Crisis-hit airlines scramble to convert empty cabins to cargo
04 May, 2020
After the airline industry's ugly ducklings, air freighters are actually flying high as a number of the only airplanes still criss-crossing the skies through the global coronavirus crisis.
While these aerial juggernauts hauled freight for low margins, airlines lavished advertising on business travelers and tourists. But with these customers grounded, airlines are rushing to carefully turn passenger planes into short-term cargo carriers.
Half of air cargo normally travels in the belly of passenger jets instead of dedicated freighters. However the grounding of two-thirds of the world's fleet has resulted in a scramble for cargo capacity for medical supplies and other goods.
Airlines saddled with the cost of unused planes are looking to modify cabin interiors to adapt to the brand new reality. And that's providing a surprise windfall for aircraft maintenance companies deprived of their normal trade of keeping passenger jets flying, industry executives told Reuters.
Germany's Lufthansa Technik AG, Canada's Avianor, Hong Kong's HAECO Group and Belgium's Akka Technologies are among those stripping out seats or adding nets and storage devices to cabins to cram in cargo rather than tourists.
"We've great demand. We've a lot more than 40 airlines requesting a proposal," said Jens Weinreich, product manager at Lufthansa Technik, which has converted 18 cabins for various carriers and expects to change 100 more.
Lufthansa-owned Austrian Airlines has begun to eliminate most passenger seats in a few 777s, while Polish LOT and Delta Air Lines are also examining freight makeovers.
But while Freight Investor Services said China-U.S. freight rates rose 22% the other day because of demand for protective gear, cargo demand has been fickle during the past. And the outlook for trade is uncertain in the wake of the pandemic.
"We have seen a genuine resurgence of freight previously month... but we are on the edge of a worldwide recession and the standard pattern of recession should commence to take hold," Stuart Hatcher, chief operating officer of IBA Group, told a webinar.
CARGO MINDSET
Avianor, which specializes in maintenance and cabins, said demand from Air Canada has helped overcome the slowdown, while European planemaker Airbus has think of a scheme to carefully turn cabins into non permanent bays for freight pallets.
Some 20 carriers are studying plans to transport freight on a non permanent basis in A330 and A350 cabins, it said on Thursday.
This is a change of mindset for airlines, who focus obsessively on cabin layouts to market their customer brands.
Some previous Boeing 737s operated by professionnals like France's ASL Airlines allow three persons to do a "Quick Change" in only 20 minutes, with rows of seats taken out through a side door to permit passengers to fly by day and cargo by night.
Newer jets have a tendency to be optimised for passenger service and it requires a week to get ready one for cargo.
The surge in demand for cargo conversions has led airlines to appeal for a worldwide set of rules from aviation authorities.
HAECO said its product allows mixed passenger and freight cabins, arguing it would help social distancing. Leeham analyst Bjorn Fehrm said this could make sense even after the crisis.
But airlines body IATA does not see this as the new normal for flying. And regulators have said passenger cabins aren't designed for cargo and special non permanent permission is needed.
Akka Technologies is helping Franco-Italian ATR turn turboprops into medical equipment vehicles. Additionally it is focusing on plans approved by regulators for A330s and Boeing 777s.
"For the time being, this will create business for engineering houses such as for example ourselves. In the mid-term, the traffic will need time to recuperate," board member Charles Champion, a former Airbus engineering head, said.
Cabin modifications will not compensate totally for the crisis which has caused widespread jobs cuts and forced airlines like Lufthansa to seek help, but will deliver some work, Lufthansa Technik modifications chief Henning Jochmann said.
"That won't save our lives... but we do what we have to do."
Source: japantoday.com