SPR - Boeing Quality Issue Delays Alaska Airlines' Converted Freighters | Benzinga
The service is designed to streamline Alaska's supply chain since many of the groceries, household goods and medicine shipped into the state come from Southern California. It is the first time Alaska Airlines' freighters have flown beyond Alaska and Seattle.
Alaska Air Cargo officials in February said two Boeing 737-800 converted freighters leased from Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management would be ready to enter service in mid-March, after painting and other remanufacturing details were completed. Boeing (NYSE: BA) partners KF Aerospace in British Columbia and Coopesa in Costa Rica used a Boeing design and materials to reconfigure the former passenger aircraft for cargo. Coopesa delivered its finished freighter to Alaska Airlines in November.
An SEC filing on Feb. 14 with 2023 results said Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) expects to add a second 737-800 freighter to its fleet in the first quarter.
Adam Drouhard, managing director for cargo, provided an update on March 28 in the company's online newsletter, in which he said the planes would enter service in the next few weeks. "We are working closely with Boeing to ensure that our new 737-800 converted freighters will perform at the level required to serve our customers" he wrote.?
The timetable changed again on April 26. "Both aircraft have required further conversion work before they can be put into service. We expect to have one in service in early May and the second early this summer" a spokesperson said in a statement to FreightWaves. The representative declined to explain what caused the delay, but sending back a newly rebuilt plane is highly unusual.
Neither plane is operating. The new 737-800 freighters were supposed to inaugurate freighter operations beyond Seattle, Alaska Airlines' home base, and Alaska. Instead, aircraft tracking site Flightradar24 shows Alaska Airlines began twice-weekly service between Seattle and Los Angeles International Airport last week with the 737-700 converted freighters it has operated for several years.
And Flightradar24 data further shows that ...