This month, EgyptAir Cargo will take redelivery of its second of at least three A330-200P2Fs the carrier has on order with EFW. Upon redelivery, the aircraft (709) will be utilized to expand service to destinations in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Ahead of the redelivery, the carrier this week ferried a third A330-200 (610) to EFW’s Dresden facility, where it was inducted for conversion. Like EgyptAir’s first two conversions, the recently-inducted unit previously operated in the carrier’s passenger fleet. Redelivery of the newly-inducted freighter is expected in June, at which point the carrier expects to launch expand scheduled freighter routes to the United States.
Increased demand for freighter flights to the US stems, in part, from a TSA ban on belly cargo for flights originating in six different countries, including Egypt, that began in January 2018. Freighter flights are still permitted as long as EgyptAir participates in additional cargo screening measures.
In preparation for the new freighters, and expansion of its freighter network, EgyptAir Cargo has taken other measures to broaden the scope of its operations. Last month, EgyptAir signed on to IATA’s DG AutoCheck program to streamline the carriage of high-yield dangerous goods. DG AutoCheck stands as a bridge between the paper-based and electronic cargo management processes. To file a shipper’s DGD that complies with IATA’s Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR), customers may either enter declarations via web interface or scan versions of paper DGD forms to convert the information into a digital record of the shipment. This data can then be processed and verified automatically using the XML data version of the DGR.
Apart from EgyptAir, DHL has shown substantial interest in increasing its fleet of both freighter-converted and production A330 freighters. DHL was the launch customer of EFW’s A330-300 P2F program and took delivery of the first converted freighter from that program in December 2017. In August 2018, DHL also moved to add all five of the production A330-200Fs formerly in Etihad Airways’ fleet to be operated by EAT Leipzig on behalf of DHL Express.
Returning to EgyptAir’s first A330-200P2F (600), that aircraft was redelivered in August 2018, and is now active. Here’s a video of the aircraft taking off from Ostend (OST) on return to Cairo (CAI).
Those interested in learning more about the future trajectory of the widebody freighter fleet are invited to join us at Cargo Facts Asia 2019, to be held 15-17 at the Langham Shanghai where Cargo Facts Consulting will present the 2019 edition of its annual twenty-year Freighter Forecast. For more information, or to register, visit www.cargofactsasia.com.