Boeing to convert 11 737s into cargo planes

Dubai

BOEING got the ball rolling on Sunday at a major air show in Dubai, announcing a contract with an Icelandic company to convert 11 single-aisle 737 aircraft into cargo planes.

The 5-day Dubai Airshow, the aviation industry's first large gathering since Covid-19 clipped the sector's wings last year, comes as global air traffic remains around half the level of 2019.

But global demand for air cargo transport is 9 per cent above pre-crisis levels, said the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

The American plane-maker on Sunday did not disclose the value of the contract with Icelease to convert 11 Boeing 737-800BCFs - previous generation of the MAX series - into cargo planes.

To meet growing demand, Boeing announced it would open 3 new freighter conversion lines in Canada and the United Kingdom, in addition to those recently opened in China and Costa Rica.

"It was a nascent phenomenon before Covid. Pre-Covid, we just couldn't put enough 737 (cargo planes) out there to satisfy the market," Ted Colbert, chief executive officer of Boeing Global Services, told reporters in Dubai.

Amid a slump in global air traffic, during which traditionally half of all air freight was carried in the holds of passenger aircraft, airlines have turned to cargo planes.

And due to the decrease of air traffic during the pandemic, hundreds of planes have been abandoned - particularly older generation ones - which could potentially be turned to cargo aircraft.

Boeing said it forecast 1,720 freighter conversions over the next 20 years to meet demand, adding it has "more than 200 orders and commitments from 19 customers".

While wide-body aircraft, such as the Boeing 777, 767 and A350 have their own cargo versions, single-aisle aircraft such as the 737 do not.

Separately, Airbus took a megaorder for 255 single-aisle A321 aircraft on Sunday, the European plane-maker said.

The order came from Wizz Air, Frontier, Volaris and JetSMART - all from US company Indigo Partners - for a total value of more than US$33 billion, showed the latest list price published by Airbus in 2018. AFP

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