This year his firm converts 14 Airbus models A300 or A310 into freight planes. It could have been some more, Sperl admits, however, two slots were blocked by two A330 passenger aircraft that were supposed to be transformed into tanker craft for the US Air Force.
The two aircraft were for demonstration purposes after Airbus together with US partner Northrop Grumman originally succeeded in winning the bid for delivering a fleet of up to 179 airborne refueling aircraft based on the passenger variant A330.
This contract, however, was put on hold after heavy Boeing pressure on politicians in Washington. Consequently, the re-shaping works on the first A330 tanker plane in Dresden have been postponed for the time being, maybe until next year. “We are sure to win the tanker contract again since we offer the better product,” the EFW manager adds confidently.
Meanwhile, the two A330 conversion slots could not be filled with A310 or A330 in the short term. “We need some time and preparation for covering the two vacant positions the A330 left at our production line. That’s why we fall two planes short of the average number of yearly conversion in 2008,” Sperl resumes.
Ramping up for the A320s
In the meantime a second major project is well under way: The conversion of Airbus A320. Th is most successful hot seller of the European plane maker took first to the air in 1988. That’s why today, twenty years later, the number of ageing A320s is rapidly growing making them interesting candidates for a second life as freighter aircraft.
“We expect a market potential for approximately 400 of this short and medium haul airplane to be converted until 2026,” Sperl estimates. According to schedule the first passenger-to-freighter aircraft A320 will roll out of EFW’s hangar at Dresden airport by end of 2011.
Launching customer is Amsterdambased leasing company Aer Cap Holdings N.V. Th e Netherlands-registered enterprise has signed a contract for 30 firm conversion orders plus 18 options at the Farnborough air show last July which will cost them between US$4-5 million for each transformation.
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p>As soon as the leasing agreements with passenger airlines expire the aircraft will be slotted into EFW’s conversion line to be stripped off the seats and cabin fittings and be equipped with roller beds and structural enforcements for commencing a second life as freighters.
Besides Aer Cap there are no names of further customers on Airbus Freighter Conversion GmbH’s (AFC) list so far, but, “AFC is in confi dential and advanced talks with a number of clients,” Sperl said pointing to market interest in his upcoming A320 conversion program.
He adds that the basic problem is not in getting any additional orders, but rather the rare slot allotments at his Dresden plant. But if demand should go through the roof in the near future, there is plenty of space adjacent to EFW’s site for enlarging the freighter factory, the manager confirms.
While the first Dresden-born Airbus A320 freighter will take to the skies in 2011 the stretched sister model A321 will follow suit a year later. Until 2015 all transformations of this Airbus narrow body aircraft – targeted for 15 units per year – are scheduled to be made in Dresden.
New Russian plant to do conversions
Beginning at nearly that time a second conversion line is set to be ready and get to work in Zhukovsky, some 50 km southeast of Moscow. There, the Russian government intends to concentrate civil, military and aeronautical activities to streamline processes of this widely scattered and once mighty industry.
As far as the German-Russian freighter program is concerned this location is new, as originally the airfield of Lukhovitsy some 250km south of the country’s capital was supposed to become the site of the joint conversion project. These plans have been scrapped “which is favorable for us because Zhukovsky is geographically much nearer to Moscow than Lukhovitsy and hence easier to reach,” lauds Sperl.
Russian share in the JV equals 50 per cent and is divided between UAC (25 per cent) and Irkut (25 per cent). Th e other 50 per cent is split between EADS EFW (32 per cent) and Airbus (18 per cent). After ramping up the conversion line at the EFW facilities in Dresden, Germany.
Once established the work package between Dresden and Zhukovsky will be equally shared 50/50 with each plant converting 15 A320 or A321 annually. The basis of this collaboration is a pact EFW has signed last year with Russian manufacturer Irkut. Th e “Airbus Freighter Conversion GmbH” joint venture is based in Dresden and functions according to German law.
While EFW’s passenger-to-freighter production processes seem to be well under way one problem however, bothers Andreas Sperl: Th e programme delay of the B787 “Dreamliner” Boeing is struggling with. As a consequence of the postponed deliveries many airlines are holding on to their aging fleet instead of phasing them out as originally intended. “That’s why there is a bottleneck in our A310 and A300 conversion program temporarily since we don’t get sufficient candidates,” Sperl sighs.