Asiana Airlines (OZ, Seoul Incheon) has completed the purchase of two B747-400FSCDs from Taiwan's China Airlines (CI, Taipei Taoyuan) for a combined investment of KRW69,645,366,100 won (USD50,850,000), according to a regulatory filing with South Korea's stock exchange.
AMS Aircraft Services, a brokerage, confirmed that the two freighters are 22.77-year-old N132VL (msn 30765) and 21.92-year-old B-18711 (msn 30768). Based on regulatory filings from China Airlines, the sale of N132VL was completed on May 29, 2024 for "no more than USD25 million" with a projected loss on the transaction of "no more than USD4.37 million". In a filing on July 29, the sale of B-18711 was announced for "no more than USD29 million" with a projected gain of "no more than USD2.2 million." Both aircraft are currently stored at Victorville.
When announcing the purchase, the Korean carrier said that the purpose of its investment was to "[enhance] punctuality and safety by replacing aging cargo aircraft." According to the ch-aviation fleets module, not including these two aircraft, Asiana's current cargo fleet has an average age of 27.7 years and comprises six B747-400(BDSF)s, four B747-400FSCDs, and one B767-300F. It initially had a plan to lease two additional B747-400Fs for a six-year period along with this purchase but this was cancelled in April.
China Airlines has recently been offloading cargo aircraft, and the sale of three other B747-400FSCDs to Air Atlanta Icelandic (CC, Reykjavik Keflavik) was announced in March, although specific details of the transactions are still to be announced.
