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Hong Kong's Fly Meta to lease four 777 Freighters
来源：shippingazette 编辑：编辑部 发布：2023/02/07 14:49:27
HONG Kong's air cargo charter startup Fly Meta has announced that it will lease four Boeing 777-300ERSF converted freighters from lessor AerCap.
Fly Meta expects deliveries to commence in 2024 and all four aircraft to have arrived in its fleet by the end of 2025.
Fly Meta was established last year by a group of aviation professionals. Essentially a sales organization at this point, it actually doesn't fly any aircraft itself and has one aircraft in its fleet - a 31-year-old Boeing 747-400 freighter operated under a long-term rental by Air Atlanta Icelandic, according to tracking site Planespotters.com.
Helen Chen, CEO of Fly Meta, expressed optimism the cargo market will grow steadily in the near future and that "the volume capabilities and greater cost efficiencies of the 777-300 freighter will give us a competitive advantage in the market."
Boeing's 20-year market forecast pegs air cargo volumes to grow at a compound annual rate of 4.1 per cent. The express sector is expected to grow even faster.
AerCap Holdings said that Fly Meta has signed a lease for four 777-300 Extended Range aircraft that will be converted from passenger to cargo configuration by Israel Aerospace Industries.
AerCap and Israel Aerospace Industries are partners in the first programme to convert large widebody 777 aircraft into freighters. Boeing produces new 777 freighters, but IAI is the first to launch an aftermarket programme for rehabilitating used 777 passenger jets to carry containers on the main deck.
Close behind is Mammoth Freighters, a US company established in 2021 with backing by funds managed by Fortress Investment Group. It announced on Twitter recently that its prototype 777-300 aircraft has entered its overhaul hangar in Fort Worth, Texas, where the existing interior will soon be stripped for flight testing. The aircraft is the first of six slated for launch customer AviaAm Leasing.
Two 777-200 Long Range aircraft for Canadian all-cargo airline Cargojet, including the prototype designated to prove conformity with Federal Aviation Administration standards, previously were placed in separate production lines, said Brian McCarthy, Mammoth's vice president of marketing and sales.
Mammoth hopes to have at least one of the -200 rebuilds completed by the end of the year, with FAA certification anticipated in the first quarter of 2024.
Mammoth has 29 firm orders so far, including four from Cargojet and 19 from an undisclosed customer.
US-based launch customer Kalitta Air is scheduled to receive the first 777 conversion from IAI in the first half of the year. The airline has ordered three conversions. Other customers include Cargojet, Emirates (10 conversions) and Taiwan's EVA Air, which is sending three of its 777-300 passenger planes to be converted for its freighter division.
The FAA has not yet certified IAI's design modifications for the 777. All conversions involve installing a main cargo door, reinforced flooring and interior side walls, a protective barrier for the cockpit, and cargo handling system. A delay in regulatory approval could push back the timetable for the Kalitta delivery.
Fly Meta expects deliveries to commence in 2024 and all four aircraft to have arrived in its fleet by the end of 2025.
Fly Meta was established last year by a group of aviation professionals. Essentially a sales organization at this point, it actually doesn't fly any aircraft itself and has one aircraft in its fleet - a 31-year-old Boeing 747-400 freighter operated under a long-term rental by Air Atlanta Icelandic, according to tracking site Planespotters.com.
Helen Chen, CEO of Fly Meta, expressed optimism the cargo market will grow steadily in the near future and that "the volume capabilities and greater cost efficiencies of the 777-300 freighter will give us a competitive advantage in the market."
Boeing's 20-year market forecast pegs air cargo volumes to grow at a compound annual rate of 4.1 per cent. The express sector is expected to grow even faster.
AerCap Holdings said that Fly Meta has signed a lease for four 777-300 Extended Range aircraft that will be converted from passenger to cargo configuration by Israel Aerospace Industries.
AerCap and Israel Aerospace Industries are partners in the first programme to convert large widebody 777 aircraft into freighters. Boeing produces new 777 freighters, but IAI is the first to launch an aftermarket programme for rehabilitating used 777 passenger jets to carry containers on the main deck.
Close behind is Mammoth Freighters, a US company established in 2021 with backing by funds managed by Fortress Investment Group. It announced on Twitter recently that its prototype 777-300 aircraft has entered its overhaul hangar in Fort Worth, Texas, where the existing interior will soon be stripped for flight testing. The aircraft is the first of six slated for launch customer AviaAm Leasing.
Two 777-200 Long Range aircraft for Canadian all-cargo airline Cargojet, including the prototype designated to prove conformity with Federal Aviation Administration standards, previously were placed in separate production lines, said Brian McCarthy, Mammoth's vice president of marketing and sales.
Mammoth hopes to have at least one of the -200 rebuilds completed by the end of the year, with FAA certification anticipated in the first quarter of 2024.
Mammoth has 29 firm orders so far, including four from Cargojet and 19 from an undisclosed customer.
US-based launch customer Kalitta Air is scheduled to receive the first 777 conversion from IAI in the first half of the year. The airline has ordered three conversions. Other customers include Cargojet, Emirates (10 conversions) and Taiwan's EVA Air, which is sending three of its 777-300 passenger planes to be converted for its freighter division.
The FAA has not yet certified IAI's design modifications for the 777. All conversions involve installing a main cargo door, reinforced flooring and interior side walls, a protective barrier for the cockpit, and cargo handling system. A delay in regulatory approval could push back the timetable for the Kalitta delivery.