Aircraft

The Boeing machinist strike has forced Alenia Aeronavali to further delay delivery of its first Boeing 767-200 special freighter.

Alenia Aeronavali senior vice president of business development sales and programmes Gianni Tritto says the company's first 767-200SF is now sitting in Seattle waiting for Boeing to conduct certification flights.

The flights were initially scheduled to begin last week but Tritto says Boeing is unable to fly the aircraft while the machinists are on strike.

Tritto says once the strike ends, it will take 40 to 45 days to complete the certification programme. After the supplemental type certification is secured, the initial aircraft will be delivered to Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM), which in early 2005 signed up as launch customer for the Aeronavali 767-200SF programme with five firm orders.

CAM is the leasing unit under Cargo Holdings International (CHI), which is now part of ABX Air parent Air Transport Services Group.

This is the latest in a long line of setbacks for the Aeronavali's 767-200 conversion programme. ATI, Flightglobal.com's sister premium news source, reported back in December that Aeronavali had encountered several delays in converting the aircraft for CHI, which initially delivered the aircraft to Alenia back in the second half of 2005.

The delays last year prompted CHI to discuss handing over the four remaining 767-200s under its contract with Aeronavali to Israel Aircraft Industries' Bedek Group. Bedek announced in March the delivery of the first of four 767-200SFs to CAM. It was the 34th 767-200 converted by Bedek.

Tritto says there is a possibility Aeronavali may not convert any more 767-200s and the work that was previously assigned to Aeronavali under Boeing's 767 cargo conversion programme will be assigned to other shops.

"We will wait for certification and after that we will decide together with Boeing if we will do other aircraft," Tritto told ATI on the sidelines of today's Cargo Facts aircraft symposium.