Summary
- Qantas has received its first converted A330-200P2F.
- The aircraft underwent a long conversion process in Germany.
- It will be operated by Express Freighters for the Australia Post.
Qantas has taken delivery of its first Airbus A330-200P2F, a passenger-to-freighter converted aircraft. The aircraft arrived in Cairns on Friday after being out of service for nearly a year under conversion.
The aircraft, which bears the same registration number from its passenger operations, is the first of two A330-200P2Fs to be delivered to the Australian airline. However, both aircraft will be operated by different Qantas-affiliated brands.
Nearly a one-year process
According to Scramble, the aircraft, VH-EBF, landed at Cairns Airport (CNS) on Friday after a long journey from Busan, South Korea. It underwent its conversion in Dresden, Germany, in November of last year. Data from Flightradar24.com shows that the A330 flew its last commercial passenger flight as QF654 from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport to Perth Airport on November 7, 2022, and then was ferried off to Dresden Airport (DRS). Qantas said EFW, a joint venture of Airbus and ST Engineering, converted the aircraft. The work included removing seats, replacing the cabin door with a larger door, and installing a cargo handling system.
Photo: Flightradar24.com
Between September 6th and 7th of this year, the plane performed what appeared to be test flights to and from DRS before ferrying to Gimhae International Airport (PUS) in Busan on September 8th. Flight data indicated that the aircraft flew nearly 11 hours to PUS and remained there for nearly two weeks.
Returning to Qantas
On September 21st, VH-EBF departed PUS and was intended to fly to Singapore but was diverted to Brisbane Airport (BNE), according to Flightradar24.com. FlightAware reports that VH-EBF arrived at BNE on Thursday night after an 8-hour and 45-minute flight. On Friday, the aircraft departed BNE at 10:35 and arrived at CNS precisely two hours later.
Since arriving in Cairns, the freighter has reportedly performed training flights to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Melbourne.
“More than double the capacity”
The aircraft will be operated by Express Freighters Australia, a cargo airline wholly owned by Qantas Freight, which is a subsidiary of Qantas. According to Scramble, the jet will be deployed for Australia Post, a government-owned postal service. VH-EBF is aged nearly 16 years and began flying with low-cost airline Jetstar, another wholly owned Qantas subsidiary. In 2021, Qantas announced that two of its A330s would be converted into freighters. Qantas Freight will reportedly utilize the second aircraft.
Qantas said that VH-EBF “will be able to carry around 50 tonnes of cargo each flight,” which is “more than double the capacity of freighters operating for the national postal service.”
EFW based its A330P2F conversion process on the success of its A300/A310P2F conversion program, redelivering nearly 200 freighter aircraft. The company said converted A330s are the next generation and offer more benefits.
“Compared to its successful A300-600 predecessor, the new A330P2F is offering up to 30% more volume and payload at about 20% less fuel burn per ton of payload,” the company explained. “In addition to this, the A330P2F is forming the new Airbus freighter family together with the Airbus A330-200F production freighter.”
Over the summer, EFW reached a milestone, redelivering its 50th A330P2F to DHL, which is the aircraft type’s launch customer, according to Air Cargo News.
Sources: Scramble, Flightradar24.com, FlightAware, Air Cargo News