Second Mammoth 777 freighter enters service with DHL Air UK

By Sophie Lindqvist

Two Boeing 777-200LRMF freighters converted by Mammoth Freighters have entered revenue service with DHL Air UK. Mammoth indicated that both aircraft it supplied to Jetran are operating with the UK carrier.

In a LinkedIn post on 2 November, the Fort Worth-based conversion specialist said it had transferred its second aircraft to Jetran, a Texas-based lessor, which passed it to DHL Air UK. That aircraft has been registered in the UK as G-DHME.

Certification versus service

The Federal Aviation Administration granted Mammoth Supplemental Type Certification (STC, approval for a defined aircraft modification) for the 777-200LRMF in April. The report did not specify the year. Certification allowed Mammoth to begin deliveries to launch customer Qatar Airways Cargo, which has an agreement with Jetran covering five aircraft.

The two DHL aircraft are therefore operating conversions covered by an approved modification, not experimental airframes or undelivered project assets. The distinction matters because only the two aircraft have reported revenue entry, while the larger order remains a mix of commitments and schedules.

Mammoth fits a large main-deck cargo door and advanced cargo handling systems while retaining the original airframes and engines. That defines part of the capital outlay: the program works on existing 777 equipment rather than new-build airframes and engines. The announcement gives no conversion price, maintenance comparison or financing terms, however, so the cost case cannot be tested.

For capacity, the large door and advanced handling systems are designed to improve how freight enters and moves through the aircraft. No payload or cargo-volume figure accompanied the announcement, so the additional capacity remains unquantified.

The delivery pipeline

Jetran has ordered more than two dozen Mammoth 777-200LRMF freighters in total. Thirteen are set to enter revenue service within DHL’s global network, and DHL has said four of the 13 converted aircraft it leases are scheduled to enter service “this year”; the report did not identify the calendar year.

These figures describe three different stages: a firm order, an intended network allocation and a scheduled entry. They should not be treated as interchangeable with aircraft already flying. For DHL, the difference is the gap between two conversions in revenue service, four scheduled aircraft and a 13-aircraft deployment.

Jetran’s first Mammoth-converted 777-200LRMF was displayed at the Farnborough Airshow in the UK in July and delivered in August. With the second aircraft now also in revenue service, two conversions have moved from exhibition and delivery into DHL operations. That operating claim is stronger evidence than an order alone, but does not show the remaining aircraft are complete.

What does this change for DHL Air UK?

It gives the operator two converted freighters already earning revenue, with four of the 13-aircraft plan scheduled for entry in the report’s referenced year. The immediate effect is additional converted 777 capacity available to DHL’s global network, not the introduction of a wholly new freighter design.

The source provides no routes, payload figures, frequencies or unit costs, so it cannot show how much traffic the aircraft will carry or what each conversion costs to operate. It also leaves the timing of entries beyond the four cited aircraft unspecified. That limits any attempt to translate the rollout into network cost or market impact.

The more-than-two-dozen Jetran order sets the wider test of whether Mammoth can sustain deliveries beyond the initial DHL deployment. Separately, the five-aircraft agreement between Jetran and Qatar Airways Cargo shows another route to putting the conversion into service.

Until the remaining aircraft appear in registration and service records, the program should be measured by two aircraft flying, four scheduled and 13 planned—not by the full order. Delivery execution, rather than the announcement itself, will determine whether the conversion becomes a material part of DHL’s freight network.