GECAS orders ten 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters at Paris Air Show 2019

June 17, 2019: GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) has signed an agreement with Boeing at the Paris Air Show exercising 10 purchase rights to firm orders and adding 15 more purchase rights for the 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF). The Paris Air Show is on from June 17-19.

"It's my pleasure to be here with you on behalf of Boeing and to celebrate something special, the relationship with GECAS. We have decided today to announce the GECAS and Boeing have signed an agreement to exercise 10 additional options for the Boeing 737-800 Converted Freighters and adding 15 additional options for the 737-800 Converted Freighter to the backlog. If you track the success of the Boeing 737-800 Converted Freighter, its journey goes back to nearly three years ago and you may recall that GECAS was one of the initial launch customers. They saw value in the conversion to take one of the most successful assets and extend it to a new market," said Stanley A Deal, president and CEO, global services at The Boeing Company.

The 737-800BCF, which is making its air show debut at Le Bourget this week, is Boeing’s newest freighter product. The company converts Next-Generation 737 passenger airplanes into cargo jets that are capable of carrying more payload – up to 23.9 tonnes (52,800 lbs) – and flying farther – 2,000 nautical miles (3,750 km) – than previous standard-body freighters.

"We see a very strong demand for the airplane," said Declan J Kelly, COO, GE Capital, aviation services, who was also present at the press conference.

Before the announcement was made at a press conference, Boeing had tweeted images of the aircraft in Prime Air livery.

The 737-800BCF is primarily used to carry express cargo on domestic/short haul routes.

“Our leasing customers are very pleased with the versatility and reliability of these freighters,” said Richard Greener, SVP and manager, GECAS Cargo. “It’s enabling operators to replace aging freighters and meet the rapidly growing express cargo market.”

GECAS had placed an order for 35 Boeing 737-800 converted freighters (BCFs) during the Farnborough Airshow in July 2018.

As reported by STAT Trade Times earlier, according to a filing with the SEC, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW) will provide crew, maintenance and insurance (CMI) services to Amazon using Boeing 737-800 series aircraft. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft will be leased by Amazon from GECAS and subleased to Southern Air.

Boeing delivered the first in-service 737-800BCF to GECAS leasing customer West Atlantic AB last year. Boeing has delivered 14 737-800BCFs to date.

GECAS is the largest commercial airline leasing and financing company in the world by the number of aircraft. The Irish-American company is a subsidiary of GE Capital, the finance arm of the conglomerate General Electric. Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace company and leading provider of commercial airplanes, defense, space and security systems, and global services.