AerSale has inducted the first of its 24 Boeing 757-200 aircraft for passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion at its heavy MRO centre in Goodyear, Arizona, US.

The first aircraft was delivered by Boeing in 1999 to American Airlines. All 24 of the aircraft are powered by Rolls-Royce RB211-535 engines.

“There is no rival to the 757 as a freighter, and with our younger, high-spec, and well-maintained fleet we are ideally positioned to support cargo airlines with turnkey freighters to meet the booming e-commerce market,” said AerSale’s president of aircraft & engine management Craig Wright.

“Post-Covid, the lack of freight capacity has been further exacerbated by the dramatic decrease in passenger aircraft flights whose cargo holds have typically carried the bulk of global air freight.”

AerSale’s Goodyear facility has been performing P2F conversions on 757 aircraft since 2013. The fleet of 24 757-200s are currently being stored at the company’s Roswell, New Mexico MRO facility. And will be sent to Goodyear for the P2F conversions.

AerSale’s chairman & CEO Nicolas Finazzo commented: “Because of AerSale’s integrated product and services offerings, we are well positioned to transition a large fleet of passenger aircraft to their best and highest use, whether through outright sale, leasing, or P2F conversions, and at both the whole aircraft and component level for engines and used serviceable material (USM) piece-parts. We are confident we can offer our customers these high-quality products at competitive prices.”