Airlines remodel idle passenger planes into air freighters to keep cargo moving

As the COVID-19 pandemic severely weakens travel demand, damaged airlines are speeding up efforts to recondition unused passenger planes into cargo carriers. JAL plans to run approximately 1,200 flights between March to May to mainly East Asia, Europe and the US as international cargoes, as they were and will be suspended as passenger flights. According to the company, passengers’ luggage accounts for about 30 percent of the cargo area available on a plane when it carries the maximum number of passengers. The space remaining is typically used for carrying various merchandise. Similarly, ANA has operated more than 300 cargo flights this April to China and other countries using its passenger aircraft. Both JAL and ANA are loading freight onto carry-on luggage racks. According to the Tokyo customs authority, the volume of freight handled at Narita Airport in March was 188,000 tons — an increase of 2.3 percent from volumes in the same month last year. The number of flights operated by Narita-based Nippon Cargo Airlines increased to 475 in March, 17 of which were temporary flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai, up from 414 in March last year. “We are unable to accept all reservations, as some flights are seeing excessive demand,” explained an official at the company. <br/>