At the same time, a letter of intent has been signed by 3P Air Freighters for the purchase of the third B747 200 freighter on behalf of Cargo B as lessee. This aircraft from Air France, will be delivered on September first and subject to the necessary permits, will enter the service of Cargo B Airlines by mid September. The second B747 Freighter will join the Cargo B Airlines fleet on October first with the third aircraft following on April first 2008. 3P Freighters Ltd was set up specifically for investment in cargo aircraft and is controlled by a well established Belgian investment bank, Petercam SA.
The first routes that Cargo B will operate from mid September will be twice weekly to Johannesburg, with intermediate stops at Nairobi both out and inbound, returning to Brussels. Then from October, the plan is to operate two weekly flights from Brussels to Sao Paulo Viracopos, Quito, Bogota and Brussels. During the initial months, in order to assure total reliability, one aircraft will be fully utilized with the second one mainly on standby in case of any possible technical problems. The airline has appointed several key staff members, Gerard ter Bruggen as Director Cargo and Dirk Vrebos as Director Operations. Meanwhile the recruitment of flight crews is progressing well.
