The leasing arm of Air Transport Services Group (NASDAQ: ATSG) is having a record year delivering newly converted Boeing 767-300 freighters to all-cargo carriers such as UPS, Amerijet and Cargojet Airways in Canada.
The company, which also provides outsourced air transport capacity to airlines and shippers such as DHL (LSE: DPDHL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced Wednesday that it delivered a fifth converted 767-300 freighter to express carrier UPS (NYSE: UPS).
UPS Airlines also took delivery Tuesday of a new 767-300 freighter from Boeing, spokesman Jim Mayer said. The company now has 75 owned and leased 767s in its fleet.
The UPS plane is the 12th delivery for Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM) this year, not including a 13th airframe ATSG is keeping for Air Transport International, another of its subsidiaries.
The midsize freighters are in high demand because of the overall shortage of air cargo transport this year with the coronavirus grounding the majority of passenger flights and a surge in e-commerce orders as people use disposable income on purchases of goods they can use at home while social distancing.
Amazon Air has received five converted 767s from CAM in 2020 and has committed to lease 11 more in 2021.
Miami-based Amerijet took delivery of a 767-300 in September. CAM now leases eight 767s to Amerijet.
Cargojet is expected to take delivery of another 767-300 this month, bringing the total number of aircraft leased from CAM to five.
Northern Air Cargo in Anchorage, Alaska, has signed an agreement to take delivery of its fourth converted freighter in November, ATSG said.
In addition to the lease of newly converted aircraft, ATSG said it has redeployed its existing 767 fleet into new international markets. Astral Aviation of Nairobi, Kenya, has signed an agreement with CAM for its first 767-200 freighter, which will join their fleet serving Africa and Europe this month.
MasAir of Mexico City is also taking delivery of a 767-200 in October after leasing a 767-300 in July. MasAir recently began flying a 767 for DHL Express between Los Angeles and Mexico.
ATSG has delivered aircraft to nine companies located in five countries.
Chief Commercial Officer Mike Bergerr said scheduled deliveries for 2021 already exceed this year’s total.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
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