New 777 brings much needed extra capacity (01/08/2010)

The delivery of the first 777-300ER is great news for British Airways World Cargo (BAWC). The aircraft, first of a fleet of six, was delivered from Boeing to the British Airways Engineering base in Cardiff on the 10 July.

The first trans-Atlantic flight was used to monitor the performance of the aircraft and now the passenger cabins will be fitted to an exclusive British Airways finish. Final operational trials including ramp and cargo handling will be conducted before the aircraft becomes operational.

The introduction of any new aircraft into the fleet is always a cause for celebration. However, in this case it is doubly so for BAWC as the 777-300ER is amazingly cargo friendly. The plane offers a massive 9 pallet and 4 AKH (or bin) cargo positions, giving a potential cargo payload of 23 tonnes. This is 3 more pallet positions when compared with BA's existing 777s and the planned schedule will see operations on prime cargo routes such as Bombay, Delhi and Chicago.

This new 777 also comes with advanced environmental cargo controls, which ensure that the temperature range is kept controlled between 7 and 21 degrees centigrade, which is ideal for BAWC's Constant Climate product.

The second 777-300ER is due to be delivered to British Airways in September and is expected to enter service in November. The arrival of the third aircraft in 2011 will increase operations to DEL and when all six aircraft have been delivered by 2012 route options include Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bangkok, Singapore, Narita and Beijing.

This increasing belly-hold capacity is the first in a series of changes to the passenger fleet, which will see the network capacity available to BAWC grow by more than 20 per cent by 2020 when all of the currently ordered aircraft have been delivered. These are a mix of 24 Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 and a 12 Airbus 380.