worldranger wrote:

https://simpleflying.com/aersale-757-acquisition/

AerSale take 24 757s, parts & conversion. Seems too large an order on spec.

Any ideas who they have in mind?

MIflyer12 wrote:

Also, what carrier (or leasing company) was the source of the 24 frames? Twenty-four RR-powered 757s don't appear from nowhere.

klm617 wrote:

Could they be Delta 757's. The photo shows a Song 757 with Delta jets in the background could be a subtitle hint.

eamondzhang wrote:

Not sure if it would be SF Airlines but they are actively taking 757s and convert them into freighters as of early 2020.

Michael

hOMSaR wrote:

klm617 wrote:

MIflyer12 wrote:

Also, what carrier (or leasing company) was the source of the 24 frames? Twenty-four RR-powered 757s don't appear from nowhere.

Could they be Delta 757's. The photo shows a Song 757 with Delta jets in the background could be a subtitle hint.

The same article clearly mentions RR engines, which Delta’s jets don’t have.

zeke wrote:

eamondzhang wrote:

Not sure if it would be SF Airlines but they are actively taking 757s and convert them into freighters as of early 2020.

Michael

Maybe even DHL

hOMSaR wrote:

klm617 wrote:

Could they be Delta 757's. The photo shows a Song 757 with Delta jets in the background could be a subtitle hint.

The same article clearly mentions RR engines, which Delta’s jets don’t have.

Maybe UA, they have 40 752s parked at the moment, with RR engines.

JFKalumni wrote:

Question:

Could Aer Lingus be a possibility? They operated 757’s with a mixture of engines including RB-211’s. With the recent deliveries of A321Neo’s, this would be a great way to offload the aircraft and make money off the deal.

FlyingMSY wrote:

UA hasn't retired any 752s with RRs save for the write-off at EWR. It is most likely AA, all their 757s have been retired.

krsw757 wrote:

What about ATN for Amazon ops? They already have a few 757’s for charters. Not sure about the engine compatibility, was just a guess.

wjcandee wrote:

From the press release, it's not clear whether these are from multiple carriers, or whether the press release is saying that multiple carriers store their airplanes generally at GYR.

So here's the context:

This is kind of a big move by AerSale, and it has Charlie McDonald's fingerprints all over it. McDonald is the former President/COO of the company that bought World Airways and North American Airlines, and prior to that the head of Transmeridien Airlines. He's a licensed A&P. AerSale brought him in about 3.5 years ago to head their MRO Services division. AerSale has been on kind of a spree in that area recently, having purchased AeroTurbine, the MRO at GYR, and AvBorne, an MRO at MIA, to add to the MRO that they own at ROW. And they're doing a lot more than just dismantle aircraft for parts now. The AeroTurbine facility has an FAA Class 4 rating, which is unusual for a US MRO. (Class 4 is unlimited maintenance on transport-category aircraft.) So they're working hard to expand that business.

A couple of years ago, AerSale did a deal with Precision for GYR to become another location to do the Precision 757 conversions. (Flightstar at VQQ and two Chinese MROs, including HAECO, are the others.) So I don't know if these conversions will use the Precision STC, or whether they are planning something else. Plainly, this is a Big Splash kind of move, where they showcase their end-to-end integration. They have a lot of airframes on their premises at GYR and ROW, so now they're gonna buy a bunch of them and convert them In House, here in the US, and sell or lease them out. And use their Dismantling and Parts Harvesting experience (which is deep) to get good used parts off of some of the frames that they buy.

So there's the context of all of this. Very interesting. It's also not clear that this is all for a particular customer, but it's a big lift if it's on spec, so there probably is a customer already for at least some of these.

The one thing that doesn't make sense is the idea that this is "because there's so little belly space right now". We're talking 6 months to bring an aircraft through conversion from today, assuming conversion means at least a C-check plus a cargo door. Covid will likely be on its way out by then, and then the purchaser has an asset standing there with a 20-year service life. This is for something more than that. Also, there are at least a few already-converted 757s in decent condition that I know about that are sitting parked at ILN. Not a dispositive observation, but part of the picture. So where's the demand, unless for a customer who already wants them? I also notice they're volunteering to do total lifecycle maintenance on them (i.e. all the service) at GYR as well.

SWALUV wrote:

Strong chance these are the AA 757s. American retired all of them in May, and they're not coming back into the fleet post COVID.

Newark727 wrote:

JFKalumni wrote:

Question:

Could Aer Lingus be a possibility? They operated 757’s with a mixture of engines including RB-211’s. With the recent deliveries of A321Neo’s, this would be a great way to offload the aircraft and make money off the deal.

IIRC the Aer Lingus 757s were PW and one of them has already been scrapped.

TheChickenman wrote:

Newark727 wrote:

JFKalumni wrote:

Question:

Could Aer Lingus be a possibility? They operated 757’s with a mixture of engines including RB-211’s. With the recent deliveries of A321Neo’s, this would be a great way to offload the aircraft and make money off the deal.

IIRC the Aer Lingus 757s were PW and one of them has already been scrapped.

They had at least 1 with RR, but their total fleet wasn't more than 5-6, so those frames probably have nothing to do with this transaction anyway.

Bradlee102896 wrote:

Would these possibly be for the likes of a FedEx or UPS? Or do they usually purchase the aircraft themselves and then have someone else convert them.

They each already have 757F but I don’t know the engine types or if that matters.

CX747 wrote:

Bradlee102896 wrote:

Would these possibly be for the likes of a FedEx or UPS? Or do they usually purchase the aircraft themselves and then have someone else convert them.

They each already have 757F but I don’t know the engine types or if that matters.

You are correct that both FEDEX and UPS have 757s. I think the style of procurement would lend this to be another operator. SF out of China uses 757s and has a need for growth. That to me is the best bet. I like the idea of Amazon Australia. One type of aircraft, long legs for the Australian sectors and it is just interesting to me. In addition both UPS and FEDEX are heavily invested in Boeing for growth/replacement but ala 747/767/777 aircraft at the moment.

Spacepope wrote:

UPS has a 757 fleet that are all factory-delivered freighters, with PW engines.

zeke wrote:

eamondzhang wrote:

Not sure if it would be SF Airlines but they are actively taking 757s and convert them into freighters as of early 2020.

Michael

Maybe even DHL

hOMSaR wrote:

klm617 wrote:

Could they be Delta 757's. The photo shows a Song 757 with Delta jets in the background could be a subtitle hint.

The same article clearly mentions RR engines, which Delta’s jets don’t have.

Maybe UA, they have 40 752s parked at the moment, with RR engines.

strfyr51 wrote:

zeke wrote:

eamondzhang wrote:

Not sure if it would be SF Airlines but they are actively taking 757s and convert them into freighters as of early 2020.

Michael

Maybe even DHL

hOMSaR wrote:

The same article clearly mentions RR engines, which Delta’s jets don’t have.

Maybe UA, they have 40 752s parked at the moment, with RR engines.

RR powered 752's? They had to be S-CO plaes as all the S-UA 757's were all powered by the PW2040.

wjcandee wrote:

It was early in the morning when I wrote my screed, and I missed this in the press release:

"This package of high quality flight equipment last operated by a top-tier airline customer is yet another example of an opportunity for the AerSale platform to extract meaningful value from mid-life flight equipment."

So there you have it. It's the American aircraft. "top-tier customer" Not customers, plural. And take a look at the photo on their website here: https://www.aersale.com/about/facilities What do they seem to be doing, and on whose former aircraft, of what model?

And I was apparently correct about Aersale trying to highlight their end-to-end capabilities with this transaction. So maybe, just maybe, they're doing it on spec, but if I were a betting man, I would say they have an order for say 20 of them, with the others going to be parted out. They also are getting 16 spare engines, according to the press release, which likely makes them happy.

The other reason I don't think they are doing this on spec is that there's a big push by folks like GECAS to move to the 737-800 platform as a substitute for the 757. It's newer (although the cockpit is waaaaay-older), probably "greener", etc. etc. Holds fewer containers, but they're pushing them hard anyway. So it's a big risk to take an older, out of production platform in a big volume, and try to put them out there into the freight market. I also think that their logic about there being insufficient freighters "for the foreseeable future" is complete BS. It's a 20-year asset, being pushed as a solution for a maybe-one-year need. So there has to be something else afoot. Smacks of the vendor playing cover for a customer that is trying to keep what it's doing a secret for a while.

It will be interesting to see where these end up, whether that was the plan all along, and whose STC they're gonna use to perform the conversion. Precision makes sense (and it's the best one), but we'll see.

CX747 wrote:

I'm in agreement that this buy is for 1 customer and not an attempt to float 757Fs out on the market for the highest bidder. My money is on SF but I'd love to be surprised. Jets going to Australia would be interesting.

zeke wrote:

eamondzhang wrote:

Not sure if it would be SF Airlines but they are actively taking 757s and convert them into freighters as of early 2020.

Michael

Maybe even DHL

zeke wrote:

CX747 wrote:

I'm in agreement that this buy is for 1 customer and not an attempt to float 757Fs out on the market for the highest bidder. My money is on SF but I'd love to be surprised. Jets going to Australia would be interesting.

I think it’s DHL, if it was SF I would have expected them to be converted at the Precision Aircraft Solutions Chinese facilities either HAECO, located in Xiamen, or AMECO, located in Chengdu. The conversions being done at Precision Aircraft Solutions in Goodyear makes me think it DHL as that’s where DHL had others done.

zeke wrote:

CX747 wrote:

I'm in agreement that this buy is for 1 customer and not an attempt to float 757Fs out on the market for the highest bidder. My money is on SF but I'd love to be surprised. Jets going to Australia would be interesting.

I think it’s DHL, if it was SF I would have expected them to be converted at the Precision Aircraft Solutions Chinese facilities either HAECO, located in Xiamen, or AMECO, located in Chengdu. The conversions being done at Precision Aircraft Solutions in Goodyear makes me think it DHL as that’s where DHL had others done.

wjcandee wrote:

The one thing that doesn't make sense is the idea that this is "because there's so little belly space right now". We're talking 6 months to bring an aircraft through conversion from today, assuming conversion means at least a C-check plus a cargo door. Covid will likely be on its way out by then, and then the purchaser has an asset standing there with a 20-year service life. This is for something more than that. Also, there are at least a few already-converted 757s in decent condition that I know about that are sitting parked at ILN. Not a dispositive observation, but part of the picture. So where's the demand, unless for a customer who already wants them? I also notice they're volunteering to do total lifecycle maintenance on them (i.e. all the service) at GYR as well.

ThePointblank wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

The one thing that doesn't make sense is the idea that this is "because there's so little belly space right now". We're talking 6 months to bring an aircraft through conversion from today, assuming conversion means at least a C-check plus a cargo door. Covid will likely be on its way out by then, and then the purchaser has an asset standing there with a 20-year service life. This is for something more than that. Also, there are at least a few already-converted 757s in decent condition that I know about that are sitting parked at ILN. Not a dispositive observation, but part of the picture. So where's the demand, unless for a customer who already wants them? I also notice they're volunteering to do total lifecycle maintenance on them (i.e. all the service) at GYR as well.

The message I'm getting from my air freight forwarders is that they aren't expecting the air freight market to reach any sense of normalcy until 2024. Until then, availability is a major ongoing concern.

wjcandee wrote:

ThePointblank wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

The one thing that doesn't make sense is the idea that this is "because there's so little belly space right now". We're talking 6 months to bring an aircraft through conversion from today, assuming conversion means at least a C-check plus a cargo door. Covid will likely be on its way out by then, and then the purchaser has an asset standing there with a 20-year service life. This is for something more than that. Also, there are at least a few already-converted 757s in decent condition that I know about that are sitting parked at ILN. Not a dispositive observation, but part of the picture. So where's the demand, unless for a customer who already wants them? I also notice they're volunteering to do total lifecycle maintenance on them (i.e. all the service) at GYR as well.

The message I'm getting from my air freight forwarders is that they aren't expecting the air freight market to reach any sense of normalcy until 2024. Until then, availability is a major ongoing concern.

Very interesting. Of course, these were the guys who just a few months ago were saying that after an initial push the need for the extra lift would go away and stuff would just float and drive. And notice that the UPS CEO very proudly said the other day that she had walked away from the opportunity to have a couple more 747-8Fs, even though they love the plane.

(Sep 16, 2020) - DB Schenker has launched an extensive global charter flight operations program to mitigate the capacity impact for our customers and provide secured capacity on key trade lanes. The charter program has been extended in preparation for the upcoming peak season and required freighter capacity. It is the priority to provide stable connections during the current volatile airfreight market situation and airline flight schedule changes. The charter flights are connecting they key world’s leading economies in the world covering trades between China, USA, Middle East and India. Freighter capacity has been a key supply due to the flight cancellations caused by COVID-19. DB Schenker has setup approximately 10 connections per week between Shanghai, Beijing, Zhengzhou, Hong, Chicago, Atlanta, Dubai, Bombay and Frankfurt. In addition, some part charter flights have been contracted on other trades such as Hongkong to USA as well as Hongkong to Europe.

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(Sep 1, 2020) - Market demand is increasing especially ex Asia Pacific leading to the expected peak season situation. As capacity remains short, rates are increasing especially out of the major key export countries. Overall, the spike in volume is again reflecting how volatile the market remains and how critical proper supply chain planning has become during COVID-19. Even though various airlines announced passenger flights to return to the market, the impact is very limited. The number of flights only increased incrementally compared to previous months especially international long-haul flights. Many aircrafts remain suspended and currently COVID-19 is considered to impact the airfreight market until at least 2024.

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wjcandee wrote:

I did a little research on Zeke's (and my) thought that SF would want to use a Chinese MRO:

From 2015: "It has been a good week for Precision Aircraft Solutions. In the last seven days the US-based passenger-to-freighter conversion specialist redelivered four freighter-converted 757-200PCFs, converted at four different MROs, to three different customers. [...] SF Airlines: The two units redelivered to SF were 26278 and 30757 (both ex-Thomas Cook Airlines). 26278 was converted in the US at the Aeroturbine facility in Goodyear (GYR), while conversion of 30757 was performed at Air China Technics’ Chengdu Aircraft Maintenance Base (CTU)." https://cargofacts.com/allposts/logisti ... solutions/

Point being that it's not unprecedented for SF to take a 757 that is converted at GYR. (As previously mentioned, AerSale bought Aeroturbine and now operates that GYR facility, which is a nice shop.)

Counterpoint is that there's a difference between one or two and 20.

Spacepope wrote:

The recent batch of G- registered conversions (Thomas Cook) for SF have all been sent to GYR.

wjcandee wrote:

Spacepope wrote:

The recent batch of G- registered conversions (Thomas Cook) for SF have all been sent to GYR.

You da MAN! So nice to have somebody on here who knows what's what. So it wouldn't be weird for it to be for SF, then.

Spacepope wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

Spacepope wrote:

The recent batch of G- registered conversions (Thomas Cook) for SF have all been sent to GYR.

You da MAN! So nice to have somebody on here who knows what's what. So it wouldn't be weird for it to be for SF, then.

No smoking gun, but just shows it’s within the realm of possibilities

FYI it’s TUI’s G-OOBC (now N203DP) ay GYR. It’s sister ship BD was at GYR but then ferried east for conversion.

Spacepope wrote:

FYI it’s TUI’s G-OOBC (now N203DP) ay GYR. It’s sister ship BD was at GYR but then ferried east for conversion.