In her days as a factory-build aircraft, the Airbus A330 Freighter was never a success. But there seems a bright future for the type in the future as passenger to freighter (P2F) cargo planes. Elbe Flugzeugwerke in Dresden delivered the first A330-200P2F ordered by lessor Altavair on January 20 for onward lease to MasAir Cargo. Airbus A330P2F gets new lease of life with Altavair. Altavair has ‘several’ A330-200P2Fs and -300P2Fs on order with EFW, which is a joint venture with ST Aerospace and is fully backed by Airbus. The lessor has a portfolio of six -200s and eleven -300s that are eligible for conversions. MasAir Cargo plans to build up a fleet of the two P2F-versions, becoming the first airline to operate both of them. It thinks that the -200P2F with its 570 cubic meters volume is best suitable for express carriers that require high volumetric capacity, while the longer -300P2F with 669m3 will be the better option for higher-density freight on long distances. EFW says that the -200P2F has lower costs per ton than other freighters. The airline also operates the Boeing 767-200F and -300F, plus the -300BDSF version, which is the one converted by IAI Aerospace. In our recent comparison of the new Airbus A350F and the A330-200F and P2F-versions, the A330s fell short on capacity (109 versus 61 tons) and range against both the new Airbus freighter and the Boeing 777F. It fares better against the 767-300F, having some nine to ten tons more payload capacity (61 versus 52.5 for the -300F and 51.6 tons for the -300BCF). The limited capacity and range have been the main reason that the A330-200F lost out on sales, recording just 38 orders against 307 for the 777F and 271 for the 767F. Graphic showing the changes made to get an A330-200P2F. (EFW) The rapid emergence of e-commerce that requires aircraft with less payload capacity but more volume plays into the hands of the A330. With over 1.500 sales, there are a lot of A330s becoming available on the second-hand market at competitive prices. Airbus, EFW, and ST Engineering are responding to this demand by expanding their capacity for conversions. New conversion lines in the US and China will be opened this year, bringing capacity to sixty slots per year by 2024. EFW has offered A330P2F conversions since 2012, with EgyptAir as the launch customer for the -200P2F in 2015. The -300P2F was launched in 2013 with the first delivery in 2017 to DHL. It delivered an -300P2F to AMG Airways of Turkey in November and was commissioned to convert to -200s for Qantas in December, with deliveries in 2023. The delivery to Altavair is the fourteenth A330P2F. The Airbus A330P2F not only gets a new lease of life via Altavair. Last October, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Avolon announced a conversion program for the -300. The Israeli company has reserved twenty slots for the lessor between 2025 and 2028.
