Altavair to boost A330P2F portfolio

Seattle-based Altavair intends to grow its A330P2F footprint to as many as twenty units in the next several years.

Altavair expects to place its next two A330-200P2Fs on lease to a lessee with a European AOC by the end of the year and has secured a lessee for ten A330-300P2Fs, CEO Steve Rimmer told Cargo Facts.

The two A330-200s currently undergoing conversion with Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) are unit 832 (ex-Etihad), which arrived in Singapore (SIN) in December 2021, and its counterpart (717, also ex-Etihad), which touched down at SIN in May [FATs 007624-7625].

Altavair hinted at freighter conversions when it announced in early 2020 that it had acquired sixteen A330-200s and six A330-300s as part of a $1 billion deal with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways. The lessor has already converted two of those A330-200s (868 and 854) and leased them to Mexico-based mas.

In addition to the six -300s (1071, 1081, 1167, 1205, 1226 and 1245), which range from 2009 to 2011 vintage, Altavair has also purchased four units from Airbus that have not been used in passenger service and already has a customer committed to all ten A330-300P2Fs, Rimmer said.

Cargo Facts believes the four A330-300s are the 2018-vintage units 1863, 1865, 1874 and 1902, originally destined to join Hong Kong Airlines.

Amazon was reportedly looking to add ten A330-300Fs to its fleet, along with other large widebodies.

Altavair currently holds six A330P2F conversion options with EFW that the lessor expects to exercise shortly, Rimmer said, adding that Altavair plans to have converted fourteen A330s by the end of 2024, with six more by the end of 2026. All twenty are powered by Roll-Royce Trent 700 engines.

Rimmer told Cargo Facts that its recent orders for freighter conversions are not indicative of any plans to enter the narrowbody segment as it is solely committed to the widebody market, at least for now.

Apart from Altavair, other lessors with double-digit A330 conversion orderbooks include Cargo Aircraft Management (CAM), which has signed up for twenty-nine slots with EFW, CDB Aviation with fourteen, and Avolon, which committed to thirty A330-300BDSF conversions as part of a launch deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

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