Kenya Airways is removing seats on two of its Boeing 787s to increase capacity for pure freight flights. The airline says that it completed the first aircraft in January and has thereby become the first operator to configure a 787 for main-deck cargo transport. Up to 16t can be carried on the passenger deck under the modification, bringing the aircraft's maximum cargo payload to 46t, the airline adds. Kenya conducted the modification in-house under supervision of Canadian MRO provider Avianor. The project represented a "unique design and certification challenge", states Avianor chief executive Matthieu Duhaime. Kenya started using some of its nine 787s for cargo-only flights in 2020, but found that the seats limited cargo capacity.
Noting growth in air cargo demand, the airline says that the reconfiguration project "demonstrates our agility, innovation and quick thinking… to keep essential goods moving across the globe". Gilbert Kibe, director general of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, states: "This project is economically significant as it will retain and create new jobs as well as support Kenya Airways in its recovery efforts to diversify revenues. More importantly, with the upcoming vaccination distribution, Kenya Airways has readily positioned itself to transport the vaccines destined for Africa and other destinations."

Qantas is likely to fly its Airbus A380s again, according to the Australian carrier’s chief executive Alan Joyce, particularly on routes where tight scheduling is a factor. Speaking during a Eurocontrol event today, Joyce explained that while all 12 of the airline’s A380s “are sitting in the Mojave desert” – a reference to their storage at Victorville airport in California – and will remain grounded for at least three years, “we do think, if you look at the Qantas network, there are going to be opportunities to deploy those aircraft”. The carrier grounded all of its A380s by June last year as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic became apparent, leading to suggestions that it might follow carriers such as Air France in permanently removing the type from its future fleet plans.
Joyce states, however, that Qantas will continue to have “scheduling windows” that are likely to make A380 operations viable when international services return. “If you’ve ever been in LA between 10pm and midnight, you see six or seven Qantas aircraft departing for Australia, because it’s the only time that works with curfews,” he says. “So, instead of flying multiple frequencies right on top of each other, an A380 that’s fully or nearly fully written down, if it generates cash, will absolutely work.” He also cites the potential for A380s to return at “airports that have slot restrictions like Heathrow”. On the cash-generation point, Joyce explains that the A380s have been “written down… a couple of times” – most recently last year as Covid-19 prompted to the Australian government to introduce strict controls on international travel – reducing their burden on Qantas’ balance sheet. He adds: “So we do believe that there’s a need for that fleet and we do believe that it’s going to generate cash, and it’s all going to be about cash when we start up international”. Joyce further recalls that six of the aircraft have been reconfigured in recent years, with one example even flying “directly to the Mojave Desert” following a refit in Dresden. “It’s there with new seats on it that nobody has ever sat on, which is unbelievably disappointing,” he laments. Further into the future, Qantas’ plan for direct ultra-long-haul flights to destinations in Europe, North America and elsewhere means that, eventually, “we’ll have enough of the [Airbus A350-1000] aircraft to fly direct and overfly a lot of the hubs as well”, which would “take the burden of having the big aircraft needed for those big destinations” and mean A380s could be phased out. Qantas expects to make a decision on the launch and initial aircraft orders for those ultra-long-haul destinations later this year under its Project Sunrise programme, with first flights likely pushed back a year to 2024 because of the pandemic.

Global air travel, as measured by revenue passenger-kilometres, may this year grow only 13% from the disastrous levels seen in 2020, IATA has warned. Instead of the 50% improvement projected in IATA's official forecast, RPKs barely rise until the middle of 2021 under a new scenario that takes into account the differing and more infectious strains of Covid-19. "Clearly the near-term outlook is somewhat darker than what we expected. It's going to be a very difficult start to the year," says IATA chief economist Brian Pearce. The association stresses that the new scenario does not represent a change to its forecasts but is "an introduction of what may happen", in Pearce's words. "We don't have enough information to know with certainty what the second half of the year may look like," he adds. A 13% rise in traffic against 2020 would return the industry to just 38% of 2019's levels. IATA chief executive Alexandre de Juniac says that should the recovery fail to materialise, airlines would require further government assistance of $70-80 billion in 2021 to "bridge the gap". Assistance should not place airlines into further debt, he argues, because "the industry is too heavily indebted already". The latest IATA scenario is based partially on forward-bookings data that showed improving sales through December falling back "very sharply" at the end of the month and into the new year. The association maintains its position that once travel restrictions are lifted there will be a sharp bounceback in the demand for flying, based on the surge in bookings when certain routes were opened up.