Flight Friday: The 767’s Remarkable Passenger To Cargo Transition

August 2026 marked the 44th anniversary of the first Boeing 767 delivery to United Airlines. This week’s Flight Friday examines the 767’s extraordinary transformation from innovative twin-engine widebody passenger carrier to stalwart air cargo workhorse.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, cargo-configured 767s have maintained robust utilization rates.

With Boeing delivering over 100 767Fs since the beginning of 2020, alongside almost 150 passenger-to-freighter conversions for the 767 since the start of 2020, the number of available cargo aircraft has increased.

This is reflected in the utilization data, which has seen a growth of almost 15% from January-August 2022 to the same time frame in 2026, even up 5% from the same time frame in 2025.

As 767 cargo flights have grown, they have been to the detriment of 767 passenger aircraft. There are 150 fewer passenger 767s as they have been converted to freighters.

In addition to this, there have been almost 70 767 retirements since the start of 2020, as operators looked to trim back capacity of some of their older platforms during COVID. Utilization is down 8% year-to-date 2026 versus the same timeframe in 2022.

With almost 550 cargo aircraft, and a little over 200 passenger aircraft, the utilization trends will continue heading in similar directions, with the remaining few new cargo aircraft deliveries and continued passenger-to-freighter conversions alongside the slow removal of the passenger fleet as they transition to freighters or the scrapyard.