Freighter conversion specialist Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) has redelivered the first Airbus A330-200 Passenger to Freighter (P2F) for lessor Altavair, which will be operated by freight carrier MasAir.
Mexico City-based MasAir is the first airline in the Americas to operate the Airbus widebody converted freighter and will eventually be the first in the world to operate both the A330-200 and -300P2F variants.
Altavair has ordered “several” A330P2Fs with EFW, comprising the A330-200P2F and the longer A330-300P2F. While not disclosing the exact number the lessor has placed, ST Engineering, one half of the EFW venture, said the company now has over 80 A330P2Fs on backlog.
“This investment reflects our belief that the A330 will be the premier freighter going forward in the widebody segment,” Altavair President and MD Paul Newrick said in a statement.
MasAir currently operates a leased Boeing 767-200F and a pair of 767-300Fs. The new A330-200P2F was delivered to MasAir from Altavair at EFW’s Dresden, Germany facility on Jan. 20 and will be flown to Mexico City over the Jan. 21-23 weekend.
Aviation Week Intelligence Network Fleet and Data Services shows the aircraft—serial msn 0868—was formally Etihad Airways A6-EYQ. The aircraft was first delivered in September 2007 and flew 57,565 hr. across 9,987 cycles. It now bears the registration EI-MYY.
The A330P2F program is amongst the first conversion programs set out by EFW. Since then, EFW has added the A321P2F and most recently, in December 2021, completed the first test flight for the A320P2F prototype. ST Engineering and EFW are in the process of setting up new conversion sites in China and the U.S. in 2022. EFW plans to ramp up its total conversion capacity to about 60 slots per year by 2024.
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