ATSG scales back 767-300 freighter conversions for 2024
10 / 11 / 2023
Joe Hete, chief executive, ATSG. Photo: ATSG
Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) is halting any additional 767-300 freighter conversions next year due to the soft air cargo demand seen this year.
In the lessor’s third quarter results conference call on November 7, chief executive Joe Hete said: “We are introducing no additional 767-300s for conversion beyond the seven currently in process. As I’ve said in the past, we always have the flexibility to not convert some of the aircraft we own until market conditions improve.”
Hete added that in 2024 there are planned “lease deployments of 14 converted freighters, including six 767-300s, five A321s and three A330s.”
In ATSG’s third quarter press release on November 6, the company stated that twenty aircraft are currently in or awaiting conversion to freighters within its Cargo Aircraft Management leasing arm and this included 13 767-300s.
Speaking about the decision to scale back conversion of 767-300s, Paul Chase, chief commercial officer, said that ATSG had observed weak international demand.
“I mean, we’re filling the orders this year using our existing pipeline. But in the future, in 2024, that pipeline has slowed. So we’re keeping an eye on that. And that’s one of the reasons that the business has decided to pull back on the CapEx. So with most of the deliveries that we expected to go internationally, sure, we’re seeing some weakness there.”
ATSG is the world’s largest lessor of converted Boeing 767 freighter aircraft through CAM.
Quint Turner, chief financial officer, noted that pretax earnings within the company’s aircraft leasing segment, CAM, were $23m, down $14m year on year.
