US's Eastern Airlines to debut B777 pax, cargo ops in 1Q22

Emirates to convert more of its own B777-300(ER)s

Emirates (EK, Dubai Int'l) has signed a commitment to convert six of its own B777-300(ER)s into freighters, increasing its total order for converted B777-300(ER)s to ten units.

The airline did not clarify whether the additional six units would also be converted by Israel Aerospace Industries under its B777-300(ER)(SF) programme, like the first four announced in November 2021. The Israeli MRO firm has yet to obtain a supplemental type certificate for its conversion of the widebody twinjet. Mammoth Freighters and Eastern Airlines are independently planning to certify their own B777 conversion variants.

Emirates told Cargo Facts it had yet to identify which of its B777-300(ER)s it will convert. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that the carrier operates 124 B777-300(ER)s, of which it owns 64.

The airline's current cargo fleet comprises eleven B777-200Fs with one more due for delivery from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) this month. It plans to return two of the B777-200Fs leased from DAE Capital as the converted -300(ER)s start delivering to...

US's Eastern Airlines to debut B777 ops in 2H22

US's Eastern Airlines secures first cargo deal, misses ETOPS

Eastern Airlines (2D, Miami Int'l) has announced the signing of an agreement with Flexport to operate its future B777 Express Freighter aircraft out of Chicago O'Hare to Hong Kong Int'l and Ho Chi Minh City.

The transpacific flights are due to be run 2x weekly. Eastern Airlines did not disclose whether it would use a B777-200 or a B777-300 in its in-house conversion variant. It also did not disclose a specific timeline, saying only that operations would become once the conversion is approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"There is an urgent demand to develop new solutions that alleviate the constricted global cargo market. Our partnership with Flexport, combining the large volume of our B777 Express Freighter with Flexport's leading-edge eCommerce technology and logistics platform, will fill that unmet need and add new capacity to the global cargo market," President and Chief Executive Steve Harfst said.

However, the plans have hit an unrelated snag after the airline was denied its ETOPS certificate, necessary to operate transpacific...

US's Eastern Airlines takes first B777-300(ER)

Eastern Airlines (2D, Miami Int'l) has taken delivery of its first B777-300(ER) in the form of N776KW (msn 32650), ch-aviation research has revealed.

The 15.3-year-old Boeing aircraft was ordered and operated by ANA - All Nippon Airways through March 2021. In April 2021, it was ferried for storage to Mojave. It was re-registered in the United States by Eastern Airlines on February 3, 2022, although it remains parked in California.

The airline is currently at an early stage of its planned expansion into the B777 market. Hitherto a B767 operator, Eastern Airlines announced in September 2021 that it had acquired a total of thirty-five B777s to convert them into freighters under its own Supplemental Type Certificate (STC). Chief Executive Steve Harfst later clarified later to ch-aviation that the pool comprised eleven B777-200s, fifteen B777-200(ER)s, seven B777-300s, and two B777-300(ER)s. Eastern plans to gradually induct them in line with demand and will deploy some as passenger aircraft on charter routes prior to conversion.

Besides the B777s,...