HNA grows into A330P2F conversions as EFW hits milestone

China’s HNA Aviation Group intends to expand into the Airbus conversion market by sending A330s for conversion with EFW, including some at its own Grand China Aircraft Maintenance facility in Haikou (HAK).

HNA will induct its first A330 for conversion in the first half of 2025, although this will be at the Shanghai Technologies Aerospace Co. (STARCO) facilities in Shanghai while HNA readies the Grand China Aircraft Maintenance (GCAM) facility, EFW said in a release.

[caption id="attachment_57146675" align="aligncenter" width="1078"] GCAM is a joint venture between HNA subsidiary HNA Technic and Airbus Group. (Courtesy/HNA Technic)[/caption] HNA has the option to send a second A330 to STARCO in the second half of 2025, EFW said.

The German conversion company declined to give a timeline for the GCAM conversions or the number of A330P2Fs the deal includes.

HNA and freighters Four of HNA’s subsidiary airlines operate freighters.

Capital Airlines, the newest, started flying an A330-300P2F (908) and a -200P2F (785) in 2024. Suparna Airlines operates a 747-400F and a -400BDSF but has said that it will replace those with 777Fs . Tianjin Air Cargo will soon add to its fleet the first 737-800SF conversion as part of a deal similar to the EFW A330P2F arrangement. Conversion of the freighter (34707) took place at GCAM. The aircraft was previously in passenger service with HNA’s Hainan Airlines and is one of at least three 737-800s that HNA agreed to convert with AEI at GCAM. Hong Kong Air Cargo operates five production A330-200Fs. GCAM, founded in 2012, is a joint venture between HNA subsidiary HNA Technic and Airbus Group. It will become the fourth site in China for EFW’s A330P2F conversions, joining:

The STARCO facilities at both Shanghai’s Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) and Pudong International Airport (PVG) ; The Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Corp. (AMECO) facility in Chengdu (CTU), which completed its first A330-200P2F (860) at the end of 2023 and is close to finishing the fourth of eight A330-200P2F conversions as part of a deal with Air China Cargo; and The ST Aerospace (Guangzhou) Aviation Services (STAG) facility in Guangzhou (CAN), which will soon complete its first A333-300P2F (1226) after starting in May . Outside China and excluding its own facilities in Dresden (DRS), EFW also uses the Turkish Technic facility in Istanbul (ISL) and VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering in Mobile, Ala. (BFM), for its A330P2F conversions. EFW will soon redeliver the first A330-300P2F conversion at the Turkish facility and will stop using VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering .

100 redeliveries The ramp up in capacity and turnaround time helped EFW hit its 100th current-generation Airbus freighter redelivery this month after reaching the fifty-unit mark in June 2023 .

The 100th conversion was an A330-300P2F converted in Shanghai, EFW told Cargo Facts . Cargo Facts believes this is the 2013-vintage unit 1382 (ex-SmartLynx) that CDB Aviation sent to SHA in April.

The 100 current-generation freighter conversions consist of forty-nine A330P2Fs, forty-seven A321P2Fs and four A320P2Fs, EFW said.

EFW redelivered:

The first A330-200P2F in 2017; The first A330-300P2F in 2018; The first A321-200P2F in 2020; and The first A320-200P2F in 2022. While there are several conversions in the final phase that will put EFW’s total current-generation redeliveries “well above” 100 by yearend, the number is likely to be slightly lower than the goal of fifty-seven A330P2Fs and fifty-five A320/A321P2Fs that the company had set at Cargo Facts Asia in April, EFW told Cargo Facts .

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