PEMCO hosts inaugural door cutting ceremony for B737-700 FlexCombi™ conversion aircraft

PEMCO World Air Services (PEMCO) has held a ceremony to mark the cutting of a cargo-door opening in a passenger airframe for the conversion of its first Boeing Next Generation 737-700 Passenger-to-FlexCombi™ aircraft. The event is a major milestone for Bahrain-based Chisholm Enterprises, an internationally recognized provider of tailored aviation and business solutions in the Middle East, which is the customer for this aircraft. Its subsidiary Texel Air, a non-scheduled cargo airline, will operate the B737-700 FlexCombi™ from Bahrain International Airport. The FlexCombi™ design provides separate main-deck compartments for passengers and cargo. PEMCO expects to receive U.S. Federal Aviation Administration supplemental type certification (STC) approval for its B737-700 conversion programs by the third quarter of 2018. After the initial FAA issuance, PEMCO plans to certify the programs with the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Civil Aviation Administration of China shortly thereafter. PEMCO intends to offer three configurations of the PEMCO B737-700 FlexCombi™: a 24-passenger cabin plus a 2,640-cubic-foot cargo hold for up to 30,000 pounds of payload in six pallet positions; a 12-passenger cabin plus a 3,005-cubic-foot cargo hold for up to 35,000 pounds of payload in seven pallet positions; or full-freighter mode consisting of a 3,370-cubic-foot cargo hold for up to 40,000 pounds of payload in eight pallet positions. The available positions will accommodate 88” x 125” or 88” x 108” pallets, with the seventh and eighth positions accommodating smaller pallets.