Avensis evolves Medius with narrow pallet design

AMSTERDAM — United Kingdom-based Avensis Aviation is introducing Medius Evo, a customer-driven evolution of its Medius reversible Class E cargo modification, which uses customized, narrow pallets that fit through the passenger door of the A330. Medius Evo will enable an A330-200 to be loaded in 100 minutes using conventional ground equipment, significantly less than the turnaround time of 250 minutes plus additional staffing required for the base Medius modification, Avensis founder and Chief Executive Cristian Sutter told Cargo Facts at Cargo Facts EMEA 2024 in Amsterdam Feb. 5. [caption id="attachment_57140169" align="aligncenter" width="623"] Each Evo pallet will be roughly a third the length of a conventional pallet. (Courtesy/Avensis)[/caption] The concept emerged during discussions with customers at Cargo Facts Symposium in October 2023, Sutter said. “A330s have had a resurgence in terms of lease rates, but potentially in the next couple of years, those aircraft will have very old cabins,” he said. “Renewing the passenger cabin will be an operation which is quite costly for a lessor and they may not necessarily get the payback, and if lessors renew a leasing contract with a brand new cabin, they might not be ready to commit to doing a full cargo-door conversion. So Medius Evo will provide that element of flexibility and also tap into the unit load device structure of logistics worldwide.” Avensis obtained its STC for Medius on the A330-200 in September 2022 and on the A330-300 in June 2023. The reversible modification turns the passenger cabin into a Class E cargo compartment by removing all cabin monuments and installing a smoke curtain, environmental control and smoke-detection systems, and a supernumerary compartment. Loading is fully manual. Smaller pallets, faster certification Each Medius Evo pallet will be one-third of the length of a conventional pallet and constructed by an established ULD manufacturer with similar materials. Avensis has developed a latch system that holds the pallets together when they are being transported on the ground and during flight, Sutter said. While the Medius Evo will reduce loading time, operators will still be required to manually load the bulk area in the rear of the aircraft. Medius Evo will be a supplement to the Medius STC and Avensis is targeting certification in around twelve months, Sutter said. He declined to identify a launch customer for Medius Evo, adding that Avensis is in discussions with its customer base. The timeline to complete a Medius Evo modification is around eight weeks, while upgrading an aircraft already modified with Medius to Medius Evo can take as little as four weeks, Avensis said. Since gaining certification for the base-level Medius, Avensis has also launched Medius Elev, which adds two elevators between the main and lower deck, and Navis, a full-freighter conversion for the A340-300 and -600 for the launch customer, Germany-based Universal Sky Carrier. Cargo Facts EMEA 2024, the essential event for stakeholders in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will take place Feb. 5-7 in Amsterdam. Learn more and register now.

Avensis evolves Medius with narrow pallet design

Cargo Facts EMEA 2024

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