http://www.airlinerworld.com 11News Review • Europe
West Atlantic takes the World’s first 737-800BCF
the European carrier’s books, culminat-
ing in the handover of the first example
at East Midlands Airport in the UK on
April 19. Once the paperwork has been
rubber-stamped by the UK Civil Aviation
Authority line training will begin. The
aircraft, G-NPTA (c/n 32740), currently
has a mere 14,000 cycles on the clock.
It is expected to enter service between
Belfast and East Midlands Airport
working for Royal Mail, before movingto a longer-term assignment once crew
familiarisation has been completed.
Remarkably West Atlantic calculates
that when it starts flying packages the
jet will serve as many customers in 25
days as it has done in its previous 14
years as a passenger aircraft.
Speaking at the official handover of the
first example, Groth remarked: “With
the 737-800BCF, we expect to improvereliability, lower aircraft operating
costs, and provide a better environmen-
tal footprint.” His firm will receive the
remaining conversions it has on order
via GECAS over the next 11 months and
they will be used to add capacity
rather than replace older airframes.
Performance, reliability and customer-
acceptance of the new fleet willbe monitored carefully and if everything
goes as well as expected Groth does
not rule out acquiring further examples.
Conversions of 737-300s and -400s
have been stalwarts of the air cargo
industry for two decades. Now the
classics are handing the mantle to the
next generation.The roller floor, cargo
door, cabin linings
and bulkheads were
all manufactured by
Boeing and installed
in China.Work to add the
aircraft to the UK
register and West
Atlantic’s operating
certificate will be
completed at the firm’s
East Midlands Airport
engineering base.Boeing 737-86NBCF
G-NPTA (c/n 32740) is
the first of its type
converted from
passenger to cargo
configuration. Three
more will join British-
based West Atlantic by
the end of the year.