14 days.
The demand for air freight has been a bright spot for carriers amid the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated passenger travel. Demand for deliveries of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals has soared during the pandemic, but the removal of passenger airliners from service has led to a shortage of air freight capacity that is typically carried by those aircraft.
Source: Flight Global
Airbus’ cutest new offering, one of six BelugaXL planes, is getting ready to enter service.
Nick-named the smiley whale due to its shape and charming paint job, the BelugaXL is Airbus’ next-generation transporter aircraft. The super-size transporter aircraft is designed to carry large production parts to Airbus sites across Europe.
The first BelugaXL had its first operational flight on January 9th, the second took to the skies soon after and the third will join service in early 2021. This new BelugaXL aircraft was spotted last week leaving a hangar in Toulouse, France. This aircraft should take to the skies within the next few months to prepare it for future operations.
The remaining BelugaXLs will enter service before 2023.
Source: Simple Flying
Delta Air Lines announced yesterday in a statement its plans to resume transatlantic flights. Starting on the 21st of May, the airline will begin thrice-weekly services between Atlanta and Frankfurt as well as Detroit and London. Although the flights will mainly cater to the increased cargo demand, a few seats will also be available for customer travel.
Delta has, for a long time, been one of the leading US-based carriers. With one of the largest fleets in the world, the airline operated to around 300 destinations worldwide. However, the onset of coronavirus pandemic has caused a major setback to its plans and expansion. As a result of this, Delta has been forced to make some tough decisions.
The Atlanta-based airline had earlier said that it had been losing around $50 million a day because of grounded aircraft and an inactive workforce. Consequently, it announced yesterday that it would be retiring its entire fleet of B777s by the end of this year.
This will help the airline in adapting to the changed market demand post-coronavirus. Although the B777’s have been an integral part of its long-haul flights, the airline has a fleet of more fuel-efficient A350’s to replace these services.
Moreover, the airline had predicted that international passenger demand would not revive to the pre-existing level for at least the next few years. But on the positive side, the airline industry has seen a positive trend in demand for air cargo across the globe.
Source: Simple Flying
In April, a monthly record was set for the number of freight trains that passed the China-Europe international freight rail route.
According to the data of the Chinese railway company China State Railway Group, 979 flights were operated, which is 46% more compared to the same period of the previous year.
The trains transported a total of 88 thousand TEU, which is 50% higher than last year. In the period from January to April 2020, freight trains following the China-Europe route transported 262 thousand TEU.
In the first four months of this year, the number of trains leaving from China to Europe increased by 36%, to 1638 units, trains along the return route – by 11%, to 1282 units.
Source: CTS
Maintenance operator Lufthansa Technik received an order to develop the temporary re-equipment of a giant passenger airliner Airbus A380 to transport only goods.
The company did not disclose exactly which aircraft will be prepared for work in the new market conditions.
“In recent days, different airlines have expressed interest in the possibility of converting passenger aircraft into cargo aircraft,” said Henning Johann, Lufthansa Technik’s senior director of aircraft modifications and basic maintenance.
Now the provider is developing options for temporary conversion of the salons of 15 different types of aircraft of 40 airlines.
According to Johann, this kind of work consists not only in dismantling seats from aircraft, but also provides for various technical solutions, as well as their documentation.
This is due to the fact that different requirements apply when transporting passengers and goods. For example, if there should be an oxygen mask next to each passenger in the cabin, in the case of the transportation of goods, their proper fastening and the presence of a fire extinguishing system plays an important role.
Now Lufthansa Technik is working on obtaining additional type certificates for all popular passenger aircraft models. This will make it possible in the future, if necessary, to quickly convert passenger airliners into cargo ones.
Source: Avianews