Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), joint venture of ST Engineering and Airbus, has received supplemental type certification for its A321 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversion from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The Supplement Type Certificate (STC) comes one month after the prototype unit, to be redelivered to launch customer Vallair, made its maiden flight test on 22 January.
As the STC holder EFW is responsible for customer support services as well as the adaption engineering in the serial phase. Within the setup of the joint venture EFW is furthermore taking care of the overall Program Management, Marketing & Sales and the subcontracting of conversions to the lines in Singapore, China, the U.S. and Germany.
“EFW is the centre of excellence for Airbus freighter conversions, with more than 20 years of experience and over 200 widebody converted freighters delivered to over 40 customers worldwide,” said Mr Andreas Sperl, CEO of EFW.
“We are glad to now add an additional member to our Airbus freighter family with the A321P2F, which complements our A330P2F as another best-in-class volumetric freighter. The A321P2F offers other unique advantages such as having the lowest operational cost and fully containerized upper and lower deck, making it an ideal replacement for the ageing Boeing 757 converted freighter.”
Mr Lim Serh Ghee, President of ST Engineering’s Aerospace sector, said, “The swift process in attaining EASA’s STC shortly after our first flight test is a testament to the engineering and design strengths of our P2F solution. With this STC, we have added another first in the world to our family of Airbus P2F platforms, to provide a wide array of attractive and proven solutions for the air cargo industry.”
Andreas Hermann, Airbus’ Vice President, Asset Management, and Member of the EFW Shareholders’ Committee, commented, “It is great to celebrate yet another milestone with our long-standing partners, ST Engineering and EFW for the A321P2F programme, which bears testament to the strong co-operation and commitment in this freighter conversion venture. With the EASA approval, we are confident of seeing more operators show interest in the highly capable A321P2F to meet their operational needs, and we look forward to the aircraft entering into service soon.”
