US’s Western Global Airlines in creditor talks - report

US's Western Global Airlines axes B777F order - reports

Western Global Airlines (KD, Fort Myers Southwest Florida) has reportedly cancelled an order for two B777-200Fs, according to a Cargo Facts report based on notes accompanying a Moody's March 23, 2023, credit downgrade report for the cargo airline.

Citing reasons for the airline's corporate family rating downgrade from B2 to Caa1, and its senior unsecured rating to Caa2 from B3, Moody's noted that all of Western Global's assets are encumbered, limiting the airline's ability to raise additional capital, and that the current USD47.5 million revolving credit facility would remain fully utilised "even after the company receives a return of certain deposits associated with its now aborted agreement to purchase two B777-F aircraft from the Boeing company."

In February 2022, ch-aviation reported the order for the pair of twin-jet freighters, for which it made a downpayment of approximately USD13 million. Boeing's latest order and delivery information, valid as of March 31, shows the Western Global B777Fs as still pending. Boeing declined to confirm the cancellation, deferring to Western Global Airlines, who did not...

FedEx Express plots MD-11F phase-out

FedEx Express (FX, Memphis International) is eyeing the gradual phase-out of its MD-11F freighters, although it has yet to finalise the plan and announce a specific retirement date, FedEx President and Chief Operating Officer Raj Subramaniam said during a quarterly investor call.

"One part of this effort [to cut costs] is to reconfigure our air network. This requires many steps, including plans currently being developed to phase out our fleet of MD-11Fs... We come to a fork in the road here: are we going to see a high-demand environment or a low-demand environment? The MD-11F was that flex fleet. And as we now look at the demand environment, we don't see that high demand coming through," he explained.

The integrator's quarterly report shows it operating fifty-eight MD-11Fs as of February 28, 2023, although the ch-aviation fleets advanced module indicates that only 51 remain active, with a further 14 in storage. The average age of this subfleet is 29.6 years. While FedEx owns the majority of its MD-11Fs, the firm said two are...

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