LONDON – On June 2, the U.S.-based carrier, Atlas Air, has taken delivery of a new Boeing 747-8 Freighter, the first of four they currently have on back order with the U.S. manufacturer, Boeing.

Their Latest Addition…

Their latest acquisition, a Boeing 747-8 Freighter, registered as N860GT was delivered from Boeing’s manufacturing plant at Paine Field, Washington (PAE) on the West coast of the U.S. to Seoul Incheon (ICN) in South Korea.

This delivery is the first of four brand-new Boeing 747-8 Freighter that Atlas Air will be acquiring from Boeing from an order that was announced back in January 2021.

Commenting on their order back in January 2021, Atlas Air Worldwide’s President and Chief Executive Officer, John W. Dietrich, said, “The 747-8F is the best and most versatile widebody freighter in the market, and we are excited to bolster our fleet with the acquisition of these four aircraft.”

“This significant growth opportunity will enable us to capitalize on strong demand and deliver value for our existing and prospective customers.”

“The efficiency and capability of the 747-8F further complement our longstanding focus on leading-edge technology.”

“Dedicated freighters – like those operated by our Atlas, Polar, and Southern subsidiaries – will continue to be in demand as the global airfreight market, particularly the e-commerce and express sectors, continue to grow.”

The remaining three Boeing 747-8 Freighter that Atlas Air is due will be delivered throughout the course of this year and are expected to be registered as N861GT, N862GT, and N863GT, all of which will be brand-new directly from Boeing.

Their latest addition, N860GT will be utilized for its customer called Cainiao, a logistics arm of Alibaba Group. Under this agreement, the aircraft will primarily be seen operating cargo flights between China and the Americas, mostly the United States, Brazil, and Chile.

Commenting on the new delivery, Atlas Air Worldwide’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Michael T. Steen, has said, “These four new 747-8s allow us to offer our customers significant growth opportunities to capitalize on strong demand and deliver value on what we consider among the best and most versatile widebody freighters in the market.”

“We are pleased that the first of our new 747s will be placed on a long-term basis with Cainiao, as they continue strengthening their presence as a global e-Commerce logistics leader, and we look forward to continuing to support their growth and expansion.”

Adding to Steen’s comments, Commercial Director of Cainiao’s Cross-border Business, Dandy Zhang, says, “As a global smart logistics company, Cainiao has been consistently enhancing our logistics services to satisfy the booming demand for e-Commerce in the Americas.”

“We have been operating daily chartered flights linking China and the Americas since last year, in partnership with Atlas Air, and now we are excited to embrace the new 747-8 freighter as a token of commitment to serve our global customers with sustainable and efficient logistics.”

Overall…

Despite Boeing, unfortunately, stopping production of the Boeing 747, an aircraft that has graced our skies since the 1970s, it is still great to see a select few more deliveries of the remaining airframes that Boeing still has at its manufacturing plants as well as some of the additional frames that were put into storage in California after customers didn’t end up taking those airframes.