European aircraft maker Airbus has finalised an agreement with ST Aerospace and EADS EFW to collaborate for the launch of the wide-bodied A330 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion programme.
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Plans for the current move were announced at the Singapore Airshow in February 2012.Airbus Programmes EVP Tom Williams said the strong demand from airlines for a programme to convert used A330s from passenger configuration into an attractive freighter is clear.
"Together with ST Aerospace and our sister company EADS EFW, we have the perfect partnership to bring efficiency, reliability and profitability to our operators," Williams added.
The A330P2F engineering development phase, expected to begin by the end of 2012, will be led by ST Aero as the programme and technical head, while EADS EFW, with support from Airbus, will carry out sales and marketing activities and will lead the industrialisation phase.
Work on the conversions is expected to be performed at EADS EFW facilities in Dresden, Germany, while ST Aerospace will provide potential additional capacity.
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By GlobalDataAs part of the agreement, ST Aero will also pay €110.5m ($142m) to attain new shares in EADS EFW, further achieving a 35% stake in EADS EFW, while EADs also has an option to buy ST Aero’s stake, which can be used during engineering development phase ofthe programme.
The A330P2F programme includes two versions, the A330-200P2F and the larger A330-300P2F. Due to its high-volumetric payload capability, the A330-300P2F will be better suited for deployment as integrators and express carriers. The A330-200P2F, meanwhile, will be enhanced for carrying higher-density freight and longer range performance.
The first A330P2F aircraft is expected to make its entry-into-service by 2016.A330P2F freighter conversion programme, in addition to complementing the company’s currently in-service A330-200F and through the extension of life of A330 frames, is expected to improve and maintain residual values of A330 Family aircraft.
Airbus predicts that over the next two decades about 2,700 freighters will be needed and nearly half of them are expected to be in the mid-sized freighter segment, along with 900 conversions.
Meeting this requirement, both the A330-200P2F and the A330-300P2F aircraft are expected to facilitate the change to new converted freighters, while identifying the focus of operators on capital cost.
Image: Airbus, EADS, ST Aerospace agree to facilitate change to environmentally-friendly, new-technology converted A330-300P2F freighters. Photo: courtesy of Airbus.
