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Temporary removal of cabin seats will increase the airplane’s capacity by 20%.
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The aircraft will be used in the new route to Asia, activated in order to transport medical supplies to Latin America.
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The project is part of the company’s many efforts to mitigate the effects of belly capacity restrictions.
April, 2020.- After three days of intensive work at Sao Paulo’s Maintenance Center, LATAM Group announced the first Boeing 777-300ER reconfiguration. This aircraft’s Economy cabin had passenger seats temporarily removed to increase its cargo transportation capacity by 20%.
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 optimize its resources by utilizing passenger aircraft exclusively for cargo transportation. This way, LATAM Cargo Group will 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.
“The changes we have implemented aim to quickly mitigate the impact of the reductions in belly capacity, thereby offering our clients additional alternatives. Utilizing 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”, stated Andrés Bianchi, LATAM Cargo Group’s CEO.
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, among others. Once they were authorized 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.