Two aircraft in the fleet of Canadian freight specialist Cargojet were damaged by a recent hailstorm, the company has revealed, although it expects both to return to service within a short time.
Cargojet co-chief Jamie Porteous, speaking during a 14 August first-half briefing, stated that a Boeing 767 wet-leased to Amazon Prime and one of the carrier’s own Boeing 757s each received a “significant amount” of hail damage during the Calgary storm in the first week of August.
Porteous says the company moved the damaged aircraft to Hamilton and has been providing back-up service for Amazon with other aircraft to avoid interruption to customers. He indicates the jets will be back in operation within a few days.
Cargojet uses only 757s and 767s for its operations, having previously ditched plans to introduce converted 777 freighters.
Over the second quarter it inducted two 767s for freighter conversion – one to replace a 767-200 whose lease expires in February next year, and one for further growth – and acquired two additional 767s to replace the feedstock.
This has been driven by new agreements to capitalise on e-commerce activity out of China.
Demand for e-commerce products from China, says Porteous, has “somewhat exploded this year”, and the company has received a substantial rise in ad hoc and scheduled charter requests for China-North America flights – particularly into western Canada.
Cargojet chief financial officer Scott Calver says the company has yet to sign specific charter agreements for the additional 767 capacity.
But he points out that replacing the feedstock is necessary because developments originally intended to take place over the next 12-18 months – notably the induction of two 767s for conversion – have instead “happened very rapidly”.
“We had to pull that plan a little bit more forward and we need feedstock on inventory,” he says.
Porteous adds that the company has “quickly pivoted” from last year’s position when it had four surplus 757s in the fleet. While the carrier had put the aircraft up for sale, he says, it subsequently backed down as growth opportunities emerged in the ad hoc charter market.
“We don’t have any surplus aircraft,” he says. “We’re using all of them.”
Cargojet expects its fleet in 2025 to reach 42 aircraft, comprising 23 767-300ERs, 17 757-200s and a pair of 767-200s.
