Shaking hands with Asia
Wide-body and short-haul freighters from EFW. Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), a German centre of excellence for Airbus passenger-to-freighter conversions that is a joint venture between ST Engineering and Airbus, recently reached a milestone; and also found two new partners in the Far East.
The hundredth freighter that Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) has converted in its history was delivered recently. It was an Airbus A330P2F, just like the first unit delivered in 2017. EFW’s Airbus programmes, a cooperative effort between ST Engineering and Airbus, has thus now added 49 Airbus 330P2Fs, 47 Airbus A321P2Fs and four A320P2Fs to the global fleet of Airbus freighters over the past seven years.
EFW is the holder of the supplementary type certificates and manages the overall programme. Its CEO Jordi Boto called the anniversary handover “a milestone that we’ve only managed to achieve thanks to close cooperation with our programme partners, customers and suppliers.”
The firm has continued to build up a global presence for its P2F programmes. “Today, aircraft converted by EFW operate on every continent and regularly fly to every key region of the world.”
Two regions dominate
EFW’s global fleet of converted freighters has covered a total distance of around 100 million km in the last twelve months. More than 60% of A330P2F flights with EFW units were operated in the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe, as well as between these regions. More than 75% of Airbus A320P2Fs and A321P2Fs flights with EFW units took place in the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe.
EFW’s 100th converted freighter was converted by a partner in China and handed over to an Asian customer. The signing of a memorandum of understanding with the HNA Aviation Group on 12 November, which includes a strategic cooperation framework agreement for A330P2F conversions, also points towards Asia.
Under the agreement EFW will support Grand China Aircraft Maintenance Services (GCAM), a subsidiary of the private enterprise HNA, with converted A330P2Fs to build up the latter’s A330P2F capacities at its hub at Haikou Meilan airport on the island of Hainan.
New conversion lines in two countries
EFW and the HNA Aviation Group will begin their collaboration by converting a first batch of Airbus A330s from HNA’s fleet. The first conversion is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2025 at EFW’s conversion facility in Shanghai.
The partners have agreed on an option to continue with a second aircraft in the second half of the year. The remaining aircraft in this batch will be converted after a facility has been set up at GCAM’s site.
New in Japan in 2025
Meanwhile, Airbus A320 and A321 passenger aircraft will also be converted into freighters in Japan in the future. This was agreed by EFW and MRO Japan, a leading player in the Japanese MRO market.
Its headquarters in Naha on the island of Okinawa will become the first conversion site for a new generation of Airbus narrow-body P2F aircraft in the East Asian country. The first import into Japan of a unit for P2F conversion is scheduled for the end of 2025.