Air Atlanta Icelandic to resume passenger ops, fleet revamp

Saudia orders seven Mammoth-converted B777 freighters

Saudia (SV, Jeddah) has placed an order with Mammoth Freighters for seven current generation B777 converted freighters and will establish a conversion centre at Jeddah in cooperation with the American firm.

The Saudi flag carrier said initial conversions will be executed by Mammoth at its GDC Technics facility at Fort Worth Alliance airport. It did not disclose whether this would cover the entire batch of seven aircraft or just some of them. The deal also includes a further five purchase rights.

Saudia did not disclose whether it would add B777-200(LR)(MF)s or B777-300(ER)(MF)s. It provided no details about induction timelines, the aircraft's identity, or whether they would be sourced internally from the airline's fleet of passenger B777s. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that Saudia operates thirty-five B777-300(ER)s.

The conversion centre at Jeddah airport will be run by the carrier's MRO arm, Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI), using Mammoth's Supplemental Type Certificate (STC).

The American firm backed by Fortress Investment Group plans to obtain STCs for both...

Air Atlanta Icelandic “requested 69 military cargo flights”

Kenya's Astral Aviation to add A320P2Fs, eyes widebodies

Astral Aviation (8V, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) will become the A320-200(P2F)'s global launch operator after it announced it would lease two aircraft of the type from ST Engineering through Vaayu Group.

The first of the pair, msn 2737, is currently completing its P2F conversion process at Singapore Seletar ahead of its delivery to Kenya in May 2022. Though it has yet to enter the conversion line, the second aircraft, msn 2724, will tentatively arrive in January 2023, Astral's chief executive, Sanjeev Gadhia, told ch-aviation.

Together, the two A320 freighters will supplement Astral's existing fleet of two B727-200(F)s, one B767-200(SF), one DC-9-30(CF), one Fokker 27(F), alongside two B747-400(F)s wet-leased from Air Atlanta Icelandic (CC, Reykjavik Keflavik). The carrier is also due three B757-200(PCF)s from US-based Aquila Air Capital.

The A320P2F can handle 10 ULD containers + one pallet position on the main deck, and seven ULD containers on the lower deck. It can haul a payload of 17 tonnes up to 4,700 kilometres and 21...

Editorial Comment: Corrects aircraft ownership - 15.02.2022 - 08:19 UTC

Air Atlanta Icelandic adds B747-400(M)

Air Atlanta Icelandic (CC, Reykjavik Keflavik) has added its first B747-400(M) combi freighter on dry-lease from JetOneX, the Icelandic register has shown.

At 24.3 years of age, TF-AMH (msn 28551) was formerly operated as a government transport by the Dubai Air Wing (DUB, Dubai Int'l) as A6-HMM, the ch-aviation fleets history module shows. JetOneX is also planning to acquire sistership A6-COM (msn 25074). It is not clear if the second aircraft will also be placed with Air Atlanta Icelandic. The carrier did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment.

The two B747-400(M)s constitute half of the type's global fleet. The remaining two are also owned by JetOneX and placed with Bermuda's Longtail Aviation (LGT, Bermuda), although they have remained inactive since their acquisition by the American ACMI/charter carrier.

Air Atlanta Iceland's fleet is built around the B747 Family with three B747-400s, one B747-400(BCF), five B747-400(BDSF), three B747-400FSCDs, and now the B747-400(M). It also operates one A340-300 and two A340-600s in a...