4 July 2018
Philippine LCC Cebu Pacific (CEB) is converting two ATR 72-500s into freighters, the airline announced Monday.
CEB said its ATR 72-500 aircraft will be installed with a large cargo door to allow standard containers and pallets to be loaded. It will also have space for seven AKE Unit Load Device (ULD) containers, as well as carry more than seven tons of cargo.
It already signed a deal with Switzerland-based IPR Conversions Ltd to convert two of its ATR 72-500s into pure cargo aircraft. The passenger-to-freighter conversions will take place at Sabena Technics in Dinard, France.
Cebu Air President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said the freighter aircraft will “support the growing needs of the logistics industry, especially as the Philippines’ e-commerce businesses expand rapidly and look for faster delivery schedules,” Cebu Air President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei was quoted as saying.
This is the first time Cebu Pacific will operate specialized aircraft to transport cargo. It expects to receive the first of two converted aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2018. The aircraft will continue to be operated through CEB’s wholly owned subsidiary, CebGo.
Cebu Pacific says the ATR aircraft is ideal for expediting the transport of high-value and time-sensitive commodities such as marine products, computing equipment and even heavy machinery to various points across the country and it is suited to landing and taking-off in airports with runways less than 1.2 kilometres long – which is too short for jet aircraft.
Cebu Pacific Cargo corners a 50% market share for domestic air cargo, using its passenger aircraft fleet. Cargo revenues jumped 29% to P4.6 billion in 2017, and 26% to P1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
IPR Conversions, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is one of the leading ATR freighter conversion service providers in the world.
Philippine LCC Cebu Pacific (CEB) is converting two ATR 72-500s into freighters, the airline announced Monday.
CEB said its ATR 72-500 aircraft will be installed with a large cargo door to allow standard containers and pallets to be loaded. It will also have space for seven AKE Unit Load Device (ULD) containers, as well as carry more than seven tons of cargo.
It already signed a deal with Switzerland-based IPR Conversions Ltd to convert two of its ATR 72-500s into pure cargo aircraft. The passenger-to-freighter conversions will take place at Sabena Technics in Dinard, France.
Cebu Air President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said the freighter aircraft will “support the growing needs of the logistics industry, especially as the Philippines’ e-commerce businesses expand rapidly and look for faster delivery schedules,” Cebu Air President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei was quoted as saying.
This is the first time Cebu Pacific will operate specialized aircraft to transport cargo. It expects to receive the first of two converted aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2018. The aircraft will continue to be operated through CEB’s wholly owned subsidiary, CebGo.
Cebu Pacific says the ATR aircraft is ideal for expediting the transport of high-value and time-sensitive commodities such as marine products, computing equipment and even heavy machinery to various points across the country and it is suited to landing and taking-off in airports with runways less than 1.2 kilometres long – which is too short for jet aircraft.
Cebu Pacific Cargo corners a 50% market share for domestic air cargo, using its passenger aircraft fleet. Cargo revenues jumped 29% to P4.6 billion in 2017, and 26% to P1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2018.
IPR Conversions, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is one of the leading ATR freighter conversion service providers in the world.
I bet PAL will do the same thing if CEB's cargo services succeeds.
ReplyDeleteI still wonder why PAL never considered doing freight services. Was it due to competitions? Or PAL just want to stick with their passenger oriented services.