Freighter conversions plug capacity gap but have limitations

Converted freighters play an important role in the air cargo industry’s efforts to add more cargo capacity to the market, but they come with limitations, delegates were told at the TIACA Air Cargo Forum.

During the “Freighter at the Forefront” panel session on Wednesday, Atlas Air’s chief strategy and transformation officer Martin Drew asked how much of a role freighter conversions play in fleet replacement and bridging the capacity gap until the new generation Boeing 777-8F and Airbus A350F come to market.

Bernard De L’Estoile, senior director of freighter marketing at Airbus, said that while converted freighters help fill a gap in the market, “they will not be ideal for everything and (for every operator) because they come with challenges, (they) come with limitations as well for operations”.

“It will only bring part of the solution,” said De L’Estoile. “A converted freighter to me works well if the utilisation is low, because as soon as the utilisation is high then fuel burn kicks in, especially on long ranges.

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