Teleport, the logistics venture of Capital A (formerly AirAsia Group Berhad), plans to expand its cargo fleet with the addition of three Airbus A321 converted freighters or A321F.

The three narrowbody freighters, which will be leased from BBAM Limited Partnership (BBAM), will be delivered in stages beginning in the first quarter of 2023 and positioned across key markets like Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia.

“It is a timely and strategic move on our part to complement our exclusive AirAsia passenger belly planes with a freighter network to expand and reinforce our increased capacity for key markets like China and India into Asean,” said Teleport chief Pete Chareonwongsak.

“E-commerce continues to be the main force propelling air cargo growth around the region and here at Teleport, especially with key growth in segments like international cross border e-commerce and express shipping.”

Each A321F, can carry up to 27 tonnes of cargo per flight. Teleport said this payload capacity is ideal considering the surge in market demand for air cargo to fulfill both small-scale items of ecommerce and bigger scale volumetric cargo.

“The addition of these freighters creates an added availability of skidded cargo capacity for key markets like China, which will allow us to load pre-packed, larger cargo in a secure manner,” noted Francis Anthony, commercial cargo head at Teleport.

“This allows Teleport the agility to take advantage of each hub country’s unique geographical strengths, air traffic rights and cater to every possible dimension of regional demand.

Upon the delivery of the three narrowbody A321Fs, Teleport will grow its dedicated cargo fleet to four freighters in total, in addition to over 200 AirAsia passenger aircraft with space on the belly. The lone freighter in its current cargo fleet, a 737-800F operated by K-Mile Asia, is parked, according to Planespotters.