Driven by high demand for air cargo, Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. (AEI) received a new order from Aeronaves TSM to convert four Boeing 737-400 from passenger to freighter.
The Mexican, based in Saltillo, had already ordered two other Boeing 737-400SFs in March 2020 and a third last November. Therefore, this new order will bring the number of aircraft of this model in its fleet to seven.
At this time, the production slots and the specific aircraft that will be destined for the conversion work have not been revealed, although, like the previous orders, the modifications will be made at the AEI Conversion Center facilities authorized in Dothan, Alabama.
Aeronaves TSM has become the largest Mexican cargo airline, with a fleet of 25 Fairchild Metroliner III, two Convair 640s, eight DC 9-30s, four DC 9-15s, thirteen MD-80SFs (two in order), six CRJ 200SFs (four in order) and two CRJ 200PFs. Additionally, it operates some passenger charters with 4 Citation IIs and 1 Hawker 700.
The airline serves customers throughout the American continent, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. One of them is Mercado Libre, which operates under the «Meli Air» brand, with the purpose of improving the logistics capacity of the Mexican market.
AEI presents the Boeing 737-400SF with a highly flexible CLS cargo system capable of transporting multiple ULDs (Unit Cargo Items):
– (10) 88”x125” ULDs in P1 to P10.
– (1) 53”x88”x64” Pallet or AEP/AEH or 60.4”x61.5” AKE/LD3 or 61.5”x88”x56”H AYY in P11.
This kind of flexibility has been designed by AEI to allow freight operators to instantly adapt to multiple ULD configurations at any time. Currently, more than 120 Boeing 737-400SFs have been delivered worldwide (seven of them in 2020).
