Passenger Aircraft being converted to Freighters as Corporate Travel Growth Lags

coracle News

While leisure air travel has increased this year, business travel has faced a much slower return. Many offices remain closed, employees are reluctant to travel, and conferences and trade shows stay mostly virtual. These conditions will change, as business leaders still believe face to face interaction is valuable. Deloitte estimates that by the end of 2022, corporations will be spending 65-80% of their 2019 travel budget.1

The slow growth in passenger travel has led airlines to shift their focus to meeting the accelerated growth in air cargo shipments. Many airlines are looking to sell or lease their passenger fleets. Delta Airlines recently sold 10 777-200LR aircraft to Mammoth Freighters LLC, who are converting them into all-cargo planes.2 Philippine Airlines will reduce its fleet by 24% returning 22 aircraft it was leasing. The airline doesn’t expect a return to pre-pandemic levels of air travel until 2024-2025.3 All this is changing the landscape of air cargo moving forward.


Sources:
1. Return to a world transformed: How the pandemic is reshaping corporate travel, Deloitte Insights, Aug 2, 2021. Accessed Sept 14, 2021.
2. 777 aircraft conversions: Mammoth Freighters takes on the ‘Big Twin’, Freight Waves, Sept 9, 2021. Accessed Sept 14, 2021

3. Philippine Airlines to return 22 planes, reassures on survival, Reuters, Sept 7, 2021, Accessed Sept 14, 2021.