ST Engineering and EFW redeliver world’s first A320 converted freighter to Vaayu Group
ST Engineering and Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) have redelivered the first Airbus A320 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) aircraft to launch customer, Vaayu Group.
The A320P2F aircraft will enter into service for new cargo airline and sub-lessee of Vaayu Pradhaan Air Express.
This A320P2F aircraft is owned by the aviation asset management business of ST Engineering, and is the first of several converted freighter aircraft that will be leased to Vaayu.
The redelivery of the A320P2F completes of the Airbus P2F family developed jointly by ST Engineering, Airbus and EFW.
It joins the other already operational Airbus P2F platforms, the A330-300P2F, A330-200P2F and A321P2F, which were first redelivered in 2017, 2018 and 2020 respectively.
“With this redelivery, our Airbus P2F family of narrowbody and widebody freighters is finally complete,” said Jordi Boto, chief executive of EFW. “This comes at a ripe time as demand for converted freighters continues to surge. Our full suite of Airbus P2F solutions will serve to meet the current gap and future growth of the air freight market, while offering excellent choices and benefits to airlines looking to grow a diverse fleet of freighter aircraft with operating commonality.”
The A320P2F can accommodate up to 10 [ULD] containers and one pallet position in the main deck, and seven container positions in the lower deck. Given its gross payload of up to 21 tonnes at a maximum range of 1,850nm and total usable containerised volume of 159m3 (approx. 5,600ft3), the freighter aircraft has 85% stowage efficiency
To meet the rising demand for freighter conversions, ST Engineering and EFW set up new conversion sites in China and the U.S. this year, and will be ramping up conversion capacity for all their Airbus P2F programmes to over 60 slots per year by 2024.
In March, EFW received the Supplemental Type Certification (STC) from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the A320P2F.
In December 2021, the A320P2F completed its first test flight.
Rebecca Jeffrey www.aircargonews.net