Cargo Facts Connect

After beginning revenue service with Australia’s first Beech 1900D Super Freighter at the end of May, GAM Air will soon take delivery of another.The carrier signed a deal this year to purchase three aircraft from Provo, Utah-based Alpine Air Express to operate for Team Global Express in Australia under a ten-year contract. The first unit (UE-254) arrived in April.GAM Air started to seriously evaluate the Beech 1900D Super Freighter about two years ago, when Alpine Air Express, which holds the only STC to convert the type, began marketing it.“We started doing some numbers on the airframe then with what we did know, just from a soft approach to see if that was the right sort of aircraft for our client, and it was really the only aircraft in the market — and still is,” GAM Air Chief Executive Carl Jepsen says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “They had a point of difference against the Metros, the Dornier 228, and it blew the socks off the SkyCourier as well.“So for us, and what we do in Australia, the routes that we have, the speed we need and the payload we carry, it was the perfect airplane.”The deal with GAM has opened more opportunities for Alpine as interest has grown, Alpine Chief Operating Officer Bob Frisch says.“I think that this airplane fits a really good niche and it’s got that specific market,” he says. “And I think people are starting to look at that not only because of that niche that they have, but also just at the other replacements and the other costs of the airplanes, and what this can do.”Alpine CEO Michael Dancy says he would be reluctant to sell any Beech 1900D freighters to other operators in the United States.“I think the whole idea is I just don’t want them showing up next to me,” he says. “But there is so much interest from these aircraft in Canada, in Europe, in Africa and so forth.”For now, Dancy is happy to have GAM Air as a partner in Australia and wants to see the Australian carrier be as successful as possible.“So, we’d love for them to be the only operator in Australia, because for us, that's a great relationship,” he says. “We know how advantageous that is.”Tune in to this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more about the Beech 1900D as Dancy, Jepsen and Frisch speak with Editor Jeff Lee, Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke and Associate Editor Jay Aelick.

With the thirty-first annual Cargo Facts Symposium less than a week away, Cargo Facts checked in with four event speakers to discuss some key industry developments that attendees will hear about at the event.A highlight will be a panel discussion on the various 777 conversions, Anna Kopinski, director of asset valuations at mba Aviation, says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.”“I’m actually really excited to discuss [the 777] because we’ve been monitoring this aircraft and these converted 777s, only one is coming into service and we’re still waiting on the -200LR, but I think it’s a very interesting space that people are keeping an eye on,” she says.Mammoth began certification flights with its 777-200LRMF prototype with the FAA in September.“We’re still looking forward to getting the STC in 2025,” Mammoth Chief Executive Bill Tarpley says on “Cargo Facts Connect.” “That’ll allow us to finish up and deliver at least six of the seven airplanes we have in work.”Meanwhile, in the narrowbody segment, 2025 continued to be slow, but 2026 may see a slight pickup in activity.As a lessor supporting some of the smaller carriers in the industry, Hamden Aviation had to become more flexible with its narrowbody freighter customers this year, Executive Vice President Dora Alexander tells Cargo Facts.“I think we’re seeing a lot shorter planning times from a leasing perspective,” she says. “It certainly has provided us with an extra level of challenge trying to meet the needs of our lessees, whether it’s on a question of swapping out engines or expanding their fleet needs.”The high demand for narrowbody engines in the passenger sector this year has not only proven to be a challenge for lessors but for conversion companies as well.AEI hopes to complete six to ten 737-800SF conversions in 2026. That number will depend solely on the availability of CFM56-7B engines, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Bob Convey says.“If the demand is there for hopefully six to ten conversions, customers have got to, in most cases, find and acquire feedstock on the spot,” he says. “And again, if the engines are just too expensive, that’s going to be very difficult to do.”AEI will also unveil its next conversion program at Cargo Facts Symposium 2025.Hear a preview of the discussions to come at the event as Kopinski, Tarpley, Alexander and Convey speak with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee and Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke in this episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.”

Airfreight technology provider CargoAi is using advanced AI software to automate quoting, tracking, emailing and payments.The company this week launched a unified AI agent to integrate multiple AI functions and tools into a single autonomous software solution.“The next stage of this AI revolution is the AI agent,” CargoAi founder and Chief Executive Matt Petot says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” in a discussion on the tool’s development.CargoCoPilot Agent can automate responses to up to 50% of the emails received by airlines and freight forwarders, according to the company. The multilingual agent can also operate across WhatsApp, partner platforms and CargoAi’s CargoMart platform.The agent, CargoAi said, can:Track air waybills with real-time updates;Perform rate and capacity searches using plain language, such as “300 kg SIN to JFK next Tue”;Auto-book directly in airline systems; andProvide answers to questions relating to ground handling, surcharges, contacts and other frequently asked questions.CargoCoPilot will enable users to increase productivity as if they had far more employees, Petot said.“In terms of coding, we have twenty developers in our team,” he said. “We had twenty developers last year, but now every developer is using AI agents, and the output of our developers is much more than before. It's forecasted to double at the end of the year, and that's really exactly the same that I think we can do with airlines.”In this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” hear about the air cargo industry’s growing embrace of AI and new technologies being launched as CargoAi’s Petot speaks with Cargo Facts Deputy Editor Yael Katzwer.

French Polynesia-based Motu Link Airline will soon provide dedicated freighter service across the French Polynesian archipelago as part of the startup’s strategy to align with local ocean shippers and freight forwarders to establish a reliable logistics support system for businesses and residents.“Motu Link Airline was created to meet a clear logistical need across French Polynesia's widely dispersed islands,” Chief Executive Alexandre Mu says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “The project was licensed in 2021 and was restructured in 2024 after market analysis to focus exclusively on dedicated inter-island cargo operations.”The French Polynesian archipelago has 120 islands, which together are as large as Europe when including the ocean areas between the islands, making it very difficult to provide logistical support to the residents, Head of Marketing and Communications Judith Rodriguez says.Local carriers such as Air Tahiti Nui and Air Moana tend to focus more on passenger service, so most cargo is distributed by ocean vessels, which could take as long as three weeks to reach the remote islands in the archipelago, Rodriguez said.Motu took a different approach to acquiring its 2004-vintage ATR 72-500F (713, ex-Binter Canarias) when the startup received more than $3.6 million from the local islanders through crowdfunding.“We are really looking forward to starting operations because there are high expectations from Islanders around the project,” Mu says. “It will bring many benefits to our economy and further open up our islands.”In this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” hear about the carrier’s unorthodox approach to securing investment capital through crowdfunding and perspective of the local market as Rodriguez and Mu speak with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee and Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke.

Awesome Cargo is on the cusp of putting its first A330-200P2F into service, joining a small group of carriers operating the type. “We’re going to paint the aircraft — that’s going to take a couple of weeks — and then the aircraft is going straight into service as soon as we get it registered.,” Awesome Cargo founder and Chief Executive Luis Ramos says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Air Cargo Europe 2025 in Munich this week. The 2011-vintage, CF6-powered aircraft (1252, ex-ITA Airways) is the first of three A330-200P2Fs Awesome will lease from Air Lease and will soon depart EFW’s facility in Dresden (DRS). The second unit (1218) is nearing completion at DRS while the third (1225) will soon enter conversion, Ramos says. By mid-2026, Awesome aims to have all three A330-200P2Fs flying trans-Pacific routes. “For the time being, we still believe Asia, Mexico, the U.S. and Latin America are where we want to operate right now,” Ramos says. “The complexities of extending routes to other markets and other regions with our current setup would be a little aggressive and maybe even a little irresponsible.” Awesome is the second A330-200P2F Mexican operator after Mas. Six other carriers operate the type:Air China Cargo;EgyptAir;Qantas;Air Belgium;Turkmenistan Airlines; andCapital Airlines.Awesome Cargo received its Mexican AOC in October 2023 after emerging as a cargo operator earlier that year. Until now, the new carrier had only been flying units 1218 and 1225 with reversibly reconfigured Class E main decks. “I can’t tell you what the future will bring, but I can tell you that our guard will be up, and I can tell you that we’re going to be enjoying every process and every step of the way,” Ramos says. Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on Awesome as Ramos speaks with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee at Air Cargo Europe 2025 in Munich.

BBN Airlines will soon become the newest widebody-freighter operator in Turkey when it starts flying the first Mammoth Freighters 777-300ERMF conversion. The carrier ventured into the freighter market in 2023, shortly after it got its AOC, with an A321-200P2F (2005, ex-Red Wings) on lease from BBAM and leased another (1094, ex-Aer Lingus) toward the end of that year. “We started with two. We were a little bit hesitant about the third one, to be perfectly honest,” Fleet Director Douglas Anderson says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 in Istanbul this week. “The third one came, and now we’re talking about perhaps a fourth, because all the business we have with Turkish Airlines is enough for three aircraft, potentially four, and then we do our own ad hoc operations as well, and that’s gradually growing,” Anderson says. The third freighter (1670, ex-Air Busan) joined BBN’s fleet in September 2024, also on lease from BBAM. BBN is set to expand even further and enter the widebody segment. The carrier will lease the prototype 777-300ERMF (35299, ex-Nordwind Airlines) from AviaAM Leasing after completion and certification. “We see that we can’t have one aircraft — it just doesn’t make sense,” Anderson says. “So, we’re probably looking at three, perhaps four. Again, initially, it’ll be with Turkish Airlines, because that’s the easiest way when you’ve only one aircraft, to potentially setting up our own little operation between the Far East and the U.S., pending tariffs, bringing it into Istanbul and then spreading it out using the network.” However, a lack of Turkish pilots is constraining growth, he says. Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on BBN as Anderson speaks with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 in Istanbul. See more coverage of Cargo Facts EMEA 2025.

Astral Aviation is kicking off the next phase of its fleet expansion with the imminent arrival of its first 767-300 freighter. With two more 767s potentially following in 2025, Astral has obtained its own aircraft maintenance organization certification and will soon conduct its own C check on its 767-200BDSF for the first time. “In the past, we’ve always outsourced the C checks, but now we’re going to do it ourselves,” Astral founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at the IATA World Cargo Symposium 2025 in Dubai this week. “So, we’re really excited, because it’s a C4 check and it’s going to be done in-house in Kenya at the Kenya Airways hangar.” Astral had expected the 1988-vintage, CF6-powered 767-300BDSF (24146, ex-Amerijet) by the end of 2024 but delays meant the carrier missed the yearend peak season. “I think the biggest problem that we are all facing right now is the delays,” Gadhia says. “There was a time when those delays were never there, and the delays were there only for the production freighters. Now we are seeing a situation where leased aircraft are also experiencing delays, either because of engine-related issues or avionics.” The 767-300BDSF is the second new freighter type in the past six months for Astral, which received a 1992-vintage 737-400F (27082, ex-Alaska Airlines) on lease from Avmax in late 2024. While the global airfreight market tries to navigate the fallout from the trade war, Astral and Kenya are not too concerned. “I still believe that Africa would really benefit from this whole opportunity, because generally Africa, with the exception of South Africa and two other countries, is at 10%,” Gadhia says, referring to the tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump recently imposed on goods from countries around the world.

IATA and carbon-inset platform 123Carbon are developing interoperability between their sustainable aviation fuel registries to increase transparency, avoid emissions reporting errors and streamline certificate management.The IATA SAF Registry, scheduled to launch in April, aims to help create a global SAF market, IATA stated in January. The registry is designed to enable airlines to document SAF benefits to show compliance with regulatory and voluntary obligations.The interoperability will focus on three elements: Unique coding and alignment of relevant data points to exchange between registries; A process for the exchange of information to avoid double issuance; and A dispute resolution process.“Registry interoperability can be quite a few things,” Jeroen van Heiningen, founder and managing director of 123Carbon, says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “What we’re doing now is to avoid the redundancies and the double issuance, so to make sure that fuel is not registered on a registry twice, [which could] lead to double counting. It also means that we are aligning the data models that we are using. We’re using the same taxonomy and using the same wording.”123Carbon’s platform supports fuel suppliers, fleet operators, forwarders and cargo owners in the issuance, management and transfer of environmental attribute certificates (EAC). EACs represent carbon reductions that have been achieved, such as those achieved through SAF, and are then allocated to freight forwarders, cargo owners and others.The company also offers a book-and-claim solution to SAF suppliers and airlines to allocate company-branded SAF EACs to customers in a private environment.IATA and the International Civil Aviation Organization have said SAF is the most reliable way to eliminate carbon emissions from aviation in the next twenty-five years. IATA set an aviation industry target of reaching net-zero by 2050.Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on 123Carbon as van Heiningen speaks with Cargo Facts Deputy Editor Yael Katzwer.