Aloha Air Cargo has upgraded its fleet with the purchase of two new Boeing 737-300SF all-cargo converted aircraft.
The first 737-300, which recently entered operations, was officially welcomed Wednesday when Kahu Kordell Kekoa conducted a Hawaiian blessing for the aircraft in front of about 50 company employees at the company’s Honolulu Airport facility. The second plane currently is in its initial maintenance check and is scheduled to be delivered into Honolulu later this quarter.
Aloha Air Cargo, which carries nearly 70 percent of the total interisland air freight, has about 1,000 flights a month and transports about 100 million pounds of cargo annually. It transports everything from animals and high-value items to perishables and dangerous goods to Honolulu, Kahului, Lihue, Hilo and Kona.
"Our current fleet of four Boeing 737-200 aircraft has served Aloha and our predecessor very well over the last several decades, but timing is key to begin transitioning to a newer airframe," Pat Rosa, chief operating officer for Aloha Air Cargo, said in a statement. "We are excited to invest in the future of our company and its employees by adding the 737-300s to our fleet."
Aloha Air Cargo previously was a unit of now-defunct Aloha Airlines, but became an independent cargo operator after it was purchased out of bankruptcy in May 2008 by Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources Inc., which also owns Young Brothers and Hawaiian Tug & Barge.
Originally, Aloha’s cargo business consisted of carrying freight in the cargo holds below the floors of regular passenger flights of Aloha Airlines. Aloha also had dual-purpose Boeing 737-200 QC aircraft, better known as "quick change" aircraft, that were able to convert from a passenger configuration to an exclusively cargo configuration in less than an hour.
Besides the two new Boeing 737-300s, Aloha Air Cargo’s fleet consists of two Boeing 737-200s and three Saab 340A turboprops.
The new 737-300 has nine full cargo positions — two more positions than the 737-200 — and can carry nearly 39,000 pounds of cargo, or 10,000 pounds more than the 737-200.
Aloha Air Cargo said the 737-300s also are more fuel-efficient, have quieter engines and will greatly reduce the environmental footprint.
