Alfor Aviation seeking EASA STC for Class E A330-300 mod with internal elevator

FARNBOROUGH, England — United Kingdom-based Alfor Aviation soon will complete a Class E maindeck cargo modification on a Trent 700-powered A330-300 that incorporates an elevator system to lift LD3 containers loaded through the aircraft’s belly cargo doors. Alfor bought the 2005-vintage aircraft (720, ex-Thai AirAsia X) and took delivery of it in April 2025 before sending it to Beja, Portugal (BYJ), to undergo the modification, Director Omer Mafa told Cargo Facts at the Farnborough International Airshow this week. [caption id="attachment_57298410" align="aligncenter" width="1317"] The Internal Loading System will transfer LD3 containers between the lower and main decks. (Courtesy/Alfor Aviation)[/caption] “By the end of August, we aim to start ground tests,” Mafa said. “At the end of September or in early October, we would like to begin flight tests and after that we will wait for the final EASA STC evaluation. “We expect to finish everything by the end of this year and to start receiving orders early next year.” Alfor is in discussions with potential customers, which range from airlines to lessors and e-commerce operators, he said. Internal lift Alfor was founded in 2023 by U.K.-based aviation specialist Foravia and Turkish conglomerate Alarco Holding, which saw a need in the post-pandemic market for a faster, cost-effective and efficient way to offer dedicated cargo capacity, Alfor board member Niv Garih told Cargo Facts . Unlike the EFW A330P2F conversion STC and the A330-300BDSF conversion that IAI is working to certify, Alfor’s design does not call for a large cargo door on the main deck. Instead, LD3s will be loaded and unloaded through the aircraft’s two existing small belly cargo doors and transported between lower and upper decks by two elevators, dubbed the Internal Loading System. “We’ve basically cut two holes in the main deck, forward and aft, where the lifts will bring the LD3s up,” Head of Engineering Colin Pritchet said. “Then, we have a standard Ancra cargo-loading system. The lower deck remains powered, but the upper deck will be manual.” The Internal Loading System, which Alfor has tested to 1 million cycles, will use ground power instead of a hydraulic jack because Alfor wanted it to be independent of all the other systems on the aircraft, he added. “What we are doing is not aiming to replace any of the existing freighter conversions, but to offer a flexible, affordable system to complement them,” Mafa said. Alfor plans to extend the modification to A330-200s and then to other aircraft models like 777s, he added. Not changing the aircraft’s fuselage can reduce costs by 40% compared with traditional conversions and create a turnaround time of about three months, Garih said. A330 mods Each of the seventy or so A330P2F conversions that EFW has completed to date has taken at least four months. IAI, which in May rolled out its A330-300BDSF prototype after more than a year converting it, is performing the required ground testing on the freighter ahead of its first flight and soon will determine a date for the first flight, a spokesperson told Cargo Facts. In 2022, U.K. startup Avensis Aviation also told Cargo Facts that it had partnered with a company to integrate an elevator mechanism into a Class E cargo modification for A330s. Avensis entered administration in 2024 because its launch customer defaulted on major payment obligations. Cargo Facts Symposium 2026, the premier event for the freighter aircraft and air cargo industries, will take place in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 21-23. Find out more and register by Sept. 4 to take advantage of early-bird pricing.

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