DHL Express ends Bergamo, Italy operations

Latvia’s SmartLynx Airlines to increase fleet to 60 by YE22

SmartLynx Airlines (6Y, Riga) plans to increase the number of aircraft it operates to 60 this year, almost doubling the size of its fleet, its chief executive Žygimantas Surintas revealed in a statement on March 31. This will include taking delivery of its first B737-8.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Baltic ACMI/charter specialist SmartLynx, which is part of Lithuania-based, Cyprus-registered Avia Solutions Group, currently operates 14 aircraft under its own AOC, plus five under SmartLynx Airlines Estonia (MYX, Tallinn Lennart Meri) and another 17 at its Maltese unit SmartLynx Airlines Malta (LYX, Malta Int'l).

These thirty-six jets are twenty A320-200s, eight A321-200s, one A321-200(PCF), one A321-200(P2F), and six A330-300s. Recent ACMI customers have included Air Peace, Royal Air Maroc, Norwegian Air Sweden AOC, Qatar Airways, and, in the case of the two freighters, EAT Leipzig for DHL Express.

Surintas said the carrier was expecting delivery of five aircraft during April, including its first B737-8...

Qatar Airways adds wet-leased A330s for US cargo flights

Latvia's SmartLynx to add six A330-300P2Fs

SmartLynx Airlines (6Y, Riga) says it will lease six A330-300(P2F)s from Air Transport Services Group on six-year contracts with the first due to complete P2F conversion and deliver in 2023.

“The introduction of the A330-300 is a logical step and one which creates relevant synergies with the rest of our fleet – A330 Pax and A321F units – and as an aircraft which will see increased popularity in a post-Covid environment," Zygimantas Surintas, CEO of SmartLynx Airlines, said. "For us, the move comes as part of our fleet modernisation strategy providing greater capacity and efficiency and is another step towards SmartLynx Airlines becoming a leading global player in the air cargo marketplace.”

The jets will presumably be placed on the Latvian holdings' SmartLynx Airlines Malta (LYX, Malta Int'l) AOC which already includes five A330-300 preighters as well as one A321-200(P2F) and one A321-200(PCF). It also includes seven A320-200s and two A321-200s. The two A321Fs are wet-leased out to EAT Leipzig (QY, Leipzig/Halle) which uses...

DHL Express orders six more B777 freighters

DHL Express says it has ordered six more B777-Fs from Boeing (BOE, Washington National), bringing its overall backlog for the type to twenty-eight. And while it did not disclose which of its platforms would take the jets or when they would be delivered, Geoff Kehr, senior vice president, Global Air Fleet Management, DHL Express, did confirm they would be used to connect DHL's global hubs at Cincinnati Int'l, Leipzig/Halle, and Hong Kong Int'l and to serve other key markets.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, DHL Express has five B777-Fs in service with Kalitta Air, one with DHL Air, eight with Atlas Air, and twenty with its AeroLogic joint-venture.