Production A330F backlog dwindles

Colombia-based Synergy Aerospace Corporation, one of only two remaining customers with the production A330-200F on order, canceled its order for a single frame in December, according to Airbus’ orders and deliveries tally for 2019. Synergy is the majority shareholder of Avianca Holdings, which operates six A330-200Fs through its Avianca Cargo subsidiary.

This leaves the A330-200F program with a total of forty-one orders, thirty-eight of which have been delivered to eight customers to date. There are currently still three unfilled orders for Turkey-based MNG Airlines, which received its first in 2012. It is unlikely that these frames will materialize, given that the carrier previously told Cargo Facts that it was looking to add A330P2Fs.

Airbus has not had an order for its only production freighter since March 2015, when Turkish Airlines purchased four. The A330-200F program was launched around ten years ago but the response from carriers and lessors has been lukewarm at best.

Apart from Avianca Cargo, other operators of the A330-200F include Turkish Cargo, with ten; Hong Kong Air Cargo, with five; and Qatar Airways, also with five. The Doha-based carrier, which returned three A330-200Fs off lease to BOC Aviation in 2019, is likely to withdraw its five owned frames as it takes delivery of more 777Fs.

The last time Airbus delivered a production A330-200F was unit 1772 in February 2017 to Etihad, which has since removed all five it had in service and transferred them to EAT Leipzig.

Meanwhile, the A330 freighter-to-passenger conversion program has also had limited success. Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), the conversion house that is a joint venture between ST Engineering Aerospace and Airbus, redelivered the last A330-200P2F on order to EgyptAir in November 2019, while the A330-300P2F has yet to gain additional customers, apart from DHL Express, which has so far received three aircraft.

Including the two aircraft that EFW inducted for conversion in 2019, the backlog for the A330-300P2F stands at five firm and ten options. DHL launched the A330-300 conversion program with an order for four conversions, then placed a follow-up order for four more, with options for an additional ten at the 2017 Paris Air Show.

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