BBN Turkey keen to expand into widebody freighters

BBN Airlines will soon become the newest widebody-freighter operator in Turkey when it starts flying the first Mammoth Freighters 777-300ERMF conversion. The carrier ventured into the freighter market in 2023, shortly after it got its AOC, with an A321-200P2F (2005, ex-Red Wings) on lease from BBAM and leased another (1094, ex-Aer Lingus) toward the end of that year. “We started with two. We were a little bit hesitant about the third one, to be perfectly honest,” Fleet Director Douglas Anderson says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 in Istanbul this week. “The third one came, and now we’re talking about perhaps a fourth, because all the business we have with Turkish Airlines is enough for three aircraft, potentially four, and then we do our own ad hoc operations as well, and that’s gradually growing,” Anderson says. The third freighter (1670, ex-Air Busan) joined BBN’s fleet in September 2024, also on lease from BBAM. BBN is set to expand even further and enter the widebody segment. The carrier will lease the prototype 777-300ERMF (35299, ex-Nordwind Airlines) from AviaAM Leasing after completion and certification. “We see that we can’t have one aircraft — it just doesn’t make sense,” Anderson says. “So, we’re probably looking at three, perhaps four. Again, initially, it’ll be with Turkish Airlines, because that’s the easiest way when you’ve only one aircraft, to potentially setting up our own little operation between the Far East and the U.S., pending tariffs, bringing it into Istanbul and then spreading it out using the network.” However, a lack of Turkish pilots is constraining growth, he says. Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on BBN as Anderson speaks with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 in Istanbul. See more coverage of Cargo Facts EMEA 2025.

Despite increasing restrictions on global trade and the potential effect on the market, Astral Aviation founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia believes new opportunities will emerge in Europe, the Middle East and Africa amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. Gadhia will join a panel discussion on the growing narrowbody freighter demand at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025, taking place May 6-May 8 in Istanbul. “All in all, I’m feeling very positive and bullish, and I'm also looking forward to actually expressing the same and learning when we meet in Istanbul next week,” Gadhia says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.”Kenya-based Astral Aviation remains optimistic and has chosen to focus less on geopolitical events and more on the EMEA region, he said.Astral, which recently took delivery of its first 767-300BDSF (24146, ex-Amerijet) on lease from Palm Beach, Fla.-based Flight Lease, signed a memorandum of understanding with Emirates SkyCargo this year to explore ways to increase global trade, specifically within Africa. “I believe that the region is poised to have a major surge with all the geopolitical situations taking place,” Gadhia says. “And I feel very bullish that within the next three months, after the dust has settled … I actually believe that the EMEA region is where I see a lot of new opportunities.”Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on the EMEA market as Gadhia speaks with Cargo Facts Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke.

Astral Aviation is kicking off the next phase of its fleet expansion with the imminent arrival of its first 767-300 freighter. With two more 767s potentially following in 2025, Astral has obtained its own aircraft maintenance organization certification and will soon conduct its own C check on its 767-200BDSF for the first time. “In the past, we’ve always outsourced the C checks, but now we’re going to do it ourselves,” Astral founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at the IATA World Cargo Symposium 2025 in Dubai this week. “So, we’re really excited, because it’s a C4 check and it’s going to be done in-house in Kenya at the Kenya Airways hangar.”  Astral had expected the 1988-vintage, CF6-powered 767-300BDSF (24146, ex-Amerijet) by the end of 2024 but delays meant the carrier missed the yearend peak season. “I think the biggest problem that we are all facing right now is the delays,” Gadhia says. “There was a time when those delays were never there, and the delays were there only for the production freighters. Now we are seeing a situation where leased aircraft are also experiencing delays, either because of engine-related issues or avionics.” The 767-300BDSF is the second new freighter type in the past six months for Astral, which received a 1992-vintage 737-400F (27082, ex-Alaska Airlines) on lease from Avmax in late 2024. While the global airfreight market tries to navigate the fallout from the trade war, Astral and Kenya are not too concerned.  “I still believe that Africa would really benefit from this whole opportunity, because generally Africa, with the exception of South Africa and two other countries, is at 10%,” Gadhia says, referring to the tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump recently imposed on goods from countries around the world.

New Philippines-based carrier Skyway Airlines hopes to expand its fleet and network after stretching its wings with its first international flight earlier this month.Skyway obtained its AOC in July 2024 after leasing a 1998-vintage 737-400BDSF (29208) from AerCap. It is the first 737-400 freighter operator in the Philippines and intends to add more of the type.“It took us two and a half years to get our AOC,” founder and Chief Executive Jose Peralta says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Cargo Facts Asia 2025 in Shanghai this week.“And there’s a prerequisite with the Philippine authorities that you have to demonstrate domestic operations first before you go international. So, there were a lot of preparations, a lot of legal documents that we needed to submit. We had to undergo hearings with the Department of Transportation just to get our permit to operate internationally.”While the first international flight was from Clark (CRK) to Hong Kong (HKG), Skyway is working on developing other routes and could start flying to Macau (MFM) soon.“We are applying for our CCAR 129 permit for China,” Director of Business Development and External Affairs Vedant Bhardwaj says. “That’s why we are here. So, we’re looking into that and definitely another destination which we see is Vietnam.”Domestic operations are challenging because of competition with sea freight rates and belly cargo rates, whereas Skyway can achieve better rates for international e-commerce, for example, Peralta says.“We’re trying to solve a problem; to connect the islands and also connect the Philippines to the outer regions,” he says. “So, that is the goal, and that is the aim, and hopefully we get to achieve it.”Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on Skyway as Peralta and Bhardwaj speak with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee and Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke at Cargo Facts Asia 2025 in Shanghai.

IATA and carbon-inset platform 123Carbon are developing interoperability between their sustainable aviation fuel registries to increase transparency, avoid emissions reporting errors and streamline certificate management.The IATA SAF Registry, scheduled to launch in April, aims to help create a global SAF market, IATA stated in January. The registry is designed to enable airlines to document SAF benefits to show compliance with regulatory and voluntary obligations.The interoperability will focus on three elements: Unique coding and alignment of relevant data points to exchange between registries; A process for the exchange of information to avoid double issuance; and A dispute resolution process.“Registry interoperability can be quite a few things,” Jeroen van Heiningen, founder and managing director of 123Carbon, says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “What we’re doing now is to avoid the redundancies and the double issuance, so to make sure that fuel is not registered on a registry twice, [which could] lead to double counting. It also means that we are aligning the data models that we are using. We’re using the same taxonomy and using the same wording.”123Carbon’s platform supports fuel suppliers, fleet operators, forwarders and cargo owners in the issuance, management and transfer of environmental attribute certificates (EAC). EACs represent carbon reductions that have been achieved, such as those achieved through SAF, and are then allocated to freight forwarders, cargo owners and others.The company also offers a book-and-claim solution to SAF suppliers and airlines to allocate company-branded SAF EACs to customers in a private environment.IATA and the International Civil Aviation Organization have said SAF is the most reliable way to eliminate carbon emissions from aviation in the next twenty-five years. IATA set an aviation industry target of reaching net-zero by 2050.Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on 123Carbon as van Heiningen speaks with Cargo Facts Deputy Editor Yael Katzwer. 

New lessor Hanwha Aviation is exploring adding freighters to its portfolio as part of its growth strategy.Hanwha Aviation, a subsidiary of South Korea-based conglomerate Hanwha Group, launched in May 2024 and appointed Laura Ivaskaite as vice president of commercial and investments in September.Ivaskaite joined Hanwha after almost four years looking after the aircraft and engine fleet at SmartLynx, which expanded its fleet to fourteen A321 freighters in 2024.“The core service, the core of [Hanwha Aviation’s] business, is narrowbody engines, but we will have a small aircraft portfolio as well, and that’s both on the passenger and cargo side,” Ivaskaite says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Engine Leasing, Trading & Finance Americas 2025 and Aero-Engines Americas 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas, in late January.“So, the whole idea is to build up the leasing platform,” she says. “We’re also looking to have MRO capabilities in an engine shop in the near future.”Hanwha is “very open” to acquiring freighters, even if that ultimately is an engine-driven move, Ivaskaite says.“Narrowbody freighters has been an engine play for a lot of people in the last couple of years,” she says. “But I’d probably say that we see the 737-800 freighter market picking up a little bit.”Singapore-based Hanwha is looking to the Asia-Pacific region as a key market for expansion. The lessor also has offices in Dublin and Boca Raton, Fla.“We want to really have the expertise in Asia Pacific,” Ivaskaite says. “And at the same time, we recognize that that’s the market that will be growing again, both on the passenger and air cargo side, and there is going to be huge demand for the engines — there already is.”Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on Hanwha as Ivaskaite speaks with Cargo Facts Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke.

Azul will become the second carrier based in Brazil — and all of Latin America — to operate an A321 freighter when it launches scheduled commercial flights this weekend. The airline plans to put its two A321-200P2Fs into service on Feb. 15, it announced last week. The two 2006-vintage, V2500-powered freighters (2741 and 2759), which Azul has leased from AerCap, arrived in Brazil in the fourth quarter of 2024 and will be based in Campinas (VCP). “We are very, very excited to have this airplane fly in terms of capacity, reliability and to expand with new routes,” Azul Cargo Fleet and Operations Manager Dario Matsuguma says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Cargo Facts LATAM 2025 in Sao Paulo. “[Our customers] are asking us a lot of questions about the opportunities they are getting for this new fleet,” he says. The Airbus narrowbodies are replacing Azul’s two leased 737-400Fs — the only Boeing aircraft in the carrier’s fleet. In fact, Azul has already removed one from service, with the 1997-vintage unit 28053 entering storage at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport (LDE) in France in December 2024 while the 1996-vintage unit 28198 is still flying. “The second one, we expect to return in March,” Matsuguma says. “But I can say that [the 737s] did a great job. They opened the market for cargo and freighters, and we all learned a lot with that airplane, but we decided to shift to the A321 due to commonality with our passenger fleet; the synergy is the key factor for us.” Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency validated the EFW A321-200P2F conversion and the 321 Precision Conversions A321-200PCF in September 2024. The first Latin American operator of an A321F was fellow Brazilian carrier Levu, which got its AOC in November 2024 and started flying a 1998-vintage, CFM56-powered A321-200PCF (775) that it subleased from SmartLynx. Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on Azul as Matsuguma speaks with Cargo Facts Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke at Cargo Facts LATAM 2025.

Vaayu Group is capitalizing on the capabilities of the A320P2F to develop its cargo business.The group’s own airline, Fly Vaayu, obtained its AOC in October 2024 and is flying the Middle East’s first A320 freighter around the region as well as to India and Vietnam.“We’ve been really pleasantly surprised,” Vaayu Group Chief Executive Vijay Arumbakkam says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “The A320 compared to its competition has a very high level of reliability, which our customers like; consistency, which they like; and on average we tend to carry 18 to 20 tonnes of cargo.”“So, over a five-hour range, this aircraft performs really well, and we’ve also been impressed with the fuel burn of this aircraft.”With at least one more A320-200P2F joining its fleet in the next couple of months, Fly Vaayu will become the largest A320 freighter operator.Vaayu is based in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates (RKT), where the animal quarantine facilities help to support the movement of livestock between India and the U.A.E, Arumbakkam says.“Hopefully we are soon going to expand that to include general cargo within the next six months or so as we begin to build our ecosystem in the airport.”Vaayu Group acquired a majority stake in India-based Pradhaan Air Express, the launch operator of the A320P2F program, in November 2023. Since then, the two carriers have worked together to share their expertise and resources, Arumbakkam says.“There’s a great opportunity for us to harness our synergies for the local [Indian] market,” he says. “Pradhaan first would like to focus with us and enhance this current business partnership that we have, and then the intent over this year is to see how best we can also translate some of those processes into serving more domestic customers.”“We are still at the business plan stage for it, but we are very excited about our partnership and collaboration with Pradhaan.”Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on Vaayu as Arumbakkam speaks with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee.

SolitAir plans to take delivery soon of its first dry-leased 737-800 freighter to grow its narrowbody operations after it receives its United Arab Emirates AOC.SolitAir’s own freighter will add to three ACMI 737-800BCFs operated by ASL Airlines Ireland.“The 730-800 was the best of its class to do the work that I’m looking for,” SolitAir Chairman and Chief Executive Hamdi Osman says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.”SolitAir intends to become an express cargo airline offering a daily schedule with flights of up to six hours from its base in Dubai (DWC).“My goal is to have at least ten aircraft in the first one-and-a-half years of operations,” Osman says, adding that these will likely all be narrowbodies.ASL has already deployed two 737-800BCFs to DWC for the ACMI arrangement, with the 2005-vintage unit 33023 starting service in October 2024 and the 2007-vintage unit 32686 following in December. The third aircraft will arrive soon, Osman said.SolitAir hopes to get its AOC by the end of January and is considering multiple AOCs to capitalize on growth opportunities not just in the Middle East, but also in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and Turkey.“The more I get to know about the global South, the more I get excited,” Osman says.Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on SolitAir as Osman speaks with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee.

The FAA imposed additional flight restrictions over parts of New Jersey and New York last month in response to increased reports of unauthorized drones.But merely telling drone operators that they cannot fly in certain airspace does not solve the problem, as these restrictions lack enforcement. This is where San Francisco-based Dedrone comes in.Acquired by technology and weapons manufacturer Axon in October 2024, Dedrone develops smart airspace security technology such as counter-drone detection, tracking, identification and mitigation technologies.In today’s “Cargo Facts Connect” podcast, hear from Dedrone, which has worked with the FAA to develop and test an uncrewed aircraft systems detection and mitigation program that helps airports protect their airspace from unauthorized drones.Dedrone also offers technologies that jam communications between a drone and the operator. The DedroneDefender precision jammer has narrow-band jamming to minimize disruption to other devices and meets military standards. This use of narrow-band or “comb” jamming reduces the risk of interference with other systems in the area, including Wi-Fi or radar.Thousands of violations daily“Every single day there are literally hundreds of illegal drone flights,” Mary-Lou Smulders, chief marketing officer and head of government affairs at Dedrone, told Cargo Facts.Dedrone recorded 1.19 million illegal drone flights in 2024 within its network of more than fifty U.S. cities. So far in 2025, Dedrone has recorded 22,188 illegal drone flights, according to Dedrone’s Drone Violations Database.However, having the technology to detect and mitigate illegal drones is not enough. Dedrone is working with the FAA and U.S. government to support enforcement of drone laws and restrictions.“To detect those noncompliant drones and lack the authority to mitigate potentially dangerous drones, it’s a classic situation of the technology getting ahead of the legislation,” Smulders said.“If one good thing comes out of the New Jersey incidents, it’s this awakening to the fact that there are thousands of violating drones every single day and our police lack the authority to detect them.”Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on counter-drone technology and priority as Smulders speaks with Cargo Facts Deputy Editor Yael Katzwer.