Air Canada today is reconfiguring the cabins of three of its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to give them additional cargo capacity.
The first aircraft conversion is complete and is in service, with the second and third aircraft to be completed shortly.
?Bringing medical and other important supplies to Canada and helping distribute them across the country is imperative to combating the COVID-19 crisis. The transformation of the Boeing 777-300ERs will enable more goods to move quickly,? said Tim Strauss, vice-president, cargo at Air Canada.
?The rapid transformation of some of our aircraft to meet cargo demand reflects our ability to maximise our fleet assets quickly when these aircraft would otherwise be parked,? said Richard Steer, senior vice-president, operations at Air Canada.
Steer added: ?The next two aircraft are on track to be completed and will be in operation within the coming days.?
The aircraft on these flights carry baggage holds time-sensitive shipments, including urgent medical supplies and goods to support the global economy.
Air Canada has operated 40 all-cargo flights since March 22 2020 and plans to operate up to 20 all-cargo flights per week using three newly converted Boeing 777s, Boeing 787s and Boeing 777s, in addition to scheduled flights to London, Paris, Frankfurt and Hong Kong.
The three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft are being converted by Avianor, an aircraft maintenance and cabin integration specialist, at its Montreal-Mirabel facility. Avianor developed a specific engineering solution to remove 422 passenger seats and designate cargo loading zones for light weight boxes containing medical equipment and restrained with cargo nets. This modification has been developed, produced and implemented within six days. All operations have been certified and approved by Transport Canada.
