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Thai Airways International has begun to deploy two brand-new Boeing 777 freighters to develop its under-exploited air cargo business, the Bangkok Post reported.
The flag carrier last week started to use cargo capacity on the B777Fs, which are operated by Southern Air, a Connecticut-based low-cost cargo carrier, under an aircraft block space agreement (BSA) struck last year for a period of two years.
The deployment of the B777F jets, the world's largest twin-engine freighters, has been delayed for a few weeks from the original schedule due to bureaucratic hurdles in gaining operation permits from the US Federal Aviation Administration as the planes were registered in the United States.
The US planemaker Boeing delivered the two planes to Southern Air at the beginning of this month.
Thai Airways expects the B777Fs to open a new era for its air cargo business, particularly by letting the company meet long-distance bulk shipment requirements outside its current network.
Until recently, Thai Airways could only carry cargo under the bellies of its aircraft, which were all passenger-based and restricted to a set network.
Cargonews Asia
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