A landing gear issue was the reason for the return to ORD. I’ve not been told the details of the problem, just that they’re going to SBD for Mx on the issue. I’ll follow up if I learn more.

Deleted

Navion wrote:

A landing gear issue was the reason for the return to ORD. I’ve not been told the details of the problem, just that they’re going to SBD for Mx on the issue. I’ll follow up if I learn more.

Thank you!!

Posted in another thread: https://www.facebook.com/AeronewsGlobal ... 8595000545

The 77W freighter prototype (still no door yet) and N393AN (BDSF) will be part of the Israeli independence day flyover.

Yeah, 393AN went on a test flight yesterday, so I assume it's ready to start home soon. The Big Twin, I read, was ready to start heavy-metalwork shortly, which is cool!

Looks like Aeronaves' first 737-400 has arrived in SLW. They took delivery of N529TP today. This was converted in 2013 after 19 years with Royal Air Maroc. Flew for Colt Cargo in Brazil for a few years, sat at SAT for a few years, went to Air Incheon in November and then came back to HDO in January. We'll see how long it takes for them to get it into service now that it's at SLW. They've got another already converted frame sitting at AAN in Abu Dhabi, which was caught up in the whole Emirates International Air Cargo mess. There's another 734 sitting at LRD waiting to head off to conversion and one currently in conversion at DHN. I'd love to head down to SLW one day and see their operation; seems like there's quite a few older frames just sitting around at SLW being used for parts and the like.

Cathay Pacific's cargo capacity dropped 25%. The former British Territory rules are really hurting the company, while mainland blows right by! National, Western and others, get those jets over the Pacific Rim. There is money to be made, profit to be kept and customers to gain. The all out fight for jets and pallet space continues. They aren't running multiple 747-200Fs into the former Portugese territory of Macau for just plain old fun!! (Caveat being flying a 747-200F would be extremely fun, if for no other reason than old school baby)


https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/c ... sures-hit/



I see WGN's 747-400 N344KD or "Forty Fo" is back in action over the Pacific. It was down for a while but should be good to go at this point. Hopefully WGN's latest 747 acquisition can get get through maintenance and conformity and help contribute to the company's growth.

One less 727 in Miami these days. N216WE, an IFL Group 727 went home to PTK on Wednesday. I wonder if the arrival of the second Titan 321 on Tuesday had anything to do with it.

Some rare Miami visitors were also on the NE ramp. A C-130, an An-12, and an A-124 were all parked there yesterday. Nice to see the Russian birds here in the states.

FlyMKG wrote:

One less 727 in Miami these days. N216WE, an IFL Group 727 went home to PTK on Wednesday. I wonder if the arrival of the second Titan 321 on Tuesday had anything to do with it.

Some rare Miami visitors were also on the NE ramp. A C-130, an An-12, and an A-124 were all parked there yesterday. Nice to see the Russian birds here in the states.

Time marches on and yes, "I get it".....but I almost vomited in my mouth to hear an A321 was potentially displacing a 727. Not in class, style and overall elegance my friend!!!! I've never been a big DC/MD guy, but if our resident DC-8F has to sit out MIA flying or a sister ship DC-8F misses out on getting back in the action due to a 737/A321, well those are fighting words!!!!!

It looks like the Titan aircraft is/are being run at a higher pace than the 727s were and the DC8 has been. Here's hoping that we still see at least one per day on the DC8.

CX747 wrote:

Time marches on and yes, "I get it".....but I almost vomited in my mouth to hear an A321 was potentially displacing a 727. Not in class, style and overall elegance my friend!!!! I've never been a big DC/MD guy, but if our resident DC-8F has to sit out MIA flying or a sister ship DC-8F misses out on getting back in the action due to a 737/A321, well those are fighting words!!!!!

Better get used to it. A lot of A321ceo feed stock will come on the market as A321neo production advances. FX cherry picked the 757 feed stock so it's the right time to expect to see A321ceo get a lot of conversions especially as the trend moves towards lighter cargo.

CX747 wrote:

Cathay Pacific's cargo capacity dropped 25%. The former British Territory rules are really hurting the company, while mainland blows right by!

CX capacity it down because of crew quarantine rules. That is why FX moved its HKG crew base to OAK, and other airlines are avoiding crew layovers both in HKG and mainland.

CX sent the following note out to explain:

This continues to be a challenging time for the business as we respond to the ongoing pandemic and in particular the restrictions that are affecting our operations.

The biggest obstacle to normal operations remains the introduction of crew quarantine measures, which commenced on 20 February. These measures only affect airlines with Hong Kong-based aircrew and so apply to the vast majority of our pilots; therefore, there is an outsized impact on our operations relative to other carriers.

As a result, we flew around 25 per cent less cargo capacity overall in March, with our weekly freighter frequencies between Hong Kong and the US reduced from the usual 34 to around 21-28 flights per week. This schedule is further reduced this month as crew who have volunteered for the closed-loop operation enter quarantine before a well-earned period of leave. I would like to thank our pilots who volunteered to operate these rosters. Their commitment and resilience has enabled us to operate more flights than we would have been able to otherwise.

The major impact of these quarantine requirements is on our long-haul routes, in particular to Europe, Southwest Pacific and the Americas. We have therefore looked to redeploy more freighters on key regional and short-haul routes where closed-loop operations are not required.

We are acutely aware of the impact this is having on our partners and shippers. We apologise for the disruption and thank our customers for their continued support and patience. These are temporary issues, and once lifted we look forward to restoring our full market presence. In the interim, we are taking measures to offer as much capacity and flexibility as we can, and we will issue updates as soon as we can.

wjcandee wrote:

It looks like the Titan aircraft is/are being run at a higher pace than the 727s were and the DC8 has been. Here's hoping that we still see at least one per day on the DC8.

Time will obviously tell in terms of usage. Plus we don't obviously know the terms of the contract. A round trip per day isn't a bad thing!!! Have to wonder what the other DC-8F that came up is doing after sitting in MIA now for a while.

Looks as if cargofacts finally caught up to us on WGN buying the recently awoken ex-Asiana 747 in the desert. I believe we continue to track down where the other risen Leviathan, an ex-EVA 747F will call home. Shows how hard up the world fleet is right now. GECAS and IAI can really knock it out of the park with the Big Twin, if it delivers on spec and they can get them out the door as promised.

https://cargofacts.com/allposts/aircraf ... dsf/?amp=1

Our Georgia based GEO Sky 747-200Fs continue to romp through Europe. Obviously, FRA plays a major roll in operations........but as of late, 4L-GEO has been pulling a TBS-CDG-TBS routine. Paris in the Spring for the young lady it seems.

Aerotranscargo's rough and tumble 747 ER-JAI has been operating on a very specific routing itself lately. LGG-NQZ-KHN-NQZ-LGG like a boss.

CX747 wrote:

Looks as if cargofacts finally caught up to us on WGN buying the recently awoken ex-Asiana 747 in the desert.

As always, I loved all your comments and observations. Ah..Paris in the Spring, where the largely-unvaccinated continue to be locked down. Maybe the Eurocrat strategy of holding out to negotiate the lowest price -- and thus being at the end of the line -- wasn't so sage.

However, I did want to comment that the CargoFacts snippet seems suspiciously to follow the exact logic of our posts in this thread. On the one hand, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. On the other hand, they're charging for this stuff! And it sure seems like we're the source. At least credit us, guys! Or give us a free subscription!

Navion wrote:

A landing gear issue was the reason for the return to ORD. I’ve not been told the details of the problem, just that they’re going to SBD for Mx on the issue. I’ll follow up if I learn more.

Update: Apparently 904AR suffered a hard landing prior to the Halifax flight thus causing a gear fault which was the reason for the return to ORD. As a result, they have been working hard for three days to prepare for a flight today to SBD. The flight is going to be conducted as a gear down ferry flight, below RVSM air space and at a speed below 270 knots. It looks like this fix could be pretty expensive.

Navion wrote:

Navion wrote:

A landing gear issue was the reason for the return to ORD. I’ve not been told the details of the problem, just that they’re going to SBD for Mx on the issue. I’ll follow up if I learn more.

Update: Apparently 904AR suffered a hard landing prior to the Halifax flight thus causing a gear fault which was the reason for the return to ORD. As a result, they have been working hard for three days to prepare for a flight today to SBD. The flight is going to be conducted as a gear down ferry flight, below RVSM air space and at a speed below 270 knots. It looks like this fix could be pretty expensive.

Yikes. That's too bad. Of course, right now is when they want her to be operating, too. Nice, relatively-recent Factory F, recently D-checked. Well, that's the biz I guess.

Navion wrote:

The flight is going to be conducted as a gear down ferry flight, below RVSM air space and at a speed below 270 knots.

Sure enough. In the air now. 26,000 feet, groundspeed 345 kts, per FR24.

wjcandee wrote:

Navion wrote:

The flight is going to be conducted as a gear down ferry flight, below RVSM air space and at a speed below 270 knots.

Sure enough. In the air now. 26,000 feet, groundspeed 345 kts, per FR24.

5 hour trip at that speed!

Navion wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

Navion wrote:

The flight is going to be conducted as a gear down ferry flight, below RVSM air space and at a speed below 270 knots.

Sure enough. In the air now. 26,000 feet, groundspeed 345 kts, per FR24.

5 hour trip at that speed!

Absolutely! Planned for 5 hours 24 minutes. That's about an hour more than it would normally take, I think.

wjcandee wrote:

MO11 wrote:

Actually, the paperwork only shows Titan Aviation Leasing Ltd. No indication of Atlas yet, although it certainly may happen.

Exactly. If it's going to be operated by Atlas for itself, it will be acquired by Atlas. If it's going to be dry-leased from Titan and operated by Atlas under a CMI agreement for the lessee (as with the Amazon contract), then it will be acquired by Titan (or a related entity: they usually use "Andromeda" Leasing for Amazon). If it's acquired by Titan, it will be for: (1) someone like Amazon, who dry leases the plane and has Atlas operate it (although unlikely actually to be Amazon); (2) a dry-lease to a customer who will operate it themselves. This won't be for Atlas's own use, so it probably won't be kept as a pax bird, but it could be.

It appears that this may be the first of two (freighters) for Icelandair. Conversion won't be until 2022.

MO11 wrote:

It appears that this may be the first of two (freighters) for Icelandair. Conversion won't be until 2022.

Interesting! Hopefully early 2022, as it would nice if Icelandair could strike while the iron is hotter.

wjcandee wrote:

MO11 wrote:

It appears that this may be the first of two (freighters) for Icelandair. Conversion won't be until 2022.

Interesting! Hopefully early 2022, as it would nice if Icelandair could strike while the iron is hotter.

If you want almost 767F lift, right now.....there is a DC-8F that's been throwing shade in MIA for a while. Snatch that bird up and get it running!

The Airliner's.net resident DC-8F is almost done with work for today having operated a Miami-San Salvador-Miami round trip for the last "regular" work day for the week.

Wish I could get down to MIA to catch a view but alas, not in the schedule right now.

Take it for what it is worth but I was reading cargofacts, which held a podcast discussing the "week in review". Topics were the recent reactivation of 747-400Fs and 747-200Fs, along with the new hotness 777-300ERSF. Nothing earth shattering and really, we get some better analysis here. With that said.....

A comment made by one of the industry participants was interesting. He stated on 747s, there was potentially an exciting development in the works. Looking forward to see what the development for the 747 turns out to be.

As we discuss "classics" and 25+ year old airframes let's put something into perspective. One of my co-workers reminded me yesterday afternoon that it was the 73rd birthday for the B-52. Age is just a concept my friends, as the Mighty BUFF is still putting warheads on foreheads in defense of freedom.

CX747 wrote:

I believe we continue to track down where the other risen Leviathan, an ex-EVA 747F will call home. Shows how hard up the world fleet is right now.

Here are two photos from today (April 16, 2021) of Lufthansa 744 D-ABVP (parts donor) and EVA Air 744F B-16402/N27063, all credit goes to Matt Hartman on Facebook:
Link to Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10 ... 5963834303





Based off the first photo, it looks like they already harvested some tail hydraulics and the APU from D-ABVP. In addition, the flaps being deployed along with the scissor lift parked next to it suggest that the flaps will soon be removed and transferred to EVA Air.

Going to the photo that shows EVA Air, it looks like they're working on installing the APU and doing some work on the right wing (cherry picker is underneath). Kinda surprised that only those two things have changed but there's also likely some interior work and other changes that aren't readily visible. Hope to see former B-16402 grace the skies again soon!

CX747 wrote:

Take it for what it is worth but I was reading cargofacts, which held a podcast discussing the "week in review". Topics were the recent reactivation of 747-400Fs and 747-200Fs, along with the new hotness 777-300ERSF. Nothing earth shattering and really, we get some better analysis here. With that said.....

A comment made by one of the industry participants was interesting. He stated on 747s, there was potentially an exciting development in the works. Looking forward to see what the development for the 747 turns out to be.

As we discuss "classics" and 25+ year old airframes let's put something into perspective. One of my co-workers reminded me yesterday afternoon that it was the 73rd birthday for the B-52. Age is just a concept my friends, as the Mighty BUFF is still putting warheads on foreheads in defense of freedom.

As a financial subscriber to Cargofacts and having a journalistic background, I’m really disappointed with some of the content posted. There’s still no mention of the second A321P2F now in service with Amerijet nor that 738BCF being delivered and now working hard for that Malaysian outfit we discussed last week.

Seems to be a bit Sam Chui-esque where they also scour the internet looking for content then repost it with a twist. I also can’t but help think CF uses this thread as a point of reference.

Let’s be honest, with the wealth of contributors on this thread, there’s not too much that slips past us.

wjcandee wrote:

MO11 wrote:

It appears that this may be the first of two (freighters) for Icelandair. Conversion won't be until 2022.

Interesting! Hopefully early 2022, as it would nice if Icelandair could strike while the iron is hotter.

I'm going to retract that...I found another article that clarified that Titan will acquire two of Icelandair's existing 767s, convert them, then lease them back. First conversion to be completed September 2022.

Another tidbit I found - CargoJet's financial report indicates that it had purchased two 747-400s in 2019 solely for engines. Not sure which two...

wjcandee wrote:

CX747 wrote:

Looks as if cargofacts finally caught up to us on WGN buying the recently awoken ex-Asiana 747 in the desert.

As always, I loved all your comments and observations. Ah..Paris in the Spring, where the largely-unvaccinated continue to be locked down. Maybe the Eurocrat strategy of holding out to negotiate the lowest price -- and thus being at the end of the line -- wasn't so sage.

However, I did want to comment that the CargoFacts snippet seems suspiciously to follow the exact logic of our posts in this thread. On the one hand, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. On the other hand, they're charging for this stuff! And it sure seems like we're the source. At least credit us, guys! Or give us a free subscription!

The credit should go to your good sir. The Amazon thread, the Holdiay Cargo Lift (Thanks Spacepope for twisting his arm) and this thread have been the top 3 threads I've participated in since joining the site last century!

That actually brings me to another point that I'm hoping we agree on. This thread should not be closed at the end of the calendar year. There is so much great analysis and information here that needs to be live/active and available.

As we discuss the different moves and solutions that each carrier sees, it should be stated that Transair, the Hawaiian Cargo carrier is awaiting its first 737-400F. AEI is doing the work on ex N251AU. Started soaring the skies in 93 with Alaska and spent 2015-2020 with Canadian operator Flair Airlines. With newer 737-800s and Max aircraft inbound for Flair, the veteran headed off to a new career. Not a bad "second life", of hauling cargo between the Islands.

To me, this continues to show the viability and continued desire to field 737-400Fs even as newer 737s and A321s begin to populate the worldwide fleet. As Twain said, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Transair has a 5 strong fleet of 737-200Fs, which again gives us visibility into what an actual "young" aircraft really is!!!

MO11 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

MO11 wrote:

It appears that this may be the first of two (freighters) for Icelandair. Conversion won't be until 2022.

Interesting! Hopefully early 2022, as it would nice if Icelandair could strike while the iron is hotter.

I'm going to retract that...I found another article that clarified that Titan will acquire two of Icelandair's existing 767s, convert them, then lease them back. First conversion to be completed September 2022.

Another tidbit I found - CargoJet's financial report indicates that it had purchased two 747-400s in 2019 solely for engines. Not sure which two...

These were the two ex-Japan Air Self-Defence Force B747s that were used as Japan's Air Force One. First sold to American company CSDS Asset Management LLC out of California, then as I understand it Cargojet purchased these aircraft for the engines. The GE CF6-80C2s will be put into service on the B767 fleet.

aristoenigma wrote:

Cavalier44 wrote:

MO11 wrote:

Another tidbit I found - CargoJet's financial report indicates that it had purchased two 747-400s in 2019 solely for engines. Not sure which two...

These were the two ex-Japan Air Self-Defence Force B747s that were used as Japan's Air Force One. First sold to American company CSDS Asset Management LLC out of California, then as I understand it Cargojet purchased these aircraft for the engines. The GE CF6-80C2s will be put into service on the B767 fleet.

The two former Japan Air Force Ones aircraft still show on Planespotters as owned by CSDS Management through a trustee at Bank of Utah. Did Cargojet buy the entire two frames from the trustee or just the eight engines? Cannot see Cargojet needing any other elements of the two fairly pristine 744 frames. Maybe the trustee is selling off the balance of airframes.

Bank of Utah is the trustee for Cargojet. N7474C was transferred from CSDS to Cargojet on 8/8/19, while N7477C was transferred on 7/9/19.

And N881YV was sold by JW Aviation (parent of 21 Air) to Cargojet last Tuesday.

Just browsing through YouTube and caught this one of an Ethiopian 777F making an, um, “festive” arrival in MIA coming in from SCL.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zIaqt-8G9Rs

Spacepope wrote:

Just browsing through YouTube and caught this one of an Ethiopian 777F making an, um, “festive” arrival in MIA coming in from SCL.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zIaqt-8G9Rs

Well, that's one way to do it.

Any news from any of the Canadian cargo carriers?

CX747 wrote:

Well, that's one way to do it.

"Please remain seated while the Captain taxis what's left of our aircraft to the gate."

Sorry, long time poster in Australian Av and general lurker elsewhere, but ive been watching a lot of LH Cargo flights lately. It seems that the ICN-FRA route is the dominant return route from Asia for the GEC fleet (ie they'll position there from HKG, KIX etc before returning to FRA. What is the cargo theyre collecting here? Vaccines at all?

qf2220 wrote:

Sorry, long time poster in Australian Av and general lurker elsewhere, but ive been watching a lot of LH Cargo flights lately. It seems that the ICN-FRA route is the dominant return route from Asia for the GEC fleet (ie they'll position there from HKG, KIX etc before returning to FRA. What is the cargo theyre collecting here? Vaccines at all?

A lot of carriers are usiing ICN as a place to stage and change crews, due to its favorable Covid policies. So the stops you're seeing may not involve actually collecting cargo from there. It may be a transit point on a trip from HKG, etc.

Cathay announced in its email newsletter that, according to latest policy by Hong Kong government, starting from April 16,
- Vaccinated Hong Kong-based crew who fly cargo flights, and have not layovered at UK or South Africa, will no longer need to follow mandatory quarantine requirements
- The Anchorage layover exemption have been extended to cover Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Thailand
Cathay say they will be restoring their full freighter schedule with these policy changes.
(It's an email [public mailing list], hence no URL can be provided as source.)

CX747 wrote:

wjcandee wrote:

CX747 wrote:

Looks as if cargofacts finally caught up to us on WGN buying the recently awoken ex-Asiana 747 in the desert.

As always, I loved all your comments and observations. Ah..Paris in the Spring, where the largely-unvaccinated continue to be locked down. Maybe the Eurocrat strategy of holding out to negotiate the lowest price -- and thus being at the end of the line -- wasn't so sage.

However, I did want to comment that the CargoFacts snippet seems suspiciously to follow the exact logic of our posts in this thread. On the one hand, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. On the other hand, they're charging for this stuff! And it sure seems like we're the source. At least credit us, guys! Or give us a free subscription!

The credit should go to your good sir. The Amazon thread, the Holdiay Cargo Lift (Thanks Spacepope for twisting his arm) and this thread have been the top 3 threads I've participated in since joining the site last century!

That actually brings me to another point that I'm hoping we agree on. This thread should not be closed at the end of the calendar year. There is so much great analysis and information here that needs to be live/active and available.

As we discuss the different moves and solutions that each carrier sees, it should be stated that Transair, the Hawaiian Cargo carrier is awaiting its first 737-400F. AEI is doing the work on ex N251AU. Started soaring the skies in 93 with Alaska and spent 2015-2020 with Canadian operator Flair Airlines. With newer 737-800s and Max aircraft inbound for Flair, the veteran headed off to a new career. Not a bad "second life", of hauling cargo between the Islands.

To me, this continues to show the viability and continued desire to field 737-400Fs even as newer 737s and A321s begin to populate the worldwide fleet. As Twain said, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Transair has a 5 strong fleet of 737-200Fs, which again gives us visibility into what an actual "young" aircraft really is!!!

I just want to piggyback CX747’s request for this becoming a permanent thread. Although I contribute very little to it it is easily one of my favorite and constant reads daily on this site. Thank you to all who contribute and I hope this thread will be just as active and entertaining in 12 months as it is right now.

wjcandee wrote:

CX747 wrote:

Well, that's one way to do it.

"Please remain seated while the Captain taxis what's left of our aircraft to the gate."

The rest of the vid was nicely freighter-centric with Atlas, 21 Air, Cargolux, Qatar, Korean and others. I was surprised at the amount of non-western-hemisphere freighters routing between MIA and South America.

I would like to draw your attention to the cargo activities of a large part of the HiFly fleet, which I have been following for a while. mainly with the A 340 and A 330, in the presumably cleared passenger area, will presumably transport medical material from China and India to Europe and in between also perform interesting circumnavigations of the globe, such as 9H-SUN, which is currently on the way non-stop from MIA to DEL. the machine had previously flown MAD-DEL-HKG-ANC-MIA. The base of these machines is currently Delhi, from where all flights of the 9H-SUN, 9H-SOL, 9H-FOX, 9H-JAI, 9H-TAJ depart. It is therefore reasonable to assume that SpiceJet is the charterer, because 9H-JAI is already flying in the SpiceJet Express branding. Who knows More about those flights, especially what are they transporting from ANC to MIA and from USA to India?

AirbusOnly wrote:

I would like to draw your attention to the cargo activities of a large part of the HiFly fleet, which I have been following for a while. mainly with the A 340 and A 330, in the presumably cleared passenger area, will presumably transport medical material from China and India to Europe and in between also perform interesting circumnavigations of the globe, such as 9H-SUN, which is currently on the way non-stop from MIA to DEL. the machine had previously flown MAD-DEL-HKG-ANC-MIA. The base of these machines is currently Delhi, from where all flights of the 9H-SUN, 9H-SOL, 9H-FOX, 9H-JAI, 9H-TAJ depart. It is therefore reasonable to assume that SpiceJet is the charterer, because 9H-JAI is already flying in the SpiceJet Express branding. Who knows More about those flights, especially what are they transporting from ANC to MIA and from USA to India?

I would put good money that ANC is just a fuel stop for HKG-MIA.

As for MIA, in the above post I noted a ton of aircraft use MIA as a hub for distribution to South America. You'll likely see HKG cargo unloaded there and it gets split up to other flights for distribution. Light cargo then loaded in MIA and off to DEL it goes, round and round the world.

Spacepope wrote:

The rest of the vid was nicely freighter-centric with Atlas, 21 Air, Cargolux, Qatar, Korean and others. I was surprised at the amount of non-western-hemisphere freighters routing between MIA and South America.

Agreed on both points. The clickbait was the textbook PIO on the first landing, which the tarmac (and autospoilers) helpfully stopped. That garnered it over 450,000 views. Amazing for a recently-posted bit of airplane porn.

More-hilarious are the comments from people who don't like "their" airline being "criticized". One guy thought it was inappropriate to put Ethiopian in the title. Others talked about how well-trained the crews are at "the Pride of Africa". A little defensive.

CargoJet bought N767PR (ex EI-GRP/N359AA) from Jetran yesterday. The 2020 Financial Report indicates:

In November 2020 and December 2020, Cargojet executed purchase agreements for one B767-300 aircraft and one B767-300 airframe respectively as feedstock for future conversions. These aircraft feedstock purchases did not close in 2020....

The "aircraft" vs. "airframe" differentiation is interesting.

MO11 wrote:

CargoJet bought N767PR (ex EI-GRP/N359AA) from Jetran yesterday. The 2020 Financial Report indicates:

In November 2020 and December 2020, Cargojet executed purchase agreements for one B767-300 aircraft and one B767-300 airframe respectively as feedstock for future conversions. These aircraft feedstock purchases did not close in 2020....

The "aircraft" vs. "airframe" differentiation is interesting.

Speaking of 767 transactions, I saw ex- MIAT Mongolian EI-FGN is now N564WW and owned by "WWTAI AirOpco" which sounds like just a holding company. Any idea what's going on there?

Source https://www.skyliner-aviation.de/regdb. ... av4&page=4

WWTAI is a sub of Fortress Investment Group (FTAI), an airplane lessor. There's also an N565WW (ex-Ethiopian, at MZJ) .

MO11 wrote:

WWTAI is a sub of Fortress Investment Group (FTAI), an airplane lessor. There's also an N565WW (ex-Ethiopian, at MZJ) .

Nice! N566WW and N563WA are also with them, ex-Ethiopian as well.

All PW powered.

Cargofacts summaries on the Twitters say that widebody conversion slots are a huge bottleneck right now. Probably why these 4 are parked still.

Looks like a couple of our talked about aircraft have had some instances
Western Global, http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4e61bbb7&opt=0
National http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4e60b60f&opt=0

Well that explains why Western Global's 415JN has been on the ground in SJU since Saturday night. Of all crews, I think the WGN guys are the most accustomed to their planes breaking. Lose an engine on final? All in a day's work. Before Christmas, they were having constant air returns everywhere, and planes sitting around broken for days. After Christmas, everyone got a little TLC, which seems actually to have worked somewhat in increasing their reliability (at least as it appears to me). There was some talk about WGN having difficulty finding green time engines, so maybe that enters into this situation as well, or maybe not. I noticed 412SN has been in TPE for 3 weeks, presumably getting maintenance at EGAT, which is actually a good development in terms of getting it repaired right and promptly back in the air. Maybe someday we will see 546JN and 435KD doing the same and getting back in service instead of sitting forlornly at SHV.

Meanwhile, National's 919CA has been on the ground in RFD for 3 days, and this explains why. She has been very busy (i.e. daily) recently, so that seemed odd, and I guess they found something when it got to RFD. Too bad, because she had spent 5 days in SAT getting something done, apparently, just over a week ago.