Tag Archives: Boeing 777F

Etihad Cargo adds a new route to Wuhan

Etihad Airways Cargo (Etihad Airways) Boeing 777-FFX A6-DDE (msn 62745) HKG (Javier Rodriguez). Image: 936052.

Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Airways, has added a fourth gateway destination to its Chinese network with the introduction of weekly flights to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in the Hubei province of China. The inaugural flight arrived in the Hubei Province on April 29, 2023.

The airline currently offers five passenger flights to Shanghai, Beijing Daxing and Guangzhou each week. With the commencement of two weekly freighter services between Abu Dhabi and Wuhan, Etihad Cargo will operate a total of ten freighter services to China, offering an additional 100 tonnes of cargo capacity into the Hubei Province each week. This brings the carrier’s total cargo capacity for China to 1,000 tonnes per week, including 850 tonnes of cargo capacity for Shanghai offered via eight weekly freighter services and two passenger flights. 

The new flights between Abu Dhabi and Wuhan will give Etihad Cargo’s partners and customers greater accessibility to 25 domestic Chinese destinations, including Shenzhen, Dongguan, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing, via SF Airlines’ road feeder service trucking network, further enhancing Etihad Cargo’s connectivity and capabilities in the region. 

Wuhan is the fourth Mainland Chinese destination to be added to Etihad Cargo’s network. The carrier will be increasing frequencies to China in the coming months to add further depth to its network and meet increasing capacity demands from customers in the UAE and China.

Flight schedule for Abu Dhabi – Wuhan services, effective 28 April 2023:

FlightDepartingTime*ArrivingTime*AircraftDays
EY 9651Wuhan06:30Abu Dhabi10:5577XSaturday
03 7511Wuhan02:10Abu Dhabi06:25B747FWednesday
EY 9650Abu Dhabi16:30Wuhan04:00 (+1)77XFriday
03 7512Abu Dhabi19:25Wuhan06:30B747FWednesday

*All times local

Top Copyright Photo: Etihad Airways Cargo (Etihad Airways) Boeing 777-FFX A6-DDE (msn 62745) HKG (Javier Rodriguez). Image: 936052.

Etihad Airways aircraft photo gallery:

Etihad Airways aircraft photo gallery

DHL Express expands fleet with an order for 9 Mammoth-converted Boeing 777-200LR freighters

DHL Express has ordered nine Mammoth-converted Boeing 777-200LR freighters from Jetran. The first cargo aircraft will be delivered in 2024, with the remaining aircraft to be supplied until early 2027.

This agreement is part of the overall sustainability priority to modernize DHL Express’ long-haul intercontinental fleet, including the replacement of older planes. Ordering converted freighters with a shorter useful life provides an efficient bridge between current and new airframe technologies, such as new generation wide-body freighters Boeing 777-8F and Airbus A350F.

Between 2018 and 2022, DHL bought 28 new Boeing 777-200F freighters from Boeing – 18 of those aircraft are currently in service. The remaining aircraft will be delivered from 2023 to 2025. The aircraft forms the backbone of DHL’s intercontinental air network, in which DHL Express operates more than 300 dedicated aircraft with 18 partner airlines on over 2,400 daily flights, across 220 countries and territories.

Ethiopian Airlines adds Xiamen and Shenzhen to its cargo network

Ethiopian Cargo (Ethiopian Airlines) Boeing 777F ET-AVT (msn 65476) (Pharma Wing) IAD (Brian McDonough). Image: 960038.

Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services), Africa’s largest network operator, has started two weekly freighter flights on February 10 connecting Xiamen with São Paulo and Santiago via Addis Ababa. Ethiopian also plans to commence two weekly freighter flights between Shenzhen and Liège as of February 17, 2023. Ethiopian will deploy Boeing 777F Freighter on the new cargo routes. 

Photo: Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian is launching these new flights as it marks the 50th anniversary of the start of its passenger service to China back in 1973. Xiamen and Shenzhen will join the vast Ethiopian network increasing its cargo destination in China to eight, including Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Wuhan and Chengdu. In addition to the cargo services, Ethiopian currently flies to four passenger destinations namely, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai with its enhanced services and modern fleet. 

Top Copyright Photo: Ethiopian Cargo (Ethiopian Airlines) Boeing 777F ET-AVT (msn 65476) (Pharma Wing) IAD (Brian McDonough). Image: 960038.

Ethiopian Airlines aircraft photo gallery:

Lufthansa Cargo’s first AeroSHARK-modified Boeing 777F, registered D-ALFA, took off for the first time on February 3, 2023

Boeing 777-FBT D-ALFA (msn 41674)

Lufthansa Cargo will begin equipping all its Boeing 777 freighters with AeroSHARK from 2023. The innovative surface technology from Lufthansa Technik and BASF improves fuel efficiency and helps achieve sustainability goals.

Lufthansa Cargo’s first AeroSHARK-modified Boeing 777 freighter, registered D-ALFA, took off for the first time at 05:07 (CET) on February 3, 2023. Under flight number LH8410, the Boeing 777F started from Frankfurt (FRA) to Bengaluru (BLR), from where it will fly on to Chengdu (CTU). 

Photo: Lufthansa Cargo

AeroSHARK is a surface film that mimics the microscopic structure of shark skin. Its structure consists of ribs around 50 micrometers in size – so-called riblets. If the flow pattern on the fuselage and engine nacelles of the Boeing 777F is optimized in this way, significant savings in fuel and thus emissions can be achieved. This modification, developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF, will now gradually be used on Lufthansa Cargo’s entire fleet of 777 freighters, making them more fuel-efficient and reducing emissions.

For the modified Boeing 777F, Lufthansa Technik expects fuel savings of slightly more than one percent. Extrapolated to Lufthansa Cargo’s entire 777 fleet, this will result in annual savings of more than 4,000 metric tons of kerosene and nearly 13,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, equivalent to about 53 individual cargo flights from Frankfurt to Shanghai.

In cooperation with BASF, Lufthansa Technik is responsible for the specification of the material, the airworthiness certification and the implementation of the aircraft modifications, which are carried out during regular maintenance layovers. In December of last year, the company obtained a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for two types of Boeing 777 from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), paving the way for the serial application now underway on the 777 freighter fleet.

Top Copyright Photo: Lufthansa Cargo Boeing 777-FBT D-ALFA (msn 41674) YYZ (TMK Photography). Image: 937843.

Lufthansa Cargo aircraft photo gallery:

Lufthansa Cargo aircraft photo gallery