Ask the Editors: The Aviation Week Network invites our readers to submit questions to our editors and analysts. We’ll answer them, and if we can’t we’ll reach out to our wide network of experts for advice.
Do you see the Boeing 767 staying in service for the next 10 years?
Lee Ann Shay, Aviation Week’s Executive Editor for MRO and Business Aviation, responds:
The short answer: absolutely. For starters, Boeing is still delivering the aircraft. It celebrated its 1,000th delivery on Feb. 2. Last year, customers received 30 767s, and FedEx Express took delivery of a 767-300F in January. Cargojet recently announced plans to add five 767 converted freighters to its growing fleet, starting in the third quarter of 2021.
Aviation Week’s 2021 Civil Aviation Fleet and MRO Forecast shows 667 aircraft in the fleet, 40 of which will return from storage this year. By 2030, Aviation Week’s forecast predicts 581 of those 767s will still be operating.
The bulk of the fleet is powered by GE CF6 engines, followed by Pratt & Whitney PW4000s. With the exception of Delta Air Lines, the majority of operators and owner-lessors are cargo related—FedEx, Cargo Aircraft Management (part of Air Transport Services Group [ATSG]) and United Parcel Service. “We think the 767 has a long life in front of it,” ATSG Chief Operating Officer Edward Koharik recently told me. “There is lot of 767 feedstock available now, but the conversion capacity is the limiting factor.” ATSG maintains four lines with Israel Aerospace Industries, and “those are booked through a good portion of 2022,” he says. “We’re already scheduling deliveries for mid-2022.”
Singapore Technologies Engineering added a second cargo conversion line at the end of 2020 for the Boeing 767BCF.
