BBAM and EFW Announce Order Volume for Airbus A320/A321P2F Conversion
BBAM Limited Partnership (BBAM), a world leader in aircraft leasing, and Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), a joint venture of ST Engineering and Airbus, announced today an agreement for Airbus A320/A321 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) orders including options. The new orders by BBAM bring the total number of its A320/A321P2F to no less than 20, with the conversions to be carried out by EFW through 2025. The agreement comes with the option to add new conversion slots 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. “The order volume by BBAM translates into a full conversion line with a minimum of five slots per year, with many of the conversions to be carried out at the airframe facility of our parent company, ST Engineering, in the U.S. When combined with top-notch conversion standards, our A321P2F solution offers unique benefits for air freight activities, including best-in-class economics, reduced noise, lower carbon footprint, real-time health monitoring and the highest level in reliability.”
“Our commitment to the P2F programme demonstrates our confidence in the ability of EFW and ST Engineering to deliver long-term value enhancement for the A320s and A321s in our fleet,” said Steve Zissis, President and Chief Executive Officer of BBAM. “We have committed to the A320/A321P2F programme well into the future – beyond 2026 – because we see it as a greener and highly innovative solution for our airline customers, and an excellent way to drive value for our investors."
In January this year, BBAM announced the delivery of the world’s first Airbus A321P2F on lease to Titan Airways.
The Airbus A320/A321P2F is a technological breakthrough given that it is the first in its size category to offer containerised loading in both the main deck (up to 14 full container positions) and lower deck (up to 10 container positions). EFW’s A320/A321P2F solution, which comes with optimised weight distribution to enable random loading even on empty flights, as well as a payload-range capability of more than 28 metric tons, accords high flexibility for operators, in particular express carriers. Being the only OEM solution for the Airbus A320/A321P2F conversion in the market also ensures that EFW’s programme has greater lifecycle value and superiority in quality, reliability and ease of maintenance.
A321P2F converted by Elbe Flugzeugwerke for BBAM in operation with Titan Airways, Source: Titan Airways
About
BBAM is the world’s largest dedicated manager of investments in leased commercial jet aircraft providing over 200 airline customers in more than 50 countries with fleet and financing solutions over the last three decades, and the only significant manager in sector focused exclusively on generating investment returns on third party capital. With more than 500 aircraft and $18 billion of assets under management, BBAM employs over 150 professionals at its headquarters in San Francisco and offices around the world, located in London, Tokyo, Singapore, Zurich, Dublin, and Santiago. BBAM is a full-service lessor and maintains its own in-house capabilities encompassing aircraft origination, disposition, lease marketing, technical maintenance, regulatory compliance, capital markets activity, tax structuring, legal, contracts and finance, for all asset types and strategies. For more info about BBAM please visit www.bbam.com.
Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW), the joint venture between ST Engineering and Airbus, combines various aviation and technology activities under a single roof: development and manufacturing of fibre-reinforced composite components for aircraft structures and interiors of the entire Airbus family, the conversion of passenger aircraft into freighter configuration, maintenance and repair of Airbus aircraft as well as engineering services in the context of certification and approval. The company has a workforce of about 1,600 employees and achieved revenues of approximately €300 million in 2019. With over 20 years of experience and more than 40 conversion customers worldwide, among them being the largest express carriers in North America and Europe, EFW is the Centre of Excellence for freighter conversions and driving the development of the Airbus freighter family. For more information about EFW please visit www.efw.aero.
ST Engineering is a global technology, defence and engineering group with offices across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., serving customers in more than 100 countries. The Group uses technology and innovation to solve real-world problems and improve lives through its diverse portfolio of businesses across the aerospace, smart city, defence and public security segments. Headquartered in Singapore, ST Engineering reported revenue of $7.2b in FY2020 and ranks among the largest companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. It is a component stock of the FTSE Straits Times Index, MSCI Singapore, iEdge SG ESG Transparency Index and iEdge SG ESG Leaders Index.
