Converting a Boeing 767-300ER to a cargo plane.Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com and Israeli Aerospace Industries
- Cargo carriers and e-commerce giants are buying up aging airliners and turning them into cargo jets.
- Israel Aerospace Industries is one conversion firm that the likes of Amazon have entrusted with their planes.
- The process can take up to around 120 days, and slots are booked years in advance.
A unique fleet of aircraft is fueling the explosive growth of e-commerce as consumers turn to online shopping during the pandemic and retailers promise faster-than-ever delivery times.
And while air travel remains signifcantly lower due to COVID-19, some former passenger aircraft are avoiding early retirement by finding a second life moving cargo. Logistics giants, meanwhile, are using the airline industry's downturn to grow their fleets by acquiring aging passenger aircraft for a fraction of what they'd sell for new.
Amazon, for example, bought 11 Boeing 767-300ER passenger aircraft from Delta Air Lines and Canada's WestJet in January for cargo conversion. While the pandemic had rendered the planes obsolete for flying passengers, they're now prime candidates to fly packages instead.
But converting a passenger plane into a cargo carrier isn't as easy as just taking out the seats. The aircraft also needs to be extensively retrofitted to handle the inanimate payload. It's months-long process currently can only be done by a handful of firms around the world, and the conversion can often cost as much as the planes themselves.
Luckily, business is booming.
Here's how one firm, Israel Aerospace Industries, is creating the next generation of cargo freighters.