Page 14 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2022 Online Magazine

Maintenance (TAM) and Florida-based lessor Jetstream Aviation Kuehne+Nagel is a leading aerospace logistics
Capital have teamed up to launch a freighter conversion program provider as well as leading air cargo provider
for the high-speed turboprop Saab 2000s. The first aircraft, s/n and customer of cargo airlines.
037, is now at TAM’s workshops at Örebro Airport. It is planned
for conversion in first quarter of 2022 with scheduled comple- Besides the ‘preighters’, the conversion of pas-
tion including obtaining EASA and FAA approval by the end of senger aircraft to full cargo aircraft reached
March 2022. Currently, the design work, lead by TAM’s Design new heights as well. The Airbus 321 P2F did
Organization, and associated parts production is being managed take off in 2021 and Boeing reported more
at TAM’s facilities in Örebro, Sweden. than 100 aircraft P2F conversions for 2021.
The capacity of P2F conversion companies is
“Based on our extensive experience of converting dozens of Saab booked for the upcoming 3-5 years and regu-
340 passenger aircraft to cargo configuration, we are very confi- larly new conversion lines are announced.
dent that we can meet any challenges to certify and convert that
this larger and highly capable aircraft might offer,” said Pär Gulle,
TAM Managing Director. “The key challenges in the P2F conversion itself
are the supply chain (lots of specific “parts” like
The Saab 2000 Cargo will feature six net-divided loading bays, in doors, beams etc) and the limited number of
addition to the current passenger aircraft cargo compartments, conversion lines around the world. It requires
and all bays will meet 9G-approval requirements. The Saab 2000 the most experiences technicians and skills.
in cargo configuration will offer regional cargo operators the best Anything which can be done to “keep downtime
overall performance, cargo weight and volume value proposition down” is of essence to get the aircraft con-
on the market, said Donald Kamenz, of Jetstream Aviation Capital. verted into cargo. From a logistics point of view,
Total cargo volume will be 55.4 m3 / 1960 cu ft, with a floor loading converting aircraft is a specific challenge. The
limit of 730 kg/m2 / 150 lb/sq ft and a target max payload of 6,622 Kuehne+Nagel P2F logistics solution can con-
kg / 14,600 lbs. For operations under US FAR Part 135, the max tribute to reduce downtime. It requires highly
payload will be limited to 3,402 kg / 7,500 lbs. skilled professionals to manage vendors and
prepare the “shipset’’ with one aim. Have the
Are ‘Preighters’ Here to Stay? shipset for a specific aircraft in the hangar just
Initially airlines have been adjusting aircraft to use the passen- in time when the aircraft rolls in. Experiences
ger decks for cargo. Main reason was the grounded wide body so far shows it will save a few hours up to half
aircraft and “belly’’ cargo capacity down by more than 60 per a day per working week in lead time, so more
cent. However, passenger deck cargo is labor and time intensive conversions are available at the earliest to meet
in loading and unloading and has limitations because of the floor the increased cargo demand,” Goedhart said.
structure and weight. This was another reason for the increased
Estimates indicate that narrow-body conver-
sion costs range from US$2.85m for a Boeing
737-300 through a range of US$4.3-6m for a
737-800, up to US$6.1m for an Airbus A321-
200. On the wide-body side, a Boeing 767 will
run something like US$13.4-US$15.8m, while an
A330 will range between US$17.6m-18.4m and
a 777-300ER conversion is estimated between
US$34-37m.

Airlines such as China Airlines are now focusing
on its cargo operations, and closely monitoring
developments in the passenger market, and
carefully reviewing its passenger market strat-
egy, as they move towards maximising their
cargo cost. Several companies are now working on innovations for operational profits. As Diamond of SASI opined:
containerized passenger deck cargo. These solutions will allow “Cargo will continue to represent a much larger
more cargo while requiring less labour and time. share of airline revenue for years to come. The
more cargo revenue that passenger airlines can
“From an aerospace industry perspective, the conversion trend is generate, the more they will be able to keep
seen as sustainable. The industry has faced challenges in the past passenger fares at a reasonable level and
and there will be other challenges in the future. Therefore, from an attract back passenger traffic.” So, expect a
aerospace viewpoint, the ‘preighters’ (passenger aircraft using its large growth in freighters in the coming decade,
passenger deck for cargo) will stay to a certain extent,” said Erik through a mixture of new OEM aircraft and P2F
Goedhart, SVP and Global Head of Aerospace at Kuehne+Nagel. conversion.

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