COMMERCIAL MRO
44 APRIL 2017 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY
he passenger aircraft to freighter con-
version isn't quite what it used to be.
"Many people have been predicting
a rebound … for several years now,"
says John F. Smiley III, manager of
aviation competitive & market intel-
ligence for CAVOK, a division of Oliver
Wyman. "It just hasn't come through."
Smiley says there are a couple of
key reasons: newer passenger aircraft
come replete "with a lot of belly cargo
room," and formerly red-hot "express
carriers are under a lot of heavy com-
petition from rail and ground trans-
portation." This leads the aviation
consultancy to forecast 300 to 400 pas-
senger to freight conversions over the
next 10 years. Smiley says that number
reflects the reality of the market "for
all size" conversions.
The passenger
aircra to freighter
conversion isn't quite
what it used to be
By Jerome Greer Chandler
AMIDST LUKEWARM
PASSENGER TO FREIGHTER
CONVERSION MARKET