Singapore Airlines Cargo - Fleet

Fleet

When incorporated in 2001, all nine Singapore Airlines' Boeing 747 freighters were transferred to the new cargo start-up at market value, and henceforth, all new freighter purchases were to be made from the new company's books. All cargo-hold spaces in the Singapore Airlines' passenger planes are also managed by the new company.

SIA Cargo currently operates 11 Boeing 747-400Fs and 2 Boeing 747-400BCFs. The Boeing 747-400 freighter, with a 113-tonne payload and 8,060 km range, can carry more payloads further than any other commercial cargo aircraft, and feature typical capabilities such as front loading from the nose, temperature control and pressure-regulation systems. The Boeing 747-8 Freighter has a higher payload of 154 tonnes but a shorter range of 8,130 kilometres (5,050 mi). Despite the increase in payload offered by the Boeing 747-8 Freighter, SIA Cargo has announced that there are no plans to acquire them. According to the then-CEO Chew Choon Seng of Singapore Airlines, “We are not convinced about the additional expenditure that would be needed to renew the freighter fleet with 747-8 freighters, when the tradeoffs in terms of operating efficiency is rather marginal, in our view. So we do not need that."

SIA Cargo leased a freighter to Air China Cargo in 2003. With the purchase of Great Wall Airlines in 2006, two freighters were leased to Great Wall Airlines in 2007. A third freighter was also leased to Great Wall Airlines in 2007.

Due to the financial crisis in the late 2000s, there was a drop in global demand for freight. SIA Cargo parked a freighter at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, California from January 2009 until January 2010 to reduce capacity.

The average age of the freighter fleet was 11.6 years as of 3 August 2012.

In addition, the company manages the cargo holds of the passenger aircraft operated by Singapore Airlines. These offer 9-23 tonnes of cargo capacity per plane depending on aircraft type.