World's First Passenger-to-Freighter A320 Delivered

DALLAS - ST Engineering and partner Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) have delivered the world’s first Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) Airbus A320 from ST Engineering’s airframe facility in Singapore.

The A320P2F was handed over to launch customer, the United Arab Emirates’ leasing and aerospace company, Vaayu Group. It will now be sub-leased to the new Indian cargo operator, Pradhaan Air Express, which plans to commence services this year.

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"Getting the world’s first A320 converted freighter to India is like a dream come true," said Nipun Anand, CEO and Founder, Pradhaan Air Express. Photo: ST Engineering.

Previous Passenger Life

The International Aero Engines V2500-powered jet was originally delivered to TAM Airlines (JJ) as PR-MBB in April 2006. It last flew as a passenger airliner in October 2020 for Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo (6E) as VT-IHM.

Emad Al Monayea, Chairman of Vaayu Group, said, “With this redelivery, we expect the world’s first A320P2F to provide an efficient and credible freighter solution to our customers that are looking to leverage the current and forecast demand in air freight growth. We are pleased that our partnership with ST Engineering, EFW and Airbus has created aviation history in the Indian market by placing the aircraft with Pradhaan Air Express.”

EFW Chief Executive Jordi Boto said the “Airbus P2F family of narrowbody and widebody freighters is finally complete.” This follows previous conversions of A321s, A330-200s and A330-300s, which were first delivered in 2020, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The world's first A321P2F was delivered to Qantas Freight through lessor Vallair in October 2020. Photo: Pratt & Whitney

'Robust and Reliable'

As with the A321 conversions, the A320P2F was converted using the original manufacturer’s data provided by Airbus, which ST Engineering has said makes the freighter ‘more robust and reliable.’

Capable of carrying a gross payload of up to 21 tonnes over a maximum range of 1,850nm, the A320P2F can transport up to ten containers and a pallet on the main deck, plus seven containers on the lower.

With thousands of passenger A320s currently operating, there is a vast selection of airframes for leasing companies and cargo carriers who wish to add converted freighters to their fleets.

Featured Image: The type completed its maiden flight in December 2021. Photo: ST Engineering.