Qatar Airways Cargo is now expecting its first Mammoth Freighters 777-200LRMF conversion in January, but the airline remains confident the delay represents months rather than years
Qatar Airways Cargo may face delays in receiving its first 777 freighter conversions from Mammoth Freighters due to the federal government shutdown in the US.
The Doha-headquartered airline had decided to invest in five 777-200LRMF aircraft from the Fort Worth, Texas-based conversion company partly because of the delays to delivery for its new generation Boeing 777-8Fs, and was due to receive the first and second 777-200LRMFs this quarter as the launch customer for the conversion freighter.
But while Mammoth is close to securing Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the 777-200LRMF, Mark Drusch, chief cargo officer at Qatar Airways, told Air Cargo News (ACN) that the contined US government shutdown has delayed the certification process and the first aircraft is now expected in January.
“That timeline is still indeterminate, because the US government shutdown means that the certification process has slowed down," said Drusch in an interview with ACN at the air cargo Southeast Asia conference and exhibition.
“We need to see how much work can get done and how long the shutdown will be to determine when we get (the aircraft). Right now, we are assuming that we get the first aircraft in January.”
Drusch said the government shutdown, whch has been in place since 1 October, could potentially push back the deliveries of all five aircraft, but pointed out that disruption in the air cargo industry is routine and expected now, with tariffs and the end of the de minimis exemption impacting trade and supply chain flows throughout this year.
“We were expecting to get the first and second aircraft this quarter," added Drusch. Until we really know when the first one comes, we won’t know when units two through five arrive.”
“It’s a waiting game, which is not the best thing when you’re trying to plan a business. But the whole industry is in a waiting game right now with uncertainty."
However, Drusch stated that Qatar Airways Cargo is not concerned about the delays, because the deliveries are a matter of when, not if.
“Those airplanes are going to come. It’s just a matter of what month. So I’m not worried. It’s not like they could be two or three years delayed. It’s not a longer term issue.”
Further, Mammoth believes the first aircraft may still be delivered before the end of the year.
Brian McCarthy, vice president of marketing & sales for Mammoth, told ACN: "The government shut down, did affect us for a couple of weeks when the FAA was not in the office. But we are now fully engaged with the FAA and they do have representatives working on this program for us at this very moment. They have also agreed to do a timeline that looks very promising for us to get this done before the end of the year."
McCarthy explained that Mammoth is yet carry out a couple of flights witnessed by the FAA, but these will be completed between 20-23 November and then the 777-200LRMF should enter type inspection authorization (TIA) status to await the final administrative processes before the STC is granted.
After the STC is granted, Mammoth will be able to begin handing over the 777-200LRMFs to Qatar Airways Cargo.
Mammoth told ACN in August that it had been carrying out company and formal Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) test flights for the 777-200LRMF and planned to complete these by early October.
In September, Mammoth was undertaking final test flights for the 777-200LRMF as it progressed towards STC for the aircraft.
In May, Qatar Airways Cargo was confirmed as the launch customer for Mammoth’s 777-200 conversion programme after signing an agreement for five of the aircraft with Texas-located lessor Jetran.
Drusch told ACN in June that the one of the main reasons for Qatar Airways’ recent deal for converted Boeing 777 aircraft was delays to the delivery of the new 777-8F aircraft that the airline has on order.
In 2022, the airline placed an order for 34 of Boeing’s new 777-8F jet, with options for 16 more. But the launch date for the new widebody freighter has been pushed back from 2027 to 2028 at the earliest.
