myCargo Airlines (9T, Istanbul Atatürk/Yesilköy International (IST)) has retired its last four remaining A300 freighters (three A300B4-203(F)s and one A300B4-103(F)) in mid-March. Once a prolific Airbus operator, myCargo and its predecessor, ACT Airlines (9T, Istanbul Atatürk/Yesilköy International (IST)), had a fleet of seven A300B4 freighters and for a short time only, a single A300-600(F). For the meantime, the Turkish carrier will continue operations with its two B747-400(F)s, one of which will be wet-leased to the Cargo division of Saudia (SV, Jeddah King Abdul Aziz (JED)) from later this month (replacing the ULS Airlines Cargo (GO, Istanbul Atatürk/Yesilköy International (IST)) A310-300(F) TC-SGM (c/n 592) that has recently been returned by Saudia Cargo).

Onur Air (8Q, Istanbul Atatürk/Yesilköy International (IST)) has phased out its fleet of five A300-600s, now in storage at Kiev Borispol (KBP), marking the end of a long relationship with the type dating back to 1996. Using a fleet that once numbered thirteen A300s - 1x A300B2, 5x A300B4 and 7x A300-600R - the Turkish operator used them to operate Umrah and Hajj flights on behalf of Saudia (SV, Jeddah King Abdul Aziz (JED)). Despite their age and retirement from active service, it is not entirely unheard of for such jets to circuitously find their way onto the international second-hand market where they occasionally find onward placement in certain embargoed states such as Iran.

Saudia (SV, Jeddah King Abdul Aziz (JED)) has taken delivery of the first of two B747-8(F) freighters its Saudia Cargo division has on order. The first aircraft registered HZ-AI3 (MSN 37562) will join Saudia’s existing cargo fleet of one B747-200(F) and four MD-11(F) freighters. Saudia also wet-leases nine additional freighters from several other operators.

Air Atlanta Icelandic (CC, Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF)) has retired its last B747-300 TF-AME (MSN 23032) in February. It had operated the aircraft on a wet-lease agreement with its closer partner Saudia (SV, Jeddah King Abdul Aziz (JED)). This marks the end of B747 Classic passenger operations by the Icelandic ACMI specialist that will continue to operate one B747-200(F) freighter for Saudia for the time being. Air Atlanta's fleet currently also includes ten B747-400s and four B747-400(F) freighters, most of which are operated on behalf of Saudia and Saudia Cargo.

Saudia (SV, Jeddah King Abdul Aziz (JED)) plans to take delivery of two B747-8(F) aircraft later this year that will join its fast growing cargo division Saudia Cargo. Saudia currently only operates one B747-200(F) and four MD-11(F) freighters itself but an A310-300(F) from ULS Airlines Cargo (GO, Istanbul Atatürk/Yesilköy International (IST)), four B747-200(F) from Air Atlanta Icelandic (CC, Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF)) and Veteran Avia (VTF, Yerevan Zvartnots (EVN)) as well as four B747-400(F) from Air Atlanta. For its passenger charter operations, Saudia has now again wet-leased both A340-300s 9M-XAB (c/n 273) and 9M-XAC (c/n 278) from AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International (KUL)).