Page 12 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2022 Online Magazine

Agency (EASA) in February that year, and the Limited Partnership (BBAM), a world leader in aircraft leasing,
Validation STC from the U.S. Federal Aviation and EFW signed an agreement for Airbus A320/A321 P2F orders
Administration in July the same year. Operator including options. The new orders by BBAM bring the total number
specific enhancements were subsequently of its A320/A321P2F to no less than 20, with the conversions
incorporated into the freighter and certified to be carried out by EFW through 2025. The agreement comes
prior to its re-delivery. with the option to add new conversion slots every year starting
in 2026. “With this latest order, BBAM is now the largest aircraft
Jeffrey Lam, President of ST Engineering’s lessor for the A320/A321P2F programme, and one of the top P2F
Aerospace sector, said: “The completion customers of EFW,” said Andreas Sperl, Chief Executive Officer
of our first A321P2F was timely, as the pro- of EFW. Qantas, on behalf of the Australia Post, was the launch
gramme could help airlines breathe new life into operator for the first A321P2F.
under-utilised aircraft, which would otherwise
suffer a harder landing in their residual value. In India, IndiGo will be the launch customer for the A321P2F and
With the A321P2F platform being the best-in- could potentially become the largest operator in the future too, as
class for its size category – having 55 per cent the airline currently operates an extensive A320 family fleet with
more volumetric capacity than its nearest com- over 250 aircraft and hundreds more on order. “IndiGo was already
petitor – we are confident that the programme the largest carrier of cargo in domestic India before Covid-19, and
will be a great success in the freighter market.” we expect the market to continue to grow after the pandemic. Our

The A321P2F is the first in its size category to
offer containerised loading in both the main
(up to 14 full container positions) and lower
deck (up to 10 container positions). With a
generous payload-range capability that can
carry above 28 metric tons (roughly 60,000 lbs)
over 2,300 nautical miles, the A321P2F is the
ideal narrow body freighter aircraft for express
domestic and regional operations. The conver-
sion features a large main cargo door which is
hydraulically actuated and electrically locked,
a Class E cargo compartment with full rigid
9G barrier for optimal protection between
crew and cargo, and a redefined flight deck
that includes supernumerary seats and a new
lavatory. investment in the Airbus Freighter Programme will help strengthen

our product and services in the segment and will not only help
The collaboration between ST Engineering, accelerate our own business recovery but also be a strong engine
Airbus and EFW is the only OEM solution for of economic growth for the country,” Ronojoy Dutta, chief exec-
A321P2F in the market. EFW, which is leading utive officer at Indigo said. The first A321P2F will be delivered to
the overall programme as well as marketing and the airline in the first half of 2022, with the remaining three to be
sales efforts, has been seeing a keen interest in arriving within the following year. The aircraft will be used for both
the solution, which is expected to further grow domestic and regional cargo missions, and any further aircraft
with the A321P2F unit now entering the market. may be sourced in the future depending on market development.
Recently ST Engineering’s A321 P2F conver-
sion programme gained traction when BBAM
More P2F Solutions
Other P2F solutions marketed by ST Engineering which uses the
Airbus platform include the A330 that comes with two variants
– the A330-200 and the larger A330-300. In January this year,
EFW has delivered its first Airbus A330-200 P2F converted aircraft
to Altavair, which will in turn lease the aircraft to MasAir, a cargo
airline based in Mexico City. The redelivered freighter is the first
of a series of A330P2F conversions that EFW is carrying out for
Altavair. This order includes both the A330-200P2F “range variant”
and the A330-300P2F “volume variant”.

EFW’s Sperl said: “We are delighted to re-deliver our first con-
verted freighter of 2022 to new customer, Altavair, for operation
by MasAir Cargo.

12 January/February 2022 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ AAA