Alpine Air Express Beech 1900D conversion ‘perfect’ freighter for GAM Air

After beginning revenue service with Australia’s first Beech 1900D Super Freighter at the end of May, GAM Air will soon take delivery of another.The carrier signed a deal this year to purchase three aircraft from Provo, Utah-based Alpine Air Express to operate for Team Global Express in Australia under a ten-year contract. The first unit (UE-254) arrived in April.GAM Air started to seriously evaluate the Beech 1900D Super Freighter about two years ago, when Alpine Air Express, which holds the only STC to convert the type, began marketing it.“We started doing some numbers on the airframe then with what we did know, just from a soft approach to see if that was the right sort of aircraft for our client, and it was really the only aircraft in the market — and still is,” GAM Air Chief Executive Carl Jepsen says in this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect.” “They had a point of difference against the Metros, the Dornier 228, and it blew the socks off the SkyCourier as well.“So for us, and what we do in Australia, the routes that we have, the speed we need and the payload we carry, it was the perfect airplane.”The deal with GAM has opened more opportunities for Alpine as interest has grown, Alpine Chief Operating Officer Bob Frisch says.“I think that this airplane fits a really good niche and it’s got that specific market,” he says. “And I think people are starting to look at that not only because of that niche that they have, but also just at the other replacements and the other costs of the airplanes, and what this can do.”Alpine CEO Michael Dancy says he would be reluctant to sell any Beech 1900D freighters to other operators in the United States.“I think the whole idea is I just don’t want them showing up next to me,” he says. “But there is so much interest from these aircraft in Canada, in Europe, in Africa and so forth.”For now, Dancy is happy to have GAM Air as a partner in Australia and wants to see the Australian carrier be as successful as possible.“So, we’d love for them to be the only operator in Australia, because for us, that's a great relationship,” he says. “We know how advantageous that is.”Tune in to this week’s episode of “Cargo Facts Connect” to hear more about the Beech 1900D as Dancy, Jepsen and Frisch speak with Editor Jeff Lee, Senior Associate Editor Robert Luke and Associate Editor Jay Aelick.