DHL orders more A330-300P2Fs

At the end of the day today at the Paris Air Show, DHL Express and EFW jointly announced a firm order for four more A330-300 passenger-to-freighter conversions, plus options for ten more.

DHL was the launch customer for EFW’s A330-300P2F program, with a four-conversion order last year, and the first of four aircraft in that order (116, ex-Malaysia Airlines) was inducted for conversion at Dresden in July 2016.

EFW is a joint venture of Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Airbus. The company had originally planned to convert at least the first two A330-300s at EFW’s Dresden facility before adding ST Aero’s Paya Lebar facility as a second conversion center, and unit 127 (ex-Hi Fly) was inducted at Dresden in December 2016. But, with increasing demand for both MRO and conversion work in Dresden, the company decided to bring Paya Lebar into the mix ahead of schedule, and last week ferried the aircraft to Singapore and will do the conversion there.

In addition to the A330-300, EFW’s A330P2F program also includes the smaller A330-200P2F. So far, the only customer for that program is EgyptAir Cargo, which ordered two conversions in December 2014.