Hatfield, Hertfordshire….New aircraft asset manager, Falko, has signed a remarketing mandate with leading European regional freight carrier, West Atlantic, under which Falko will seek to find new opportunities for some of the ATP Freighters in the airline’s fleet.

With a total of 42 ATPs in its inventory, West Atlantic is the largest operator of the type in the world and most of these aircraft are deployed on overnight European freight contracts on behalf of the major integrators or Post Offices.

However, West Atlantic believes at the moment that there is an excess of 8-tonne payload freighters in the Europe market for current demand, resulting in the airline having some surplus capacity. The airline has elected to seek potential placements outside the European Union for these surplus aircraft.

Whilst West Atlantic has expertise in some markets it has selected Falko to promote the ATPF in further-afield areas of the world, such as the Far East and Southern Africa, where its local market knowledge, experience and contacts will complement the remarketing efforts of the airline.

Gustaf Thureborn, Chief Executive of West Atlantic said: “It was a logical decision to choose Falko for this remarketing mandate as they have been great partners in developing the market for the 8-tonne ATPF in recent years.”

Nigel Benson, Director Freighter Programmes for Falko added: “There has been no ATPF availability over the past 18 months and so recent enquiries for the aircraft have been limited. However, we are confident that with a renewed marketing effort, alongside potential start-up operational support from West Atlantic, we can generate the significant level of opportunities that we were experiencing several years ago.”

In addition to West Atlantic, ATPFs are currently operated by Air Go in Bulgaria and Deraya Air Taxi in Indonesia.