German aerospace manufacturer Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) and ST Engineering delivered the world’s first Airbus A320P2F (Passenger-to-Freighter) to its launch customer Vaayu in Singapore today. The aircraft will join the other Airbus P2F versions already in operation: the A321P2F, the A330-200P2F and the A330-300P2F.
The aircraft will be part of the fleet of Pradhaan Air Express, a new cargo airline in India and a sub-lessee of Vaayu. A second aircraft is scheduled to join later this year.
The A320P2F, owned by ST Engineering’s aviation asset management business division, is the first of several converted freighters to be leased to Vaayu. Like the other converted aircraft, it was developed from Airbus’ OEM data. Elbe Flugzeugwerke led the unit conversion centers, as well as marketing and sales work. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had awarded Elbe Flugzeugwerke the aircraft’s Supplemental Type Certificate in March this year.
Main features
The Airbus A320P2F can accommodate up to ten cargo containers in the converted cabin and up to seven on the original cargo decks. It can carry a gross payload of up to 21.9 tons with a range of 1.850 nautical miles (3.426 kilometers). The total usable volume for container arrangement reaches 159 cubic meters (5.615 cubic feet).
According to the companies in charge of its conversion, the aircraft has a stowage efficiency of 85%. On the other hand, its smaller size and lighter weight compared to other cargo aircraft allow it to operate on shorter runways. These features make it an attractive option for the e-commerce market, which is growing worldwide.
«With this redelivery, our Airbus P2F family of narrowbody and widebody freighters is finally complete», celebrated Jordi Boto, CEO of Elbe Flugzeugwerke. He further argued that the delivery «comes at a ripe time as demand for converted freighters continues to surge».
Emad Al Monayea, Chairman of Vaayu Group, stressed that the world’s first A320 freighter will provide «an efficient and credible freighter solution» to customers, who are «looking to leverage the current and forecast demand in air freight growth». For his part, Nipun Anand, founder and CEO of Pradhaan Air Express, said that the aircraft «will secure dedicated cargo capacity, boosting more self-reliance».
