A320 makes cargo debut with Qantas Freight

The most ordered commercial jet in history, the A320, made its cargo debut on Tuesday. Qantas Freight launched the converted A321 freighter into service in partnership with Australia Post.

The A321, leased to Qantas by Vallair, was converted by EFW in a joint venture between Airbus and ST Engineering and renamed the A321P2F to reflect its "Passenger to Freight" conversion.

The new freighter aircraft entered in service with Qantas Freighter (Photo Courtesy Vallair)

Suppliers and maintainers in the region will be seeing this new aircraft number pop up more often. Another 10 planes of the same type are being prepped for the conversion as well, marking a trend adapt older or retired passenger aircraft to the new function during a time when airline travel has taken a dip.

EFW expects the cargo market to be able to absorb about 1,000 A320 family units over the next 20 years.

For the A321P2F, EFW reinforced the floor of the main cabin, installed a wide door to allow cargo access and closed passenger windows to facilitate the new aircraft's use. 

Now, a converted A321P2F can carry up to 27 tons of cargo, which is 9 times more than the Boeing 737-300F Qantas currently uses. It can fly nonstop for 3,520 km (2187 miles).

“Given the outstanding performance of this freighter, we are confident that the A321P2F will be a game changer in the freighter market,” Chief Executive Officer of EFW Andreas Sperl said. 

EFW also offers the conversion of the A320 to A320P2F, which is capable of carrying 21 tons of cargo with a range of 3,890 km (2417 miles).

Many cargo airlines choose to use quality converted aircraft because they can gain the same amount of revenue without using an expensive production process, and the converted freighters meet the high dispatch reliability required of the industry.

When aircraft reach a certain service age, and have completed its useful operational service as passenger jetliner, they can be scrapped for spare parts, retired to aircraft graveyards or reconfigured for service in another aviation sector.

Converting a passenger aircraft into a freighter is one way to extend the economic life of an aircraft.

Conversions involve major structural modifications. These aircraft be stripped for overhauled parts the company can resell to suppliers, and factory-new parts and materials then go into the aircraft to reinforce it for cargo configuration.

Some typical conversion tasks include installing a main deck cargo door (MDCD) on the fuselage, a one-minute smoke detecting system inside the aircraft, and a non-powered or powered Cargo Loading System to allow for loading of various cargo arrangements on the main deck.