Against the backdrop of strong demand in the air global market, ST Engineering and Airbus? joint venture, Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) has announced an order for four Airbus A321 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversions from new customer, GTLK Europe. Three of the four aircraft will be inducted for conversion this year, with the fourth conversion to be carried out in 2022.

?We are delighted to welcome GTLK Europe as the latest member of our growing customer base,? said Andreas Sperl, CEO of EFW. ?Interest in our A321P2F conversion solution has been on a significant rise over the past one year or so, and we are committed to satisfying the growing market demand with on-time redeliveries by ramping up conversion lines with our parent company, ST Engineering.?

Roman Lyadov, CEO of GTLK Europe, said, ?The next-generation Airbus A321P2F freighter aircraft, which delivers best-in-class capability and fuel efficiency in the single-aisle freighter segment, is an important complement to our portfolio as we support our customers to meet increasing demand in the express and e-commerce cargo market.?

The A321P2F is the first in its size category to offer containerised loading in both the main (up to 14 full container positions) and lower deck (up to 10 container positions). With a generous gross payload capability of up to 28 metric tons (about 61,800 lbs) over 2,300 nautical miles, the A321P2F is the ideal narrowbody freighter aircraft for express domestic and regional operations.