First to market race heats up for A320/321 conversion programme

PACAVI Group and Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co (GAMECO) said that they are on track in being "first to market" with their joint Airbus A320/A321 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion programme in 2017.
They face competition from the joint venture between Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aerospace) and Dresden-based Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) to launch the A320/A321 P2F conversion programme. 
PACAVI group chief executive Stephan Hollmann said: “Our recent completion of the preliminary design review (PDR) marks an important milestone as we are moving forward on schedule with our supplemental type certificate (STC) development operation."
GAMECO’s general manager Norbert Marx explained: “We will commence the first industrial conversion of an A320 freighter LITE at our Guangzhou facility in China, to be converted simultaneously with the prototype in Hahn, Germany.”
He also announced the appointment of Frank Eichelbaum, a former Airbus and MTU executive, as GAMECO’s coordinator for the joint conversion project with PACAVI.
GAMECO will also convert PACAVI’s A321 Freighter LITE prototype in Guangzhou, while conversion of the prototype A320 Freighter LITE, started in January 2015, is progressing on schedule at the HAITEC facility in Frankfurt/Hahn (Germany). 
Speaking at the China Air Cargo Summit in Shanghai, Hollmann said: “We are going to advance the industry’s traditional approach with a groundbreaking one stop shop-concept, offering tailored turnkey packages of airframe sourcing, purchase, customised conversion, and leasing or sale to airline customers of all tiers, worldwide.”
EFW has been approached for comment.
Airbus A320/321 conversion prospects