Second EFW A321P2F heads to conversion facility in Singapore

An A321-200 (1238, ex-Thomas Cook Airlines) that will become Elbe Flugzeugwerke’s (EFW) second A321P2F was ferried to Singapore (XSP) on Christmas Day. San Francisco-headquartered BBAM confirmed to Cargo Facts that it is managing this aircraft and that it will soon be inducted for conversion into freighter configuration [FAT 005272].

The 20-year-old A321 was stored in Manchester (MAN) and Lasham (QLA) after the collapse of Thomas Cook Airlines in September. It was then flown to XSP via Heraklion (HER), Sharjah (SHJ) and Chennai (MAA).

While BBAM also confirmed that unit 1238 would be leased after redelivery, it declined to name the lessee. However, we note that the lessor signed a letter of intent with EFW for one A321 passenger-to-freighter conversion at the Paris Air Show in June 2019. Just under a month later, we learned that U.K.-based Titan Airways would be leasing an A321P2F from BBAM by the end of 2020. Cargo Facts therefore believes that unit 1238 is the aircraft that will eventually be placed with Titan Airways.

The first A321 conversion (835, ex-Onur Air) was ferried to XSP in November 2018 and is mostly complete, but EFW, the joint venture between ST Aerospace and Airbus, said during Cargo Facts Symposium in October that the frame was still waiting for its engines, and that the STC for the A321P2F had been pushed back to 2020. That aircraft, which will be leased by Vallair to Qantas, still doesn’t appear to have conducted any test flights at this point.

Luxembourg-based Vallair also has another A321-200 (891, ex-FlyCAA) in conversion with 321 Precision Conversions, a JV between Precision Aircraft Solutions and Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) at the Avocet facility in Orlando Sanford (SFB). During Cargo Facts Symposium, 321 Precision Conversions said that it was expecting to begin flight tests on the conformity aircraft in early 2020.

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