National Airlines to add three freighters in response to capacity crunch

In response to the rapidly growing demand for cargo charters National Airlines would add three more B747-400Fs to its existing fleet of two of the aircraft. The airline had acquired three B-747-400Fs two years back and because of the declining demand for airfreight all of them had been parked in Arizona. Following maintenance checks, the first of the three aircraft was put into service in September, with another due to join in October and the third in November. Chris Alf, Chairman, National Airline, said, “We always had a plan of bringing out the parked airplanes into service right at the beginning of the year but then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. We felt the urgency to bring on these aircraft to support the demand for moving the urgent relief supplies in support of governments and global aid agencies. It was strategically important for us to bring in additional cargo capacity since there is a huge constraint because of the pandemic taking away the belly capacity on passenger operations. We are happy to offer our global customers with an additional three B747-400Fs.”
Rates certainly remain higher than this time last year with prices from Hong Kong to North America up by more than 50% year on year to an average of $5.26 per kg in September, according to TAC Index data.