AirExplore, a Slovakia-based contract carrier for other airlines, is disengaging from cargo flying because of limited demand for narrowbody freighters and will focus on its passenger business, FreightWaves has learned.
The news follows other recent examples of small or midsize airlines that provide supplemental capacity to network carriers discontinuing or downsizing cargo operations amid a glut of standard-size freighters and stagnant parcel volumes.
AirExplore, a subsidiary of Lithuanian-owned holding company Avia Solutions Group, earlier this month issued a vague statement about changing its approach to cargo operations to align with market conditions. The statement was buried in a news release about airlines securing additional airlift from third-party providers to keep up with travel demand.
The airline is reducing its cargo fleet by two or three aircraft, returning aircraft to lessors and subleasing some units to other carriers because of the slowdown in business, spokesperson Silvije Sileike said in an email message. It continues to seek long-term transportation service agreements for its remaining aircraft.
“We were presuming that the e-commerce and narrow-body freighter market would grow more significantly after Covid, but the situation in the market is not as we expected. Currently, we are optimizing our fleet and focusing on the passenger business,” she explained.
As recently as last month, AirExplore’s operating fleet included eight Boeing 737-800 converted freighter aircraft. It added some cargo jets last year and in November earned U.S. approval to begin passenger and cargo operations in U.S. airspace under a conditional foreign carrier permit using large aircraft on charter from other providers.
Aircraft tracking site Flightradar24 shows only two cargo jets currently in operation – one in Europe and one in Africa. The Planespotters.net database shows three aircraft are in parked status.
Sileike said AirExplore has leased one freighter aircraft to Allied Air Nigeria, which operates for DHL Express in Africa, and another to Ascend Airways Malaysia, a new carrier owned by Avia Solutions Group that expects to begin operations late this year. Air Ascend Malaysia, a business-to-business passenger and cargo airline, is waiting for Malaysian authorities to issue an air operators certificate.
Regional cargo carriers get squeezed
AirExplore’s rethink about air cargo operations is not unique. Sister company SmartLynx Airlines is shelving its fleet of Airbus A321 narrowbody freighters after losing a contract with DHL Express in Europe and having difficulty finding other customers. It too is returning planes to lessors, placing some aircraft with affiliated companies and subleasing to other carriers.
Avia Solutions Group last year shut down Iceland-based Bluebird Nordic, which operated Boeing 737-400 and 737-800 converted freighters, because it couldn’t generate enough business during and after the airfreight downturn that lasted until the second half of 2023. The airline, which provided crewed aircraft to DHL, FedEx, UPS and other airlines, returned its fleet to lessors.
Canadian passenger airline WestJet closed its freighter division, which utilized four 737-800s, after one year because it couldn’t generate enough business providing scheduled cargo service.
Global Crossing Airlines in Miami last year capped its freighter fleet at four Airbus A321 freighters because of thin business but has recently seen a pickup in demand.
Miami-based Amerijet, which operates larger Boeing 767 converted freighters, cut its fleet in half over the past two years and currently runs about 11 aircraft.
Stan Wraight, president and founder of aviation consultancy SASI World, said on LinkedIn most third-party suppliers of narrowbody capacity have typically had difficulty making money unless they are in long-term contracts with postal services or integrated logistics providers like DHL where any losses are covered by the total logistics income of the cargo onboard. When integrators drop partner carriers it often is because they are looking to lower costs.
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
