Air Canada reconfigures three Boeing 777s to transport COVID-19 supplies

Air Canada is reconfiguring the cabins of three of its Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to give them additional cargo capacity to combat the COVID-19 crisis, the company announced on Saturday. The first aircraft conversion is complete and is now in service, with the second and third aircraft to be completed shortly.

"The transformation of the Boeing 777-300ERs doubles the capacity of each flight and will enable more goods to move more quickly," said Tim Strauss, Vice President – Cargo at Air Canada.

"Air Canada's engineering team worked around the clock to oversee the conversion work. The next two aircraft are on track to be completed and will be in operation within the coming days," said Richard Steer, Senior Vice President, Operations at Air Canada.

The three Boeing 777-300ER aircraft are being converted by Avianor, an aircraft maintenance and cabin integration specialist, at its Montreal-Mirabel facility. Avianor developed a specific engineering solution to remove 422 passenger seats and designate cargo loading zones for light weight boxes containing medical equipment and restrained with cargo nets. This modification has been developed, produced and implemented within six days.

Air Canada has operated 40 all-cargo flights since March 22 and plans to operate up to 20 all-cargo flights per week using a combination of the three newly converted Boeing 777s, Boeing 787s and Boeing 777s.

Etihad Airways change aircraft on two key US markets

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, continues to optimize its United States network with equipment changes on two key markets in 2016.

Currently Etihad operates leased Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ER aircraft for its daily flight to and from San Francisco. These aircraft will be replaced with Etihad Airways Boeing 777-200LRs from April 25.

The daily EY101 flight from Abu Dhabi to New York's JFK airport and the return EY100 service will also see leased Jet Airways Boeing 777-300ER aircraft replaced by Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300ERs from June 1.

The second daily Etihad Airways service to and from New York JFK, EY103 and EY102, will continue to be operated with the airline's flagship A380 aircraft in 2016.

The Etihad Airways Boeing 777-200LR to be deployed on the San Francisco route will be configured to carry 239 guests in three cabins, with eight First Class seats, 40 Business Class seats and 191 Economy Class seats.

The Boeing 777-300ER to be deployed by Etihad Airways on the New York route will be configured to carry 328 guests also in three cabins, with eight First Class seats, 40 Business Class seats, and 280 Economy Class seats.

All Etihad Airways guests flying to the United States pass through U.S. Preclearance at Abu Dhabi Airport meaning they clear U.S. immigration and customs before boarding their flight and arriving in America as domestic passengers.

Etihad Airways currently operates daily to New York JFK, a daily service to Chicago, daily to Washington D.C., daily to Los Angeles LAX, daily to San Francisco, and three flights a week to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Etihad Airways began operations in 2003, and in 2014 carried 14.8 million passengers. The airline has a fleet of 120 Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and approximately 200 aircraft on firm order, including 66 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777Xs, 62 Airbus A350s and five Airbus A380s.