newstodate.aero
Jun 19, 2015 (newstodate): At long last, Airbus has decided on launch of the long-awaited A320 freighter conversion program.
The news broke at this year's Paris Air Show, and Airbus is now the second provider to offer conversion of the Airbus A320 aircraft, after the US-headquartered PACAVI Group that is already performing the first prototype conversion from the start of this year.
It is Airbus' second attempt at A320 P2F after it took the airfreight industry by surprise in June 2011 by scrapping plans, announced in April 2007, for conversion of Airbus A320 passenger aircraft to freighters.
Airbus has now signed an agreement with Singapore-based ST Aerospace to offer P2F conversion solutions for its A320/A321 aircraft that will be marketed and managed by Elbe Flugzeugwerke, EFW.
The A320P2F, with eleven main-deck container positions, will be capable of carrying 21 metric tonnes of payload over 2,100nm, while the A321P2F with 14 main-deck positions will be able to carry up to 27 tonnes over 1,900nm.
The first converted A321P2F will be delivered in 2018.
Airbus foresees a significant market demand of more than 600 aircraft over the next 20 years for P2F aircraft conversions in the small freighter segment.
Airbus' first attempt at the A320 P2F project was in a cooperation with the Russian manufacturer Irkut, and in this setup Airbus would convert the A320 to offer only 10 main-deck containers three plus four lower deck AKH containers, and a converted A321 aircraft would take 13 maindeck AAA containers and five plus five lower deck AKH containers.
The news broke at this year's Paris Air Show, and Airbus is now the second provider to offer conversion of the Airbus A320 aircraft, after the US-headquartered PACAVI Group that is already performing the first prototype conversion from the start of this year.
It is Airbus' second attempt at A320 P2F after it took the airfreight industry by surprise in June 2011 by scrapping plans, announced in April 2007, for conversion of Airbus A320 passenger aircraft to freighters.
Airbus has now signed an agreement with Singapore-based ST Aerospace to offer P2F conversion solutions for its A320/A321 aircraft that will be marketed and managed by Elbe Flugzeugwerke, EFW.
The A320P2F, with eleven main-deck container positions, will be capable of carrying 21 metric tonnes of payload over 2,100nm, while the A321P2F with 14 main-deck positions will be able to carry up to 27 tonnes over 1,900nm.
The first converted A321P2F will be delivered in 2018.
Airbus foresees a significant market demand of more than 600 aircraft over the next 20 years for P2F aircraft conversions in the small freighter segment.
Airbus' first attempt at the A320 P2F project was in a cooperation with the Russian manufacturer Irkut, and in this setup Airbus would convert the A320 to offer only 10 main-deck containers three plus four lower deck AKH containers, and a converted A321 aircraft would take 13 maindeck AAA containers and five plus five lower deck AKH containers.