By David Kaminski-Morrow in London
UK cargo operator Atlantic Airlines is to lease five Fokker F27 freighters from Turkey's MNG Airlines to meet capacity demand after certification delays held up delivery of converted British Aerospace ATPs.
The Coventry-based carrier has formally applied to wet-lease the Turkish turboprops, to fulfil contractual requirements, until at least the end of July next year.
Atlantic Airlines managing director Russell Ladkin says the need to lease aircraft is a knock-on effect from long delays in securing certification of the E-Class cargo cabin conversion for the ATP.
BAE Systems and Flybe's engineering division agreed three years ago to design an E-Class freight interior for the type, as an alternative to the interior offered by West Air Sweden.
But Ladkin says that the E-Class freighter was approved in January and that this amounted to a "conservative" two-year delay in comparison with the originally envisaged timeframe for the programme.
"Ultimately, of course, that has delayed any operators' fleet procurement strategy for this aircraft type if they had opted for the manufacturer's own E-Class cargo cabin," he adds.
BAE Systems' regional aircraft division was not available for comment.
Atlantic Airlines began introducing ATPs this year after deciding that the aircraft was the best option to meet its requirement for an 8t payload freighter. Ladkin says that the carrier has four ATPs in its fleet plus one on long-term charter.
■ Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which was forced to ground its F27 fleet following a fatal crash last month, is seeking up to four ATR turboprops on short-term wet-lease. The airline says that it needs the leased aircraft for six to 12 months while it waits for the remaining six ATR 42-500s it has on order.
"We have asked ATR to expedite the aircraft deliveries and help us to arrange some wet-leases," says the airline. But so far the two parties have failed to secure aircraft on short-term wet-lease for operation in Pakistan, he adds.
Source: Flight International
