ST Engineering and Airbus’ joint venture, Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW),  announced an order for four Airbus A321 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions from Dublin-based leasing company GTLK Europe.

The aircraft lessor says the single-aisle converted freighter, is an important complement to its portfolio as it looks to meet the increasing demand in the express and e-commerce cargo market.

According to its website, GTLK Europe has more than a dozen Airbus narrowbody jets in its sea and air fleet. It currently has 6 Airbus A220-300s, 12 Airbus A319ceos, 12 A321ceos and 12 Airbus A320ceos CEO and more than a dozen bulk carriers.

Three of the four aircraft will be inducted for conversion this year, with the fourth conversion to be carried out in 2022.

“Interest in our A321P2F conversion solution has been on a significant rise over the past one year, and we are committed to satisfying this growing market demand with on-time redeliveries by ramping up conversion lines with our parent company, ST Engineering,” said Andreas Sperl, CEO of EFW.

Also read: More orders expected as first A321 converted freighter enters service

The A321P2F is the first in its size category to offer containerised loading in both the main (up to 14 full container positions) and lower deck (up to 10 container positions). The gross payload capability of up to 28 metric tonnes makes it the ideal narrowbody freighter aircraft for express domestic and regional operations.

ST Engineering and EFW introduced a conversion site in China in late 2020, and will be setting up another in the US in 2021. Airbus says expansion plans are also in the works to support rising demand for the widebody A330P2F conversion programme, which is currently carried out at EFW’s facility in Dresden, Germany.