Many of those aircrafts are flying stuff for the war in Irak. If you remove that "economic" sector, the demand for heavy transport would fall and many operators (who are now making buckets of money from that) would go under.
Iraq. No...much of the cargo being moved is mail and other requiremements that are subcontracted out. Operators such as Kalitta would scarcely go under if the military contracts went away. You might be surprised how much demand and use there is for ACMI flying by others than the military. The Civil Reserve Aircraft Fleet utilizes not only ACMI carriers, but carriers who have passenger and freight operations who are prepared and required to place a substantial amout of their fleet to government use should the need arise. This is known as a force multiplier.
Some, if not all USA cargo operations fly supplies to Iraq... and Afghanistan...
Big money, Air Force fuel...
They offload in Bagdad, Kuwait, in Kabul...
xxx
Thereafter, funny things happen...
They max their fuel tanks (free Air Force fuel again)
"for a empty trip back to the US of A..."
It's not free fuel, and in most cases the operator obtains the fuel. Where fuel is provided, it's factored into the cost of the operation, and is hardly "free."
I'm in Hong Kong at the moment, where we ferried empty after a location in the middle east, definitely not on military fuel. We have goods to carry from here headed eastbound as part of the regular trip around the globe. The military didn't pay to put us here, nor is this flight military. We'd be here regardless of the military contracts, and without the benifit of military fuel, just as we are at this moment.
You guys run empty to HKG and still make money with payload one-way only?
That is impressive -
The airplane has made money all the way around, and will keep making it all the way home, too. The airplanes pay for us, pay for themselves, pay the company, and earn a profit.
How about noise in them old -100s ?
How about them? They're still earning a living. The -100's are weight restricted to meet noise issues in some locations, and operated accordingly. Additionally, flaps at 25 max is often used with weights adjusted accordingly, where necessary. Not a problem.
747-271F for sale, JT9D-70A motors...
Outstanding engines... (provided you NEVER ever deploy reversers).
One reverser cycle = aircraft AOG for next 30 days.
We have -7A engines on some airplanes, and use the reversers every landing, of course. Then quick turn and go again. They work. An occasional flame-out or other problem, yes. But they work.