Vallair has disclosed its acquisition of an Airbus A321 from UK lessor and asset manager Plane Business.
The Luxembourg-based company in April completed a purchase of six narrowbodies of the same type. Like those jets, the newly bought A321 is initially being made available for short-term lease prior to serving as feedstock for passenger-to-freighter conversions.
In February, Vallair was disclosed as the launch customer for ST Engineering Aerospace's A320/A321 P2F programme, ordering 10 A321 converted freighters and taking options on another 10.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows the A321 acquired from Plane Business (MSN 1017) is powered by CFM International CFM56-5B engines and was delivered in 1999 to First Choice Airways, a UK leisure carrier later merged into TUI.
After a longer stint with now-defunct African carrier Air Ivoire, the aircraft was operated by Indonesia's Batavia Air, which ceased operations in 2013, and by Thai operator R Airlines.
The A321 will undergo a C-check in Thailand before a ferry flight to Vallair's MRO facility in Montpellier, France, and handover to an airline for short-term lease.
Vallair's head of cargo conversions Peter Koster states that it has expanded its fleet of leased aircraft to 16 – from just one in 2017 – "with a bias to more mature aircraft".
He says: "After cargo conversion, these aircraft will form the cornerstone of Vallair's growth strategy."
Source: Cirium Dashboard
