Cargolux (CV, Luxembourg) is eyeing growth in the ACMI business on top of its core business of scheduled cargo operations, CEO Richard Forson told The Loadstar.

The cargo specialist is trying to capitalise on the dwindling fleet of freighter aircraft operated by airlines which run both passenger and cargo units.

"Lots of combination carriers have no freighters on order, so we expect the number of widebody freighters in service to decline. B747(F)s, in particular, will be quite an asset. It will depend on other products - maybe Boeing will bring out a B777XF, but at the moment it’s just the B777-F, and that is complementary to the B747. A certain amount of freight will always move on B747s," Forson said.

The airline currently operates ten B747-400(F)s and fourteen B747-8(F)s. Its subsidiary Cargolux Italia (C8, Milan Malpensa) has a further four -400(F)s.

Forson underlined that airlines might be interested in freighter aircraft but will not want to operate them themselves. Cargolux is already engaging in ACMI business on a short-term basis, mostly during maintenance of other aircraft.

The ch-aviation fleets module shows that out of Cargolux's twenty-four B747s, one is currently wet-leased to Emirates (EK, Dubai International).