Aerolíneas Argentinas announced on Friday that it will lease two Boeing 737-800BCF cargo jets, ending a 16-year hiatus in which the airline did not have dedicated cargo aircraft in its fleet.
The change in strategy was motivated by an agreement signed with the Argentine group Mirgor, which will use the carrier to transport goods from Tierra del Fuego.
With the capacity to carry up to 22 tons of cargo, the 737-800BCF is a passenger aircraft converted by Boeing to a freighter.
It is based on the 737 NG series, quite numerous in the world and which has been replaced in some airlines by the 737 MAX. The Brazilian Gol is one of the carriers that opted for the strategy, having received its first 737-800BCF this year.
In a post on Twitter, Pablo Cerioni, CEO of Aerolíneas Argentinas, did not detail what stage the leasing contract is at, but anticipated that the aircraft will arrive in 2023.
“As of the contract signed yesterday, the flag carrier will carry out the cargo logistics operations of the Mirgor company, which allows us to incorporate the B737-800 cargo planes”, said the executive.
Boeing 737-300 freighter
The last pure cargo aircraft operated by Aerolíneas Argentinas would have been a Boeing 737-300 converted to cargo in 1992 and which arrived at the airline in 2005.
The passage of the 737-300F registration LV-BBZ by Aerolíneas, however, was short-lived: a year later, in 2006, the jet rented by the company Ansett Worldwide was returned.
