sigma
25th Sep 2000, 15:20
Hong Kong's Dragonair has begun searching for pilots to employ overseas for its planned Boeing 747 "Classic" freighter fleet as it continues with an ambitious cargo expansion.
The airline has just started advertising for captains, first officers and flight engineers to be based in Europe, rather than Asia.
Its search comes two weeks after CEO Stanley Hui said in an interview that the airline was close to finalising a deal to purchase two 747-200s or -300s for conversion into freighters as part of a major expansion of recently launched all-cargo services.
The aircraft are expected to be operating as freighters in the first half of 2001. Although Hui would not say from where the 747s would be sourced, a possible seller is Singapore Airlines, which has had a number of -300s parked at its Changi airport base for more than a year and a half.
Dragonair also expects to purchase a third passenger aircraft for conversion for 2002 and Hui says the airline's freighter fleet could include up to five 747s within a few years.
Dedicated cargo services were launched in July with a 747-200F wet-leased from Atlas Air. Operations began on a thrice-weekly Hong Kong-Dubai-Amsterdam-Manchester-Dubai-Hong Kong routing. Soon after, weekly Hong Kong-Shanghai-Hong Kong services were launched.
Dragonair's launch of cargo services on the routing to and from Europe represented its first flights outside of Asia. It currently operates passenger services to 26 Asian destinations, 17 of which are in mainland China.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
The airline has just started advertising for captains, first officers and flight engineers to be based in Europe, rather than Asia.
Its search comes two weeks after CEO Stanley Hui said in an interview that the airline was close to finalising a deal to purchase two 747-200s or -300s for conversion into freighters as part of a major expansion of recently launched all-cargo services.
The aircraft are expected to be operating as freighters in the first half of 2001. Although Hui would not say from where the 747s would be sourced, a possible seller is Singapore Airlines, which has had a number of -300s parked at its Changi airport base for more than a year and a half.
Dragonair also expects to purchase a third passenger aircraft for conversion for 2002 and Hui says the airline's freighter fleet could include up to five 747s within a few years.
Dedicated cargo services were launched in July with a 747-200F wet-leased from Atlas Air. Operations began on a thrice-weekly Hong Kong-Dubai-Amsterdam-Manchester-Dubai-Hong Kong routing. Soon after, weekly Hong Kong-Shanghai-Hong Kong services were launched.
Dragonair's launch of cargo services on the routing to and from Europe represented its first flights outside of Asia. It currently operates passenger services to 26 Asian destinations, 17 of which are in mainland China.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news