newstodate.aero
Dec 11, 2014 (newstodate): Airbus is close to announcing a revival of its project to convert Airbus A320 aircraft to freighters, A320 P2F.
-I cannot yet promise that a formal announcement will be made before Christmas this year, but at least it will be made shortly, says Wolfgang Schmid, EFW, an Airbus subsidiary in Germany.
-We want to be absolutely sure that all details are in place and the project thoroughly canvassed before we make a fresh move, in order to avoid the embarrassing fate of the former A320 P2F project that was shelved.
-We are convinced that there is a need in the market for a medium-size freighter as the Airbus A320 or A321 as an alternative to the ageing Boeing 737 converted freighter offerings, says Mr Schmid.
In June 2011, Airbus took the airfreight industry by surprise by scrapping plans, announced in April 2007, for conversion of Airbus A320 passenger aircraft to freighters, claiming the that residual value of the aircraft was still too high to render the conversion program feasible.
The suspension of the P2F program dealt a heavy blow to the launch customer of the converted A320 freighter, AerCap Holdings N.V that placed an order for a total of 30 converted A320 aircraft in 2008.
First carrier to operate the A320 P2F was to be West Atlantic that had planned to take delivery of its first converted A320 freighter by the end of 2012.
Airbus originally anticipated about 400 Airbus Single Aisle aircraft to be converted from 2012 to 2026.
Behind the earlier project were Airbus, EFW (Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH) the EADS' freighter conversion centre of expertise based in Dresden, MIG and Irkut.
It remains now to be seen if the Russian parties will still be an option for the new conversion project.
The converted A320 aircraft will have the capacity to carry 10 maindeck AAA containers and three plus four lower deck AKH containers, and a converted A321 aircraft will take 13 maindeck AAA containers and five plus five lower deck AKH containers.
As reported by newstodate, Airbus is also to start offering conversion of the Airbus A330 aircraft to freighters, with Egyptair as launch customer.
-I cannot yet promise that a formal announcement will be made before Christmas this year, but at least it will be made shortly, says Wolfgang Schmid, EFW, an Airbus subsidiary in Germany.
-We want to be absolutely sure that all details are in place and the project thoroughly canvassed before we make a fresh move, in order to avoid the embarrassing fate of the former A320 P2F project that was shelved.
-We are convinced that there is a need in the market for a medium-size freighter as the Airbus A320 or A321 as an alternative to the ageing Boeing 737 converted freighter offerings, says Mr Schmid.
In June 2011, Airbus took the airfreight industry by surprise by scrapping plans, announced in April 2007, for conversion of Airbus A320 passenger aircraft to freighters, claiming the that residual value of the aircraft was still too high to render the conversion program feasible.
The suspension of the P2F program dealt a heavy blow to the launch customer of the converted A320 freighter, AerCap Holdings N.V that placed an order for a total of 30 converted A320 aircraft in 2008.
First carrier to operate the A320 P2F was to be West Atlantic that had planned to take delivery of its first converted A320 freighter by the end of 2012.
Airbus originally anticipated about 400 Airbus Single Aisle aircraft to be converted from 2012 to 2026.
Behind the earlier project were Airbus, EFW (Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH) the EADS' freighter conversion centre of expertise based in Dresden, MIG and Irkut.
It remains now to be seen if the Russian parties will still be an option for the new conversion project.
The converted A320 aircraft will have the capacity to carry 10 maindeck AAA containers and three plus four lower deck AKH containers, and a converted A321 aircraft will take 13 maindeck AAA containers and five plus five lower deck AKH containers.
As reported by newstodate, Airbus is also to start offering conversion of the Airbus A330 aircraft to freighters, with Egyptair as launch customer.