Originally Posted by
sekmeth
KLM is prioritizing and moving forward phasing out their B747s.
As KLM is flying with 747 combis, ie half freighter half pax, and they are still stopping the flights with those aircraft, is there really a market for extra cargo?
i know KLM is not so fast moving, but I expected them to jump into such an opportunity if it exists
You are assuming this will be sorted out in a "market" way, with ITTs, tenders, lowest bidder etc., I suspect that is last-year thinking.
I don't have any inside info from aviation any more (other than whats on here), but I do from other sectors and I can tell you that there are a lot of government "requests" out there that are phrased in a way that really doesn't sound voluntary, and the next step will undoubtedly be compulsion. Little of this is in the media because those involved are already being put under blanket orders that forbid mentioning it, allegedly. There are lots of plans going into place, which is good, but those plans are for very scary things and basically a war footing, we need to be thinking wartime requisitioning.
Now add into the mix that airlines are asking governments for huge bailouts, it is not a stretch to envisage those bailouts coming with big strings attached along the lines of "all your planes (and crews) are belong to us" (for next N months).