The aircraft was the last of four ex-Qatar Airways freighters operated by Air Belgium under a CMI deal with French logistics giant CMA CGM. The other three were already moved to the firm's in-house carrier CMA CGM Air Cargo.
The airline's cargo fleet comprises two A330-200(P2F)s and three B747-8Fs (of which one is parked for maintenance). It also operates two A330-200s and two A330-900s. The carrier is currently in judicial restructuring after exiting its "chronically unprofitable" scheduled passenger operations.
The airline said deliveries are scheduled from 2024 to 2026. The four Airbus converted freighters will complement rather than replace SkyTaxi's existing fleet, which comprises two B767-200(SF)s. The Polish cargo specialist is also planning to add a third B767 in the near future, although it admitted that the availability of the type on the market was very limited.
SkyTaxi told ch-aviation it was too early to discuss the identity of the A330-300(P2F)s.
Both SkyTaxi B767s are also leased from Cargo Aircraft Management. The leasing unit of Air Transport Services Group does not own any A330s at this moment, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows, but has conversion slots for 29 units under an agreement with Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW). While the lessor has traditionally focused on widebody Boeing freighters (as well as a small number of B757-200(C)s), it recently acquired two A321-200s as its first Airbus aircraft. Both will be placed with Malaysia's Raya Airways post conversion.
Air Belgium (KF, Brussels Charleroi) will operate two of its four incoming A330-200(F)s under a CMI agreement with French shipping giant CMA CGM, which has reportedly set up a subsidiary to own the dedicated freighters, The Loadstar has reported citing internal sources.
The Belgian carrier recently announced that initially, it would add four of the freighters, growing to six, as it seeks to diversify away from its reliance on A340-300-operated passenger services. While the carrier did not formally confirm the type, it has been reported that it would add four ex-Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) A330-200(F)s.
Sources told The Loadstar that at least two of the aircraft - thus far owned by Qatar Airways - will be acquired by CMA CGM through its new unit CMA CGM Air Cargo. They will subsequently be dry-leased to Air Belgium, which will operate them on behalf of the shipping firm.
CMA CGM remains in talks with Groupe Dubreuil, the owner of Air Caraibes, Air Caraibes Atlantique, and French Bee, regarding the potential acquisition of a 30% stake. In a September 2020 Memorandum of Understanding, CMA CGM underlined its plan to use the bellyhold cargo capacity onboard A350s operated by Groupe Dubreuil's airlines. However, as the talks dragged on inconclusively towards the end of the year, CMA CGM was said to have been leaning towards setting up its own cargo carrier instead. The privately-held shipping giant did not comment on the reports. Talks with Groupe Dubreuil are formally ongoing and are expected to conclude either way in February 2021.
Qatar Airways Has Retired All Of Its Airbus A330 Freighters
As of yesterday, Qatar Airways’ cargo division is no longer operating the Airbus A330 freighter. Its remaining four A330-200Fs were taken out of service in light of the recent triple-Boeing 777F delivery, which took place at the start of the month.
One of the airlines’ A330 freighters had already been sold to Wizz Air, which is operating it on behalf of the Hungarian government. Photo: Airbus
The outgoing Airbus freighters
STAT Trade Times, who interviewed Qatar Airways Chief Officer Cargo, Guillaume Halleux, confirmed the departure of the freighters. As part of the interview, Halleux said the following:
“We had five A330 freighters. We sold one of them in August last year. And the remaining were planned to exit. Therefore, as on January 31, they will be out of our fleet.”
The final four Airbus freighters were A330-200s registered as A7-AFG, AFH, AFI, and AFJ. These freighters are relatively young as they range between just five and six years of age.
The delayed phase-out
Qatar Airways had actually planned to remove its A330 freighters earlier than January 2021. In fact, November 2020 was the original phase-out time. However, this had been pushed back due to delays in Boeing’s delivery of new 777 freighters.
The airline has been phasing out these jets, with three leaving in 2019, leaving the company with five in 2020. The first of these five was to be removed in April 2020. However, with the onset of the global health crisis, this was moved back to July-August.
Interestingly, the sale of the one A330 last summer was to Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air. According to The Load Star, the Hungarian government had apparently been facing criticism for being unable to procure air freight capacity during the PPE peak. Its response was to purchase an A330-200F from Qatar Airways. Wizz Air is the official operator of the jet, but the aircraft’s main work is on behalf of the Hungarian government.
Avianca Cargo Airbus A330-200 Diverts To Madrid Over Electrical Degradation
An Avianca Cargo A330-200 freighter experienced ‘electrical degradation’ over Northern Ireland on August 29th, 2020, just outside of Belfast. The A330 was flying from Amsterdam to Miami when the crew reported a ‘minor technical problem’ as it was flying just over Northern Ireland. The flight initially diverted to its origin at Amsterdam but was subsequently directed to divert to Madrid instead.
According to The Aviation Herald, the Avianca Cargo Airbus A330-200 freighter was performing flight QT4046 from Amsterdam to Miami, having taken off at 19:35 local time. Flying at FL340 about 60nm west of the Northern Ireland capital of Belfast, the crew decided to return to Amsterdam, citing a minor technical problem as their reason.
The aircraft descended to FL180 for its return to Amsterdam. Nearing Amsterdam, the crew descended the aircraft to FL100, advising the airport that no assistance and no emergency services were needed. They further reported that they just had an electrical degradation in their plane, preventing the Oceanic crossing.
A short time later, the crew reported to Amsterdam that their company had requested that they divert to Madrid instead and climbed to FL230. Redirecting to Madrid, the aircraft performed a safe landing about five and a half hours after they decided to turn back to Amsterdam while over Northern Ireland.
The aircraft is still on the ground in Madrid at the time of this article’s publication. There are no future flights listed for the plane yet.
About the aircraft
The aircraft is an A330-200 freighter registered as N331QT. The aircraft, according to Airfleets, is just over seven and a half years old and first entered service with cargo airline TAMPA. This airline was subsequently renamed and merged to become Avianca Cargo, and the aircraft carried over to the new company in May of 2013.
Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad Int'l) is planning to retain its five A330-200(F)s through at least the end of 2020 or later if demand for cargo remains high, Chief Officer Cargo Guillaume Halleux told The STAT Times.
"A few of our A330-200(F)s that were due to leave the fleet are now being retained to keep up with demand until the crisis eases. The plan was to progressively exit them, but under the current conditions we would like to keep them until the end of this year," Halleux said.
The airline initially planned to retire the five freighters between April and November 2020. The aircraft are just five years old on average and were due to be replaced by B777-Fs. Qatar Airways owns all five of the Airbus freighters, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows.
Halleux underlined that the decision to retain the A330-200(F)s does not mean that the deliveries of the B777-F(s) will be slowed down or deferred.
"We will continue to receive our five new B777 freighters that were supposed to replace the A330(F)s," he said.
Qatar Airways already operates and owns twenty-one B777-F(s). It has a further five on order directly from Boeing. According to the original schedule, three of these aircraft should be delivered by the end of 2020 and the other two in 2021. The airline's cargo fleet also includes two B747-8(F)s.
Halleux added that given ample dedicated-freighter capacity available to Qatar Airways, the airline has decided against reconfiguring any of its passenger aircraft into makeshift freighters.
"We have 28 freighters. That is a massive main deck capacity, without being desperate to the point of using the cabin of the passenger flight. I am not saying it is bad. I am saying is it is extremely labour intensive, and it takes a lot of time. I have a faster, quicker and more reliable solution with my freighters and therefore we chose not to do it," he claimed.
The lessor said in a statement that the remaining two airframes - msn 1386 and 1350 - will deliver before year-end.
The aircraft will form the backbone of Sichuan Airlines Logistics Co. (SALCO), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sichuan Airlines. SALCO plans to use the widebody freighters to open up longhaul routes to Europe, Brussels National being among its initial destinations.
Qatar Airways' Acting Chief Cargo Officer, Guillaume Halleux, says the Gulf-based carrier is planning to whittle down its A330-200(F) fleet given changing market dynamics.
In an interview with CargoFacts, Halleux said Qatar Airways would not renew leases on three A330 freighters when they expire in 2019. On their departure from the fleet, they will be replaced with larger B777-Fs of which are expected later this year.
According to Halleux, the A330s are ideal for testing a new route or market response to increased frequencies. But once it becomes apparent that the full capacity of a B777F can be used, the operating costs justify the switch to the larger aircraft. As such, Qatar Airways does not have enough new or untested routes to justify retaining the Airbus freighters.
Similarly, Halleux downplayed the prospect of additional B747-8(F)s being acquired stating that the type was suited to particular niche markets such as Seoul Incheon and Hong Kong Int'l where it can find takers for the aircraft's 140 tonne-capacity.
Qatar Airways Cargo currently operates eight A330-200(F)s, two B747-8(F)s, and thirteen B777-Fs. It currently has three more B777(F)s on order from Boeing and has also signed a Letter of Intent for five more.
As the first A330-300 to undergo such a conversion, EI-HEA will be placed into service for DHL Express which has six firm conversions lined up.
According to the ch-aviation aircraft database, ASL Airlines Ireland's freighter fleet also includes four A300-600(F)s, six ATR42-300(F)s, fifteen ATR72-200(F)s, two ATR72-200(F)s, one B737-300(F), and six B737-400(F)s.
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