EFW To Tap Market To Replace Aging Converted Freighters

Freighter conversion specialist Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW) sees a continuing market for dedicated cargo airliners despite uncertainty about the potential effects of tariffs, trade wars and the general economy on demand for air cargo.

Jordi Boto, CEO at the Dresden, Germany-based collaboration between Airbus and Singapore’s ST Engineering, will be at the Paris Air Show and anticipates the company making an announcement there, though he would not be drawn beyond saying it could be some form of collaboration that was still being worked out in the lead up to the show.

E-commerce is still fueling demand for freighters while aircraft like Boeing 757s and 767s that were converted into cargo aircraft are coming to the end of their lives. That adds a dimension to the freighter conversion market.

Earlier this year, Airbus estimated there were more than 130 large freighters globally that were over 30 years old and would need to be replaced fairly soon.

EFW undertakes conversions of Airbus A330 and A320 family aircraft in seven locations worldwide. The larger A321 makes up the great majority of those conversions and is regarded by EFW as an ideal replacement for the 757.

In the current marketplace, the A330 feedstock is adequate, Boto said, but A320-family aircraft are much harder to get hold of because airlines are holding on to their older passenger aircraft to see them through new aircraft and engine delivery delays. This is particularly the case for the A321, of which Boto said, “You won’t find a single plane available.”

However, even as Airbus and Boeing ramp up their build rates once more, and new deliveries start to allow carriers to dispose of their older aircraft for conversions, supply chain problems will still affect conversion houses like EFW.

“We use exactly the same supply chain as Boeing and Airbus,” he said, adding that the conversion kits needed to transform a passenger aircraft into a freighter have to compete with the aerostructures needed for the burgeoning numbers of new airliners.

“This is not capacity you can increase easily,” Boto commented.