Boeing 737-800BCF and 737-800SF

Updated: October 2026 – Shortly before midnight in Leipzig: between the big freighters, a 737 without a single cabin window taxis to the runway. A large door is outlined at the front left, winglets stand at the wingtips, and the engines are round rather than flat. With high probability, that is a converted Boeing 737-800, called 737-800BCF, -800SF or -800BDSF depending on the converter. Here you learn what is behind the abbreviations, why this type in particular shapes the express freight market, who flies it and how to recognize it reliably.

What is the 737-800BCF?

Boeing never built the 737-800 as a freighter at the factory. It belongs to the 737 Next Generation, the third generation of the 737 with CFM56-7B engines, and carried passengers in huge numbers for network, leisure and low-cost airlines. The more of these aircraft are replaced by the 737 MAX 8, the more technically sound airframes reach the used market – and that is exactly where the freighter conversions come in.

Boeing itself made the start: in February 2016, the manufacturer launched the 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter program, BCF for short. Boeing handed over the first converted aircraft on April 19, 2018 to the lessor GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), with the ceremonial handover at East Midlands Airport. It was flown by the Swedish-British West Atlantic, which at the time planned to take over four 737-800s via GECAS. At that point, Boeing counted 45 orders and commitments from seven customers, including Chinese parcel airlines such as YTO Airlines and China Postal Airlines, but also Air Algérie.

You find more about the manufacturer and its freighter programs on the page for Boeing.

BCF, SF, BDSF: three programs for one airframe

Unlike many other types, there is not just one conversion for the 737-800 but several competing programs at once. For spotters, this is mainly a question of designation in fleet lists.

Designation	Provider	Key data
737-800BCF	Boeing (conversion at partner shops)	Program launch 2016, first delivery April 2018, about 23.9 t payload
737-800SF	Aeronautical Engineers Inc. (AEI), USA	FAA certification February 2019, main deck for twelve pallets, first delivery March 2019
737-800BDSF	IAI Bedek, Israel	Payload according to IAI 53,000 lb (about 24 t), successor of the Classic BDSF

Boeing has the BCF conversions carried out at selected partner shops close to demand. At the start, Boeing named Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services and Taikoo (Shandong) Aircraft Engineering in China.

AEI had already announced its program in 2015, and the lessor GECAS was among the first customers. The US aviation authority FAA granted the supplemental type certificate in February 2019, and in March 2019 GECAS handed over the first 737-800SF to Ethiopian Airlines. The Chinese aviation authority followed in January 2020. AEI also has some of the conversions carried out at third-party shops such as HAECO.

IAI Bedek is the conversion and maintenance division of Israel Aerospace Industries. The 737-800BDSF is the company’s second NG freighter after the -700BDSF and sees itself as the successor to the converted 737-400. IAI gives a main-deck volume of just under 5,000 cubic feet.

How a 737-800 becomes a freighter

A conversion is more than removing seats. The airframe gets a new job, and structure, systems and interior are adapted for it. The basic steps are similar at all converters.

The appeal of the conversion is obvious: the base is comparatively cheap to get, spare parts and maintenance know-how for the 737-800 are available worldwide, and pilots are plentiful on the type. Compared with the older Classic freighters, the 737-800 brings more volume, more payload and more modern avionics.

A special case from Canada shows how versatile the platform is: Air Inuit is replacing its old 737-200 combis with 737-800s in combi configuration, that is, with a cargo compartment in front and a passenger cabin behind. This variant has little in common with the pure parcel freighters, though.

Why the 737-800 shapes the express market

Express and parcel services work with night hops: in the evening, shipments are collected in a region, flown to the hub at night, sorted and distributed again before sunrise. On many of these routes, a widebody freighter would be oversized. A narrowbody with about 24 tonnes of payload and a range around 2,000 nautical miles, on the other hand, fits exactly. Boeing itself describes the BCF as right-sized for the market of standard-body freighters, above all for express freight on domestic and short routes.

That way, the 737-800 takes over the role the 737-300SF and -400SF played for decades. One step above are the 757-200 freighters, and above those the 767-300F. Serious competition in the same segment comes from Airbus: the A321P2F offers a wider fuselage cross-section and targets the same customers. How integrators build their networks and what role partner airlines play is explained in the article on Express integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

Operators: ASL, DHL partners and Amazon Air

Most 737-800 freighters in Europe do not carry the logo of the parcel service that books them but fly for partner airlines in the so-called ACMI business: the airline provides aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance, and the customer the cargo and the network. Some aircraft nevertheless wear the colors of the client.

You find further operators in Asia, Africa and Latin America – from Chinese parcel airlines to Ethiopian, which took over the first AEI aircraft in 2019. The exact fleet numbers change constantly because new conversions are continually delivered and aircraft are shifted between lessees.

How to recognize the 737-800BCF

The basic picture is that of a normal 737-800 – just without windows and with a large door. The art lies in telling it apart from the older Classic freighters and from the passenger jet.

How to tell the individual 737 generations apart in principle is shown in the guide How to tell the Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart. The article How to recognize cargo aircraft gives an overview of all common freighter types, and more about engine shapes is in How to recognize engines.

Feature	737-400SF	737-800BCF/SF
ICAO type designator	B734	B738
Generation	Classic	Next Generation
Engine	CFM56-3, strongly flattened inlet	CFM56-7B, rounder
Length	about 36.4 m	about 39.5 m
Wingtips	no winglets from the factory	mostly with winglets
Payload	much lower	about 24 t

Where you catch the freighters in Europe

Express freight flies above all when passenger jets sleep. Your best chances are therefore at airports with heavy night traffic and in the hours around sunrise and sunset.

Place	Chance of success	Why
Leipzig/Halle	high	Largest DHL hub in Europe, plus flights for Amazon Air
Liège	high	Cargo airport with many integrator and ASL flights
East Midlands	medium to high	British express hub, base of West Atlantic UK
Cologne/Bonn	medium	Cargo airport with night operations
Classic passenger airports	low	Only occasional mail or charter freight flights

At Leipzig/Halle Airport, you start at the observation deck; all tips on night waves and vantage points are in the Leipzig/Halle spotting guide. In Belgium, the spotting place at Liège Airport is the first choice, in England the Aeropark East Midlands at East Midlands Airport. At Cologne/Bonn Airport, the Cologne/Bonn guide helps you along.

Which German airports have traffic at night at all is explained in the article on the night flight ban at German airports.

Searching deliberately: tracker, callsign, registration

Because the type code B738 also covers every leisure and low-cost 737, a pure type search on the tracker does not get you far. Searching by airline or registration works better: note the registrations of the freighters that interest you and get notified as soon as one of them is in the air. How that works in common services is shown in the guide Setting up notifications for aircraft, types and airlines; how to follow a single aircraft permanently is covered in Tracking an aircraft by registration.

Photo tips for night freighters

The 737-800 freighters are a rewarding but demanding subject: many movements fall in the dark, and a white airframe without windows offers little structure.

How to get sharp pictures in low light is explained in the article Photographing aircraft at night.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The converted 737-800 is the workhorse of the modern express night network. Boeing, AEI and IAI convert retired passenger jets, and partner airlines such as ASL, Swiftair, West Atlantic or Sun Country fly them for DHL, Amazon and other parcel services. For you as a spotter, that means: windowless fuselage, door at the front left, round engines and winglets – and then the registration to clarify program and operator.