Vallair is launching the first A321 passenger to freighter conversions to take place in China.

Work on the first of nine conversions in the country, of MSN 1017, is to be undertaken by ST Engineering and Airbus joint venture EFW at ST Engineering’s facility in Guangzhou.

The aircraft is planned for delivery in the third quarter of 2021 to cargo operator SmartLynx.

Vallair’s CEO Gregoire Lebigot described this next phase of the company’s A321 passenger to freighter conversion activity as “an important milestone”. Vallair has previously partnered with EFW in Asia on the conversion of its inaugural A321F.  Work was undertaken at its Singapore facility and delivered to launch operator Qantas Freight in October.

Vallair has also signed an MoU with US operator GlobalX for ten A321 conversions, and leased a further two of the aircraft type to SmartLynx Malta.

Lebigot commented: “Vallair is keen to introduce the A321F to the Chinese market as we see strong potential for the freighter in its active e-commerce sector.

“Our decision to commission the conversion process for a significant number of our lease portfolio ‘in-country’ demonstrates not only our confidence in the future implementation of this type, but also our commitment to local technical and engineering resources.”

Click here for a recent interview with Gregoire Lebigot in Airline Cargo Management.