To assist fulfill its one-day delivery promise to Amazon Prime members, Amazon Air has inked a definitive agreement to lease 10 Altavair A330-300P2F freighters. By doing so, it will take advantage of the A330’s capacity and economics.
Hawaiian Airlines, which has made A330s a significant part of its fleet since 2010, will fly the plane for Amazon. Elbe Flugzeugwerke GmbH (EFW), the center of competence for Airbus Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversions, is converting the 10 airframes from passenger aircraft to freighters.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Airbus to our Amazon Air fleet,” said Philippe Karam, Director, Amazon Global Air Fleet & Sourcing. “These A330-300s will not only be the first of their kind in our fleet, they’ll also be the newest, largest aircraft for Amazon Air, allowing us to deliver more customer packages with each flight.”
To uphold its commitment to customers of quick, free delivery, Amazon Air transfers consumer packages over wider distances in less time. In late 2023, the first of their A330-300P2F aircraft is anticipated to enter the fleet of Amazon Air.
“The endorsement of our freighters by Amazon speaks volumes about the market value of the A330 and the position Airbus wide-bodies are gaining in the cargo market,” said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Airbus International.
“Amazon has built a reputation around delivering their goods to our doorsteps with extraordinary speed and consistency, and we’re very proud that our aircraft are trusted to become a key link in that remarkable logistics chain.”
The A330 offers a very capable platform for freighter conversion thanks to advanced Airbus technology like fly-by-wire flight controls. More than 1,700 A330s have been ordered and more than 1,500 have been delivered since the aircraft entered service in 1994, providing a sizable source of aircraft to enable P2F conversions for many years.
The longer-fuselage A330-300P2F is particularly well suited for integrators and express carriers due to its high volumetric payload capability with lower-density cargo, even though both A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft are eligible for conversion.
Launched in 2012, the A330P2F conversion initiative is a partnership between ST Aerospace, Airbus, and its
