Page 24 - AAA MARCH - MAY 2022 Online Magazine

loading in both the main (up to 14 full container the pandemic. Our investment in the Airbus Freighter Programme
positions) and lower deck (up to 10 container will help strengthen our product and services in the segment and
positions). With a generous payload-range will not only help accelerate our own business recovery but also
capability that can carry above 28 metric tons be a strong engine of economic growth for the country,” Ronojoy
(roughly 60,000 lbs) over 2,300 nautical miles, Dutta, chief executive officer at Indigo said. The first A321P2F will
the A321P2F is the ideal narrow body freighter be delivered to the airline in the first half of 2022, with the remain-
aircraft for express domestic and regional ing three to be arriving within the following year. The aircraft will
operations. The conversion features a large be used for both domestic and regional cargo missions, and any
main cargo door which is hydraulically actu- further aircraft may be sourced in the future depending on market
ated and electrically locked, a Class E cargo development.
compartment with full rigid 9g barrier for opti-
mal protection between crew and cargo, and a More P2F Solutions
redefined flight deck that includes supernumer- Other P2F solutions marketed by ST Engineering which uses the
ary seats and a new lavatory. The collaboration Airbus platform include the A330 that comes with two variants –
between ST Engineering, Airbus and EFW is the the A330-200 and the larger A330-300. In January this year, EFW
only OEM solution for A321P2F in the market. has delivered its first Airbus A330-200 P2F converted aircraft to
EFW, which is leading the overall programme as Altavair, which will in turn lease the aircraft to MasAir, a cargo
well as marketing and sales efforts, has been airline based in Mexico City. The redelivered freighter is the first
seeing a keen interest in the solution, which is of a series of A330P2F conversions that EFW is carrying out for
expected to further grow with the A321P2F unit Altavair. This order includes both the A330-200P2F “range variant”
now entering the market. and the A330-300P2F “volume variant”. EFW’s Sperl said: “We are
delighted to re-deliver our first converted freighter of 2022 to new
customer, Altavair, for operation by MasAir Cargo.
More Conversion Sites and Partnerships
In contrast to other solutions providers who rely on reverse engi-
neering, ST Engineering and EFW’s Airbus P2F programmes are
developed using OEM technical data to convert passenger aircraft
into well-optimised and reliable freighter workhorse. Airbus has
performed numerous analysis and participated in design reviews,
which helped lead to design solutions that are far superior in terms
of performance, reliability, maintainability and life cycle cost. To
meet the rising demand for freighter conversions, ST Engineering
Recently ST Engineering’s A321 P2F conver- and EFW plans to establish new conversion sites in China, Germany
sion programme gained traction when BBAM and the U.S. this year and ramp up total global conversion capacity
Limited Partnership (BBAM), a world leader in for all their Airbus P2F programmes to about 60 slots per year by
aircraft leasing, and EFW signed an agreement 2024.
for Airbus A320/A321 P2F orders including
options. The new orders by BBAM bring the Sensing the strong demand for production and converted freight-
total number of its A320/A321P2F to no less ers, U.S. airframer Boeing formed a new partnership with a Costa
than 20, with the conversions to be carried out Rica-based maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider to
by EFW through 2025. The agreement comes create additional conversion capacity for the 737-800 Boeing
with the option to add new conversion slots Converted Freighter. Boeing plans to open two 737-800BCF
every year starting in 2026. “With this latest
order, BBAM is now the largest aircraft lessor
for the A320/A321P2F programme, and one of
the top P2F customers of EFW,” said Andreas
Sperl, Chief Executive Officer of EFW. Qantas,
on behalf of the Australia Post, was the launch
operator for the first A321P2F.

In India, IndiGo will be the launch customer for
the A321P2F and could potentially become the
largest operator in the future too, as the airline
currently operates an extensive A320 family
fleet with over 250 aircraft and hundreds more
on order. “IndiGo was already the largest carrier
of cargo in domestic India before Covid-19, and
we expect the market to continue to grow after

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