SINGAPORE (June 19): Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), a 55:45 joint venture company between Airbus and ST Engineering’s subsidiary ST Aerospace, has secured its second conversion contract from DHL Express, which was signed today at the biennial International Paris Air Show.

Under the contract, EFW, which is located at Dresden Airport and specialises on freighter and tanker aircraft conversion, will provide DHL Express an additional four firm and 10 option A330-300 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions.

This follows the launch contract for four similar A330-300 P2F conversions that was previously awarded by DHL Express in July last year, and strengthens ST Aerospace’s position as “one of the world’s leading freighter conversion and engineering companies”, say EFW, ST Aerospace, Airbus and DHL Express in a joint press release on Monday.

The first aircraft under the launch contract is currently undergoing conversion at EFW’s facilities based in Dresden, Germany, and according to the companies, is on track to be re-delivered by end-2017.  

In order to take on the expanded conversion programme for DHL, EFW says it is gradually ramping up its capacity at its Dresden facility, having recently completed a new single-bay wide-body hangar. Conversion work on the second aircraft, which is also scheduled to be re-delivered by end-2017, is to commence at ST Aerospace’s Singapore facility in Paya Lebar.

“This second contract from DHL Express underscores the right decision that ST Aerospace, Airbus and EFW had made in 2012 to launch the A330P2F programme. We are confident that the A330-300P2F aircraft will be an invaluable part of DHL Express’s global aviation fleet and serve the air cargo market well,” remarks Lim Serh Ghee, president of ST Aerospace.

The A300P2F conversion programme was launched in 2012, and represents a collaboration between St Aerospace, Airbus and EFW.

It includes two versions: the A330-200P2F and the larger A330-300P2F, where DHL Express is EFW’s first customer for the latter programme.

A launch contract was secured in Dec 2014 for the A330-200P2F conversion programme.