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Kalitta Air is reportedly mystery customer behind order for 8 Airbus A350Fs

US cargo airline Kalitta Air is reportedly the mystery customer behind the order for eight Airbus A350 freighters that was made in August. Airbus had recorded the order in its August orders and deliveries data for the new generation model, but marked it as "undisclosed". According to Reuter's sources, Kalitta Air placed the firm order. However, the Michigan-based cargo carrier has not confirmed the order. "Kalitta Air is evaluating the Airbus A350F platform as part of our long-term fleet planning," an airline spokesperson told Reuters. "At this time, we remain in the evaluation phase and have no aircraft order to announce." Air Cargo News has contacted Kalitta Air for comment. Kalitta Air has been expanding its fleet of freighters in recent years. In 2025, aircraft lessor AerCap began delivering converted Boeing 777-300 freighters to launch operator Kalitta Air as part of a seven-aircraft order placed by the airline as it works to modernise its fleet and replace its ageing Boeing 747 freighters. Aircraft tracking site Planespotters.net shows that all seven of the aircraft have now been delivered, joining a further eight production 777Fs, plus 19 Boeing 747-400s - a mix of production and converted aircraft. Meanwhile, Airbus has now secured orders for 115 A350 freighters from at least 14 customers. The company has gained 34 orders for the A350F so far in 2026. The aircraft manufacturer's A350F prototype took off from Toulouse, France for its maiden flight on 29 August. The A350F is now set to undertake a nine-month test and certification campaign, as Airbus targets simultaneous certification from EASA and the FAA under the latest Amendment 27 safety regulations. The airframer said earlier this year that certification is targeted by the middle of next year.

The UPS F-35 saga: Beijing needs nothing 'exotic' to hurt America

The "UPS or Ceva" framing that ran for days at the end of last month turns out to have been the wrong question. It was never either-or. UPS carried the shipment. It may not even have been Ceva that was involved but rather DSV, if you trust Bloomberg. Yesterday, we duly asked the Danish forwarder to comment on the following parts (emphasis in bold was added) of Bloomberg's story (titled 'UPS worker missed email, letting China get F-35 parts'):

China wants more - and bigger - car-carriers to meet export demand

China's shipowners and carmakers are making a concerted push to grow their car-carrier fleets as exports increase. Cosco Shipping Specialized Carriers, carmaker BYD, and SAIC Anji Logistics plan to jointly invest around $2.5bn to build 21 11,000 ceu car-carriers in compatriot shipyards. Cosco Shipping is ordering up to 11 of the vessels, BYD is planning eight, and SAIC Anji, two. Xiamen Shipbuilding and Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) are reportedly Cosco's choice to build its vessels. SAIC Anji has issued a tender, inviting international shipbuilders to submit quotes. The tender document, launched on 23 September, states that the shipbuilders must have completed at least ten LNG dual-fuelled car carriers with capacity of at least 7,000 ceu between 1 January 2023 and 31 August 2026. Based on Clarksons' data, only China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu), GSI, China Merchants Jinling and Yantai CIMC Raffles meet the criteria. Car-carriers exceeding 10,000 ceu remain in the minority, and the Chinese push shows an intent to reduce the per-vehicle cost of transport. If the newbuilding orders are signed by year-end, it would mean more than 100 have been ordered this year, a record. The current orderbook is 26.7% of the active fleet. Hyundai Glovis, the carmaker's shipping unit, is operating four of a total of 20 10,800 ceu vessels, the other 16 still under construction. Wallenius Wilhelmsen, the world's largest car-carrier operator, is building seven 12,100 ceu ships at China Merchants Jinling, for delivery between 2027 and 2028. Meanwhile, Ningbo Ocean Shipping (NBOSCO), Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Group's liner subsidiary, plans to charter two 7,000 ceu LNG dual-fuelled car-carriers. It said in a Shanghai Stock Exchange filing on 8 October it would pay up to $480m to lease the two ships for 20 years. Details of where the ships would be built, and their delivery dates, were not disclosed. The carrier entered the car-shipping business in August, after chartering the 7,000 ceu Clean Star from Atlas EMF, a joint-venture between Greek shipping company Atlas Maritime and Danish investor European Maritime Finance. Meanwhile, on Friday, following trade discussions, the EU capped annual Chinese hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) imports at 350,000 units, with an annual quota growth rate of 6%. The bloc imported around 302,000 HEVs from China last year, while the 2026 trajectory would have indicated around 800,000 prior to the deal. Fearnley Securities, however, claimed that while the EU's quota would dampen tonne-km demand for car-carriers, overall demand remains positive. Chinese monthly car exports now exceed a million, and the Norwegian brokerage estimates that car-carrying capacity is around 3m ceu short, on an annualised basis. Reduced European imports would thus, not hurt the shipping market, it said. Fearnley added: "Moreover, China could be able to push more vehicles to other jurisdictions, potentially offsetting fewer European imports. Fleet growth will be declining through 2029, before 2030 could represent an uptick in deliveries depending on contracting activity (2030 has the first available yard slots)."