EFW Signs Letter of Intent with Guangdong Aerocity for A320P2F Conversion

Singapore, 8 February 2018 – Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), the joint venture between ST Aerospace and Airbus, announced today that it has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Guangdong Aerocity Holding Co., Ltd. (GDA) for a potential order of 10 A320 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversions to be carried out by EFW for the latter. The LOI has a validity period till the end of 2018. It was signed just a day after EFW announced it has secured a launch contract for an order of 10 A321P2F conversions at Singapore Airshow 2018.

Dr Andreas Sperl, CEO of EFW said, “Similar to the A321P2F solution, A320P2F offers unique features such as both upper- and lower-deck containerised loading which make them an attractive option in the narrowbody freighter segment. We hope to secure a firm order before long from Guangdong Aerocity, whom we look forward to supporting together with our parent company, ST Aerospace and its global network of maintenance facilities.”

The A320/A321P2F conversion programmes, launched in 2015, are the result of a collaboration between ST Aerospace, Airbus and EFW. ST Aerospace is responsible for the engineering development phase, up to obtaining the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approval by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Airbus contributes to the programme with Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) data and certification support, while EFW leads the overall programme and marketing & sales.

The A320/A321P2F conversion programmes are the first in its size category with easy-to-handle and -operate volumetric usability by offering both main deck and lower deck containerised loading. Coupled with the fact that the family of A320/A321 aircraft has modern fly-by-wire technology and advanced performance, A320/A321P2F is an ideal solution for express domestic and regional operations.
Other P2F solutions that ST Aerospace and EFW have in their family of Airbus freighters include the A330 which has two variants – the A330-200P2F and the larger A330-300P2F. EFW redelivered the first A330-300 freighter in December 2017 following the successful completion of test flights in October and awarding of the Supplemental Type Certificate by the European Aviation Safety Agency in November.

ST Aerospace is showcasing these P2F solutions and other aerospace capabilities at the Aviation cluster of the ST Engineering Pavilion (G01) at Singapore Airshow 2018 from 6 – 11 February.