Press ReleaseEFW Reaches 100th Airbus Converted Freighter Aircraft Redelivery Milestone
Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW), Centre of Excellence for Airbus Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversions and joint venture of ST Engineering and Airbus, has just redelivered its 100th converted freighter aircraft. The P2F aircraft, an A330P2F, was redelivered from EFW’s facility in China.
Since the redelivery of its first P2F aircraft for its widebody A330P2F program in 2017, the number of annual conversions carried out by EFW has grown steadily. To date, 47 A321P2F, 4 A320P2F and 49 A330P2F converted by EFW have joined the global fleet of Airbus freighter aircraft.
“The redelivery of our 100th Airbus P2F aircraft is a great milestone that is made possible by working closely together with our program partners, customers and suppliers as a team,” said Jordi Boto, CEO of EFW. “Over the years, we have steadily built a strong global presence for our Airbus P2F programs. Today, we have converted aircraft that are registered in all continents, while our P2F aircraft are flying in key regions across the world. We look forward to our next redelivery milestone and to providing even greater value to operators with our new-generation P2F aircraft solutions.”
“Seeing the growing number of Airbus P2F converted aircraft serving cargo markets around the world on short- and medium-haul routes makes us proud. Each converted freighter aircraft is based upon a proven Airbus platform, providing operators and investors a very appealing option of repurposing passenger aircraft for freight carriage”, highlights Crawford Hamilton, Head of Freighter Marketing at Airbus.
Over the past 12 months, the global fleet of EFW’s converted freighter aircraft have performed a total flight distance of some 100 million flight kilometers. Over 60% of the flights by the widebody A330P2F aircraft were carried out in Asia Pacific and Europe, and by connecting those main regions, while over 75% of the flights by the narrowbody A321 and A320P2F aircraft were in Asia Pacific and Europe.
The Airbus P2F conversion programmes of EFW were developed as a collaboration between ST Engineering and Airbus, with EFW holding the Supplemental Type Certificates and leading in the overall program. The programs include the widebody platforms – the A330-200P2F and the A330-300P2F – which were first redelivered in 2017 and 2018 respectively; and the narrowbody platforms – the A321P2F and the A320P2F which were first redelivered in 2020 and 2022 respectively.
EFW’s Airbus freighter conversions offer several advantages such as OEM supported cockpit commonality and container loading in the upper and lower deck. EFW’s P2F conversion solutions are also equipped with advanced technology that offers airlines additional operational and economic benefits, such as bigger containerized volume for faster loading and unloading, higher gross payload and longer flight range compared to other freighter aircraft in the same class.
About
About EFW
Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW), a joint venture of 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 over 2,000 employees, achieved revenues of approximately €600 million in 2023 and is on a sustainable course of growth. With over 20 years of experience and more than 40 conversion customers worldwide, thereof the largest Express carriers in North America and Europe but also renowned General Freight and Combination Carriers, EFW is the Centre of Excellence for freighter conversions and driving the development of the Airbus freighter family. For more information about EFW. Follow us on Linkedin.
About ST Engineering
ST Engineering is a global technology, defence and engineering group with a diverse portfolio of businesses across the aerospace, smart city, defence and public security segments. The Group harnesses technology and innovation to solve real-world problems, enabling a more secure and sustainable world. Headquartered in Singapore, it has operations spanning Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., serving customers in more than 100 countries. ST Engineering reported revenue of over $10b in FY2023 and ranks among the largest companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. It is a component stock of MSCI Singapore, FTSE Straits Times Index and Dow Jones Sustainability Asia Pacific Index.
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About EFW’s Airbus freighter conversion programmes
The programmes cover Airbus wide body and standard body aircraft. The A330P2F wide body programme comes with two variants – the A330-200P2F and A330-300P2F – both equipped with advanced technology that offers airlines additional operational and economic benefits. The A330-200P2F can carry a gross payload of up to 60 tons of freight to over 7,700 km, while the larger A330-300P2F can carry a gross payload of up to 62 tons and a containerised volume of up to ~18,580ft3 (~526m3).
The A321P2F is a technological breakthrough given that it is the first in its size category to offer containerized loading in both the main deck (up to 14 full container positions) and lower deck (up to 10 container positions). EFW’s A321P2F solution, which comes with optimised weight distribution to enable random loading or even empty flights without additional ballast, as well as a payload-range capability of up to more than 28 metric tons, accords high flexibility for operators, in particular express carriers. Being the only OEM solution for the Airbus A321P2F conversion in the market it also ensures that EFW’s programme has greater lifecycle value and superiority in quality, reliability, and ease of maintenance.
The A320P2F accommodates up to 10 container and one pallet positions in the main deck, and seven container positions in the lower deck. With a gross payload of up to 20 metric tons at a maximum range of over 3,400 km and total usable containerised volume of 158m3 (5,603ft3), the freighter aircraft is an ideal platform to serve the fast-growing ecommerce market.
