AIRBUS A 320 P2F

L’A320 P2F a trouvé sa première opératrice. La société néerlandaise de leasing AerCap a annoncé le 19 octobre que le premier Airbus A320 converti en appareil cargo entrerait en service auprès de la compagnie cargo européenne West Atlantic.

West Atlantic s’est engagée pour trois A320 P2F (passenger-to-freighter), qui lui seront remis entre 2012 et mi-2013.

Elle a également sécurisé des options sur quatre appareils supplémentaires, dont les livraisons sont prévues jusqu’en 2015.

Tous seront acquis en leasing.

Ces appareils font partie d’un programme de conversion d’A320 et A321 de passage en appareils cargos lancé en 2007.

Géré par Airbus Freighter Conversion, il rassemble Airbus, EADS Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) et leurs partenaires russes Irkout et United Aircraft Corporation.

Deux lignes de conversion sont prévues, l’une en Allemagne, à Dresde, et l’autre en Russie.

AerCap est quant à elle la cliente de lancement de l’A320 P2F depuis 2008.

C’est en effet lors du précédent salon de Farnborough qu’elle s’est engagée à acquérir trente monocouloirs convertis et dix-huit options.

Selon la version en ligne du magazine britannique Flight International, la certification de l’appareil devrait intervenir avec plusieurs mois de retard.

Michael Fuerst, vice-président marketing d’AFC, aurait indiqué que le début des travaux de conversion sur le premier A320 avait été repoussé de début 2011 à fin 2011 en raison de la récession économique, le besoin en appareils cargos ayant alors diminué.

La certification ne devrait ainsi plus être obtenue qu’en novembre 2012.

A320PTF deal secured despite second delay

Airbus Freighter Conversion's launch customer for the A320 passenger-to-freighter (PTF) conversion programme has found a client to lease three of the jets, but target certification has been pushed back to late 2012.
AerCap, a lessor headquartered in the Netherlands, signed an order for 30 of the conversions in 2008, and has now struck a deal with West Atlantic under which the European cargo carrier will take a first A320PTF in November 2012 and two more in early 2013.
However, the economic downturn has forced Airbus to amend its certification schedule for a second time. The airframer originally planned to start work on the first A320PTF at the beginning of 2011 and complete it at the end of that year. The first delay saw the target certification date slip to mid-2012. Now it has moved again, to November 2012.
Michael Fuerst, Airbus Freighter Conversion's vice-president of marketing, says the first of the West Atlantic aircraft will be the prototype A320PTF, on which Airbus now plans to start working at the EADS EFW facility in Dresden at the end of 2011.
Starting the A320PTF deliveries at the end of 2012 was deemed to make more sense given demand and aircraft availability. "We thought it wasn't ready," Fuerst said during the Cargo Facts Aircraft Symposium in Miami. "We need the right feedstock and the right prices of feedstock."
The on-ramp cost of an A320PTF is now $9-11 million, comprising $4.5 million for the conversion and $4.5-6.5 million for the aircraft itself. Fuerst says the feedstock price is down "at least a few million" compared with when the A320PTF programme was launched.
The first four A320s to be converted will all start the process by the end of 2012, he adds. Airbus plans to convert 15-16 aircraft in 2013.
A second A320PTF conversion line to join the one in Dresden is slated to open in 2013, via a partnership with Russia's United Aircraft. Once both lines are at full capacity, Airbus will have the capability to convert 30 aircraft annually: 15 at each centre.

Beluga delivers A320P2F training mock-up

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An A300-600ST Beluga, below, delivers an A320 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) training mock-up.


In recent A320PTF news, Airbus Freighter Conversion's launch customer for the A320PTF conversion programme has found a client to lease three of the jets, but target certification has been pushed back to late 2012. AerCap, a lessor headquartered in the Netherlands, signed an order for 30 of the conversions in 2008, and has now struck a deal with West Atlantic under which the European cargo carrier will take a first A320PTF in November 2012 and two more in early 2013. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s specialist modification division EFW has received its first [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], from AerCap, at its site in Dresden ahead of the twinjet's passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion.

The prototype aircraft, serial number 211, is equipped with CFM International [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engines.

It was built in 1991 and operated as a passenger aircraft with carriers including [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and Tunisair, accumulating 35,000h.

EADS EFW says the aircraft is being stored and will undergo design and fuel tests over the next few months.It
will undergo initial conversion work in November.

The aircraft is the first of up to 30 A320 conversions disclosed by AerCap and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Freighter Conversion in 2008.

"Early delivery of the prototype will support the engineering teams to prepare the first P2F of a fly-by-wire aircraft," says Airbus

AerCap said last October that it had placed the first three converted Airbus A320 freighters with West Atlantic.

The European cargo operator will become launch operator for the A320P2F conversion by taking an initial three
aircraft on lease from AerCap with deliveries between 2012 and mid-2013, with the option of a further four aircraft by 2015.

"Against the backdrop of these market changes and the increasing pressure on the [passenger-to-freighter] business case, the partners have concluded to stop and freeze the P2F programme," said Airbus.

It added that it had begun the "necessary legal procedures" to end the Airbus Freighter Conversion joint venture between the modification specialist [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] EFW and the Russian partners.

"Stronglygrowing passenger traffic results in high demand for used A320 family aircraft, reducing the amount of aircraft available for conversion," Airbus said.

Airbus Freighter Conversion was 32%-owned by EADS EFW while Airbus had 18%.
United Aircraft and Irkut equally shared the other 50%.

Airbus, EADS EFW and their Russian partners, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and IRKUT, have jointly decided to stop the A320/A321 Passenger to Freighter (P2F) conversion development programme for economic reasons and, therefore, to launch the necessary legal procedures for the termination of the joint venture “Airbus Freighter Conversion GmbH (AFC)”.

Recent market developments, including the success of the upcoming A320neo, have resulted in more demand for A320 passenger aircraft and less for freighter versions in this aircraft category. In addition, strongly growing passenger traffic results in high demand for used A320 Family aircraft, thus reducing the amount of aircraft available for conversion.

Against the backdrop of these market changes and the increasing pressure on the P2F business case, the partners have concluded to stop and freeze the P2F programme.

The joint venture “Airbus Freighter Conversion GmbH (AFC)” was established between EADS EFW, Airbus and the Russian companies UAC, IRKUT, in April 2007. Headquartered in Dresden, Germany, AFC was equally divided between Russia (UAC and IRKUT with 25% each) and EADS/Airbus (EADS EFW 32%, Airbus 18%). The partners have decided to dissolve AFC.

The collegial and professional cooperation in this joint venture over the last four years developed by Airbus/EADS EFW, UAC and IRKUT, has strengthened the partnership between the European and the Russian aviation industry. IRKUT and Airbus will continue their partnership in components manufacturing for the Single Aisle programme.

Leurs écrits (communiqués de presse) ne sont pas crus ! Il y a des acteurs qui ont déjà gratté bien plus loin que le vernis ! Ils connaissent une autre vérité.