Aircraft lessor CDB Aviation has committed to a further dozen Airbus A330 passenger-to-freighter conversions with German aircraft modification joint venture EFW after disclosing its first lease commitments with Chinese operators.
The conversion commitments, announced during Singapore Airshow, take CDB Aviation’s A330P2F orders to fourteen. The China Development Bank’s Irish leasing subsidiary had previously signed for a pair of A330 freighter conversions with EFW in November 2020, marking its first entry into the air cargo sector.
CDB Aviation’s first two A330P2Fs are being converted at EFW’s facility in Dresden and are due to be re-delivered to the launch operator, Mexico-based MasAir, early this year.
The lessor has today disclosed lease commitments covering three more converted aircraft from Sichuan Airlines and Jiangxi Cargo Airlines, marking the converted freighter’s first placements in China.
Chengdu-based Sichuan Airlines will lease two A330-300P2Fs, adding to the carrier’s existing three A330-200Fs. The aircraft are due for delivery in late 2022 and the middle of 2023 respectively.
Jiangxi Cargo Airlines, a new Nanchang-based start-up carrier created through a joint venture between the Jiangxi Provincial Government and Hongyuan Group, will lease one A330-300P2F. The aircraft is due for delivery early next year.
CDB Aviation’s chief executive Patrick Hannigan says: ”The A330P2F continues to gain traction as the preferred next-generation type in the fast-growing medium widebody freighter space.
”We have strategically positioned our platform to be the A330P2F programme frontrunner among lessors. We’re very satisfied with this programme’s progress and momentum to date and look forward to further expanding our freighter fleet in collaboration with our partners at Airbus, ST Engineering and EFW.”
EFW chief executive Andreas Sperl adds: ”The A330P2F programme is proving highly popular, and we now have over 80 aircraft on order. To ensure we can meet the rising demand for freighter conversions, EFW and ST Engineering are in the process of ramping up their conversion capacity.”
CDB Aviation will this year expand its global conversion footprint by becoming the first customer for A330P2F conversions taking place in the facilities of ST Engineering in Shanghai and VT MAE in Mobile, Alabama. These conversion locations have been added to the existing A330P2F conversion facilities of EFW in Dresden and ST Engineering in Singapore.
