Cargo Breaking News
Alaska Air Cargo is looking ahead to improvements in its cargo booking system, an expanded freighter fleet and reinforced infrastructure in the coming months this year. “We launched the first phase of our new end-to-end cargo management system in October, and we converted two passenger 737-800 aircraft to dedicated freighters,” Adam Drouhard, Managing Director, Alaska Air Cargo said in his latest update. “We invested in infrastructure and equipment at stations across the state of Alaska.”
The changes, Drouhard added, brought disruptions to operations along with January’s temporary grounding of the 737-9 MAX aircraft and winter weather challenges.
A door plug of Alaska Airlines’ flight 1282, a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane, blew out mid-air on January 5, 2024. While some were injured, all the 177 passengers and crew survived the accident on the flight from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, California. Listing out the action plan for 2024, Drouhard says:
“Improvements to cargo bookings: Throughout the year, we will roll out updates to our online system to make it more efficient and streamlined for customers and our employees.
*Expanded and reliable freighter fleet: We are working closely with Boeing to ensure that our new 737-800BCF freighters will perform at the level required to serve our customers. We expect both freighters to enter service over the next few weeks.
*Reinforced infrastructure: The plane is only part of the equation for the communities we serve. Our investments in infrastructure and equipment like new cargo loaders will enable our services to be more robust and reliable at every station.”
Both the converted 737-800BCFs are likely to be deployed later this spring, he added, “allowing us to better serve our customers in 20 communities across the state of Alaska and beyond.”
