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growth in e-commerce. The global air freight market is worth over specific enhancements were subsequently
US$150 billion annually today and the sector is transforming, incorporated into the freighter and certified
with air cargo traffic expected to double over the next 20 years. prior to its re-delivery. Jeffrey Lam, President
This agreement signals Avolon’s intention to be a leading player of ST Engineering’s Aerospace sector, said:
in that expansion. “We believe the IAI A330-300 P2F will be the “The completion of our first A321P2F was
wide body freighter of choice this decade and beyond, replacing timely, as the programme could help airlines
retiring aircraft and providing the volume capacity required to breathe new life into under-utilised aircraft,
meet market needs. In partnering with IAI we have identified the which would otherwise suffer a harder land-
most efficient operator in the freight conversion market, guar- ing in their residual value. With the A321P2F
anteeing more cargo pallet capacity and crucially, faster turn platform being the best-in-class for its size
around times, in a market where every inch and second count,” category – having 55 per cent more volumet-
Slattery said. ric capacity than its nearest competitor – we
are confident that the programme will be a
Meanwhile, Boeing and aircraft maintenance company GMR Aero great success in the freighter market.”
Technic announced a partnership to set up India’s first freighter
conversion facility in Hyderabad. “We are partnering with GMR The A321P2F is the first in its size category
for converted freighters facility in Hyderabad, Telangana,” Marc to offer containerised loading in both the
Allen, Chief Strategy Officer at Boeing said. Globally, 1,720 main (up to 14 full container positions) and
freighter conversion is likely to happen annually of which many lower deck (up to 10 container positions). The
will now be done in India. The converted freighter project will roll conversion features a large main cargo door,
out soon, GMR Aero Technic CEO Ashok Gopinath added. which is hydraulically actuated and electri-
cally locked, a Class E cargo compartment
ST Engineering, another leading conversion house that has rede- with full rigid 9g barrier for optimal protec-
livered over 400 aircraft through its P2F programmes since 1996, tion between crew and cargo, and a redefined
is also witnessing growing demand for conversions. flight deck that includes supernumerary seats

ST Engineering, Airbus and their joint venture, Elbe Flugzeugwerke and a new lavatory.
(EFW) achieved a key milestone in their joint A321 passen-
ger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion programme in September 2020 SHAPING UP
with the re-delivery of the ‘head of version’ to launch customer,
Vallair. The A321 converted freighter, operated by Qantas for The year may have started under some chal-
Australia Post, entered into service on October 27, 2020. lenging business conditions, with January
cargo demand down 14.9 per cent and capac-
EFW had received the original Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) ity up 3.9 per cent, but there is solid ground
for the A321P2F from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency for some cautious optimism about air cargo.
(EASA) in February that year, and the Validation STC from the U.S. “Yields remain higher than pre-pandemic. And
Federal Aviation Administration in July the same year. Operator China’s much faster than expected shift from

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE MARCH - APRIL 2023 | 7