Cargo Facts Connect

• BBN Turkey keen to expand into widebody freighters

  BBN Airlines will soon become the newest widebody-freighter operator in Turkey when it starts flying the first Mammoth Freighters 777-300ERMF conversion. The carrier ventured into the freighter market in 2023, shortly after it got its AOC, with an A321-200P2F (2005, ex-Red Wings) on lease from BBAM and leased another (1094, ex-Aer Lingus) toward the end of that year. “We started with two. We were a little bit hesitant about the third one, to be perfectly honest,” Fleet Director Douglas Anderson says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 in Istanbul this week. “The third one came, and now we’re talking about perhaps a fourth, because all the business we have with Turkish Airlines is enough for three aircraft, potentially four, and then we do our own ad hoc operations as well, and that’s gradually growing,” Anderson says. The third freighter (1670, ex-Air Busan) joined BBN’s fleet in September 2024, also on lease from BBAM. BBN is set to expand even further and enter the widebody segment. The carrier will lease the prototype 777-300ERMF (35299, ex-Nordwind Airlines) from AviaAM Leasing after completion and certification. “We see that we can’t have one aircraft — it just doesn’t make sense,” Anderson says. “So, we’re probably looking at three, perhaps four. Again, initially, it’ll be with Turkish Airlines, because that’s the easiest way when you’ve only one aircraft, to potentially setting up our own little operation between the Far East and the U.S., pending tariffs, bringing it into Istanbul and then spreading it out using the network.” However, a lack of Turkish pilots is constraining growth, he says. Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on BBN as Anderson speaks with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025 in Istanbul. See more coverage of Cargo Facts EMEA 2025.

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• Astral’s Gadhia to share optimism at Cargo Facts EMEA

  Despite increasing restrictions on global trade and the potential effect on the market, Astral Aviation founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia believes new opportunities will emerge in Europe, the Middle East and Africa amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. Gadhia will join a panel discussion on the growing narrowbody freighter demand at Cargo Facts EMEA 2025, taking place May 6-May 8 in Istanbul. “All in all, I’m feeling very positive and bullish, and I'm also looking forward to actually expressing the same and learning when we meet in Istanbul next week,” Gadhia says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.”Kenya-based Astral Aviation remains optimistic and has chosen to focus less on geopolitical events and more on the EMEA region, he said.Astral, which recently took delivery of its first 767-300BDSF (24146, ex-Amerijet) on lease from Palm Beach, Fla.-based Flight Lease, signed a memorandum of understanding with Emirates SkyCargo this year to explore ways to increase global trade, specifically within Africa. “I believe that the region is poised to have a major surge with all the geopolitical situations taking place,” Gadhia says. “And I feel very bullish that within the next three months, after the dust has settled … I actually believe that the EMEA region is where I see a lot of new opportunities.”Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on the EMEA market as Gadhia speaks with Cargo Facts Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke.

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• Astral preps for widebody growth

  Astral Aviation is kicking off the next phase of its fleet expansion with the imminent arrival of its first 767-300 freighter. With two more 767s potentially following in 2025, Astral has obtained its own aircraft maintenance organization certification and will soon conduct its own C check on its 767-200BDSF for the first time. “In the past, we’ve always outsourced the C checks, but now we’re going to do it ourselves,” Astral founder and Chief Executive Sanjeev Gadhia says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at the IATA World Cargo Symposium 2025 in Dubai this week. “So, we’re really excited, because it’s a C4 check and it’s going to be done in-house in Kenya at the Kenya Airways hangar.”  Astral had expected the 1988-vintage, CF6-powered 767-300BDSF (24146, ex-Amerijet) by the end of 2024 but delays meant the carrier missed the yearend peak season. “I think the biggest problem that we are all facing right now is the delays,” Gadhia says. “There was a time when those delays were never there, and the delays were there only for the production freighters. Now we are seeing a situation where leased aircraft are also experiencing delays, either because of engine-related issues or avionics.” The 767-300BDSF is the second new freighter type in the past six months for Astral, which received a 1992-vintage 737-400F (27082, ex-Alaska Airlines) on lease from Avmax in late 2024. While the global airfreight market tries to navigate the fallout from the trade war, Astral and Kenya are not too concerned.  “I still believe that Africa would really benefit from this whole opportunity, because generally Africa, with the exception of South Africa and two other countries, is at 10%,” Gadhia says, referring to the tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump recently imposed on goods from countries around the world.

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• Skyway Airlines plans further growth after 1st international flight

  New Philippines-based carrier Skyway Airlines hopes to expand its fleet and network after stretching its wings with its first international flight earlier this month.Skyway obtained its AOC in July 2024 after leasing a 1998-vintage 737-400BDSF (29208) from AerCap. It is the first 737-400 freighter operator in the Philippines and intends to add more of the type.“It took us two and a half years to get our AOC,” founder and Chief Executive Jose Peralta says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect,” recorded at Cargo Facts Asia 2025 in Shanghai this week.“And there’s a prerequisite with the Philippine authorities that you have to demonstrate domestic operations first before you go international. So, there were a lot of preparations, a lot of legal documents that we needed to submit. We had to undergo hearings with the Department of Transportation just to get our permit to operate internationally.”While the first international flight was from Clark (CRK) to Hong Kong (HKG), Skyway is working on developing other routes and could start flying to Macau (MFM) soon.“We are applying for our CCAR 129 permit for China,” Director of Business Development and External Affairs Vedant Bhardwaj says. “That’s why we are here. So, we’re looking into that and definitely another destination which we see is Vietnam.”Domestic operations are challenging because of competition with sea freight rates and belly cargo rates, whereas Skyway can achieve better rates for international e-commerce, for example, Peralta says.“We’re trying to solve a problem; to connect the islands and also connect the Philippines to the outer regions,” he says. “So, that is the goal, and that is the aim, and hopefully we get to achieve it.”Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on Skyway as Peralta and Bhardwaj speak with Cargo Facts Editor Jeff Lee and Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke at Cargo Facts Asia 2025 in Shanghai.

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• 123Carbon on importance of accurate SAF data collection

  IATA and carbon-inset platform 123Carbon are developing interoperability between their sustainable aviation fuel registries to increase transparency, avoid emissions reporting errors and streamline certificate management.The IATA SAF Registry, scheduled to launch in April, aims to help create a global SAF market, IATA stated in January. The registry is designed to enable airlines to document SAF benefits to show compliance with regulatory and voluntary obligations.The interoperability will focus on three elements: Unique coding and alignment of relevant data points to exchange between registries; A process for the exchange of information to avoid double issuance; and A dispute resolution process.“Registry interoperability can be quite a few things,” Jeroen van Heiningen, founder and managing director of 123Carbon, says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “What we’re doing now is to avoid the redundancies and the double issuance, so to make sure that fuel is not registered on a registry twice, [which could] lead to double counting. It also means that we are aligning the data models that we are using. We’re using the same taxonomy and using the same wording.”123Carbon’s platform supports fuel suppliers, fleet operators, forwarders and cargo owners in the issuance, management and transfer of environmental attribute certificates (EAC). EACs represent carbon reductions that have been achieved, such as those achieved through SAF, and are then allocated to freight forwarders, cargo owners and others.The company also offers a book-and-claim solution to SAF suppliers and airlines to allocate company-branded SAF EACs to customers in a private environment.IATA and the International Civil Aviation Organization have said SAF is the most reliable way to eliminate carbon emissions from aviation in the next twenty-five years. IATA set an aviation industry target of reaching net-zero by 2050.Tune in to this week’s “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more on 123Carbon as van Heiningen speaks with Cargo Facts Deputy Editor Yael Katzwer. 

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