Spacious little twin-jet
The first-ever narrow-bodied freighter that can load ULDs on its main deck as well as in its belly hold commenced operations late in October. Its ‘parents’ and its first-use customers have called it a game changer in a market battling for capacities.
Too many cooks spoil the broth, do they? That doesn’t always have to be true. The Airbus A321P2F nicely illustrates the opposite of this old adage. No less than six cooks are involved in the project – the European aeroplane manufacturer Airbus; MRO service provider ST Engineering from Singapore; their Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) joint venture, which is based in Dresden; the Luxembourgian aviation service provider Vallair; the airline Qantas, which turned 100 this year; and Australia Post.
Excellent timing
At the last Singapore Airshow but one, held in February 2018, Vallair, a company that includes the conversion of passenger units into full-freighters in its portfolio, became the launch customer with its ordered of ten converted A321-200s from EFW. In February this year the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) then issued the original supplemental type certificate (STC) to EFW; in July, it was followed by STC validation from the USA’s Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).
Cooperation with OEM Airbus was key
Lim Serh Ghee, ST Engineering’s president for air and space travel, pointed out that "we were able to develop a high-performance product thanks to our cooperation agreement with original equipment manufacturer Airbus, and thus we received the original STC a week before we completed our series of test flights."
The roll-out of the first A321P2F took place at a particularly fortuitous time, as the programme will help airlines once again deploy their currently under-used aeroplanes. According to EFW there are more than 4,500 A320s / 321s that can be converted over the next 20 years. Ghee added that "the freighter, with 55% more cargo capacity than its next competitor, is likely to be a big success."
National and regional express freight
Some more figures. The A321P2F is the first freighter of its size that can carry containerised cargo both on its main deck (up to 14 ULDs) as well as in its belly (ten ULDs). EFW added that "the payload / range ratio – 28 t / 4,260 km – is ideal for national or regional express services, amongst many other things."
All of these convincing details made the unit a good package for Qantas. The only aeroplane that Australia’s flag carrier is taking over this year has already been in the air for Australia Post since 27 October. Others are also in the queue. In October, Vallair signed a lease agreement for two units with Smartlynx Malta, and a major order for ten A321P2Fs with GlobalX, a new Miami FL-based US full-freighter operator.
EFW and ST Engineering may meet demand by upping their annual conversion capacity to 23, which could be achieved by adding production sites in Germany, China and the USA.
