First Airbus A330-200P2F delivereD
The A330-200F is an aircraft developed from the popular A330 wide-body jet and can carry 65t of payload over a 7,400km distance. One thing you might find unusual on the A330-200F is the bubble under the nose gear. Since the A330 has a natural nose-down stance, Airbus adjusted nose gear mounting by changing brackets and and attachment points, hence the bubble fixture.
With the A330-200F selling rather terribly with only 42 ordered, Airbus set out to offer the A330-200P2F (Passenger to Freighter).
However, recently Airbus delivered a new “family” member of the Freighter aircraft: The A330-200P2F.
Recently, Airbus delivered the very first A330P2F to EgyptAir Cargo.
The aircraft completed all necessary test flights in June and has since received supplemental type certificates from the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) and the Egyption Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA).
Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) and ST Aerospace, the companie in charge of the conversion process, were the ones responsible for converting a used A330-300 for DHL which was delivered in 2017.
In a statement to media, the two companies said the following:
“The timely redelivery of MSN 600 is a result of the excellent spirit of cooperation between the partners EFW, ST Engineering Aerospace and Airbus and the remarkable support by EASA, Launch Customer EgyptAir and the ECAA. To date EgyptAir Cargo has firm orders for three A330-200P2F units.”
Airbus intends the aircraft to be the perfect replacement for Boeing 767 based Freighters. Most A330s are still quite young so in a few years Airbus will have lots of used A330s coming out of service perfect for this application.
It was during the recent Farnborough Air Show that Airbus announced that they need to step up their freighter game. No announcements have been made yet, but the A330P2F is definitely apart of the family.
How you see the future of Airbus Freighters?
