Pemco converts six B737s into freighters for Hainan Airlines

AIRCRAFT maintenance and conversion company Pemco World Air Services has been awarded a contract to convert six Boeing 737-300 passenger planes into freighter aircraft for China's Hainan Airlines, a process the Alabama-based company has already started.

Pemco already delivered one reconfigured freighter to Hainan in October 2009 and a second in January 2010. It converts the plane under a programme designed by Boeing.

The additional cargo capacity that is intended to serve domestic and regional routes comes as Hainan Airlines experienced a 71 per cent increase in cargo volume last December compared to the same month the previous year, "partly because of the addition of new freighter capacity," the report said.

The carrier has enjoyed considerable growth since last March after freight business slipped away on reduced demand after the start of the economic downturn in 2008.

Hainan Airlines is part of China's HNA Group, which includes Yangtze River Express and Hong Kong Airlines Cargo.

(Source: www.schednet.com)