China’s civil aviation regulator has approved Airbus A320 and A321 freighters converted under the cargo modification programme of specialist EFW.
EFW is a joint venture majority-owned by Singapore’s ST Engineering with Airbus as its partner.
It operates across eight conversion facilities including four located in China for A320-family and A330 modification.
EFW, which converts narrowbody aircraft at Tianjin and Guangzhou, says the Civil Aviation Administration of China has validated certification of its A320P2F and A321P2F.
“With CAAC’s approval of the [supplementary type certificate]…we can now offer the full suite of our conversion solutions for Chinese-registered aircraft,” says EFW chief Jordi Boto.
He says there is “strong market demand” for the narrowbody converted freighters which are set to “play a crucial role” in the region.
EFW states that operators of Chinese-registered A320s and A321s will be granted “seamless access” to its conversion programme as a result of the STC validation.
The CAAC has previously approved, in 2023, EFW’s widebody A330P2F and 19 of the freighters have since been delivered to Chinese operators.
It converts A330s at Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
“With CAAC’s approvals now in place for both [narrowbody] and widebody freighters, EFW is well-positioned to support the growing demand for efficient, high-quality freighter conversions in China,” says EFW.
