- Temporary removal of cabin seats will increase the airplane’s capacity by 20%
- Aircraft will be used on new route to Asia, transporting medical supplies to Latin America.
- Project is part of the efforts to mitigate belly capacity restrictions.
LATAM Group has completed its first B777-300ER passenger aircraft reconfiguration to cabin cargo.
The aircraft’s economy cabin had passenger seats temporarily removed to increase its cargo transportation capacity by 20% after three days of work at Sao Paulo’s Maintenance Center.
This transformation is part of the company’s current strategy, which aims to mitigate the effects of belly capacity restrictions: to maximize its assets’ capacity and optimise its resources by utilising passenger aircraft exclusively for cargo transportation.
LATAM Cargo Group will thus be able to increase its cargo capacity and satisfy Latin America’s current transportation needs.
Due to its suitability for long haul routes, LATAM Cargo Group decided to modify this aircraft to achieve its new challenge: to temporarily fly to Asia in order to collect medical supplies for Latin America.
Stated Andrés Bianchi, LATAM Cargo Group’s CEO:“ The changes we have implemented aim to quickly mitigate the impact of the reductions in belly capacity, thereby offering our clients additional alternatives.
“Utilising passenger aircraft exclusively for cargo transportation allows us to move towards this goal and also to continue supporting our clients at a critical time for their businesses.”
Teams with technical expertise were involved in this complex project; these include people from maintenance, engineering, flight operations, cabin maintenance, DCO and cargo operations areas.
Once they were authorised by the competent authorities, these teams began working on the changes.
“I am deeply grateful for the teams’ commitment, diligence and effort to this time-critical project. Thanks to them, we are able to support the supply chain and meet both countries’ and our clients’ needs in due time and form”, added Bianchi.
