Page 58 - World Airnews February Magazine Edition 2021

NEWS DIGITAL

BOEING RUSH FOR MORE THAN

150 CONVERTED 737S

By Pranjal Pande

Boeing Senior vice president for commer- and Amazon Prime Air.
cial sales and marketing said, “We are As more airlines globally retire hundreds
While the last year has been a honoured that BBAM has selected more of planes, including 737s, the market for
737-800BCFs, based on the success of our
difficult year for passenger aircraft orders, standard body freighters in their portfo- converted freighters is heating up. The
coming years could see more airlines
Boeing did see one bright spot in freight- lio….The continued strong demand for striking deals to sell their planes to cargo
ers. The carrier now has firm commitments the 737-800BCF demonstrates the critical operators for conversion.
(which consists of orders and options) for role these converted freighters play in the
150 737-800BCFs, its smallest freighter on growing express and e-commerce market.” BOEING DOMINATES
offer. As the name suggests, Boeing has
created conversion lines to modify existing WHY THE 737? While Airbus is swiftly catching up with
passenger 737-800s into cargo aircraft. Boeing highlights that the 737-800BCF Boeing on passenger orders, the American
giant dominates the cargo market. From
The latest customer for the 737 has offers a variety of benefits to airlines the smallest 737, popular 767 and 777Fs,
been aircraft lessor BBAM, which upped looking to operate the jet. The conversion to the largest 747-8Fs, Boeing has a highly
its commitments from three planes to 15 process allows airlines to double the diverse range of freighter offerings to
(nine orders and six options). Boeing has lifespan of their passenger jets with a quick airlines. Meanwhile, Airbus only offers
also secured commitments from leasing turnaround time of little as 90 days. the one A330-200F (not including a small
giant GECAS, which agreed to take on 50 Additionally, the new BCFs are 20% number of conversions).
737-800BCFs. more efficient than the aging 737 Classic The growing 737 programme only
To meet this growing demand, Boeing freighters. cements Boeing’s market leadership in
has added new conversion lines in Asia. The 737-800BCF is usually found on cargo planes while its passenger business
The manufacturer will open two lines in domestic or short-haul routes globally, with struggles.
Guangzhou and Singapore, alongside its the capacity to carry up to 52,800 pounds While Airbus has not announced any new
current line in Shanghai. The Singapore of cargo over 2,025 nautical miles. The plans for a freighter, both the A350 and
facility will handle conversions for the 767s. capacity and range make the 737 a suitable A330neo could be strong favourites for a
In a statement after the latest order, choice for large cargo airlines like FedEx new model. Q

NEWS DIGITAL

EASA APPROVAL FOR GARMIN

GI 275

primary flight instruments Carl Wolf, vice president of installation time and preserv-
in the cockpit such as the aviation sales and marketing. ing the existing aircraft panel.
The popular Garmin GI attitude indicator, attitude-di- “With this approval, the It has a bright, high-reso-
275 electronic flight instru- rection indicator (ADI), course modern GI 275 electronic lution touchscreen display
ment has received European deviation indicator (CDI), flight instrument gives pilots with wide viewing angle. A
Union Aviation Safety Agency horizontal situation indicator the opportunity to take an dual concentric knob allows
(EASA) approval. (HSI), multi-function display economical and scalable pilots to access a variety of
approach to their avionics
(MFD), and engine indication
This will allow installation in system (EIS). upgrade while realizing key functions within the flight
over 1,000 single-engine and In addition, the GI 275 can tremendous potential with instrument, such as adjust-
ments to the baro setting or
multi-engine aircraft models. also be installed as a standby the extraordinary capability the airspeed bug.
Several variants of the GI attitude indicator when paired of the versatile touchscreen
275 are available to meet the with large format electronic GI 275.” Highly scalable, aircraft
needs of business and general flight displays. Lightweight and compact, owners can start with a
aviation aircraft. the GI 275 is a flight instru- single GI 275 and add up
A powerful electronic flight “Garmin worked closely ment intentionally designed to a total of six in a single
instrument, the GI 275 is with EASA to bring the to take advantage of the panel, paving the way for
suitable as a direct replace- popular GI 275 to thousands common 3.125-inch flight incremental upgrades and an
ment for a variety of legacy more cockpits with aging array of individualised panel
flight instruments,” said instrument size, reducing configurations. Q

World Airnews | February Extra 2021
— 11 —