Nordic Aviation Capital signs ATR 72-600 freighter conversion kits deal

The aircraft for conversion will come from NAC’s existing ATR fleet. The ATR 72-600 conversion kits have the flexibility to be converted back to ATR 72-500 conversion kits, and are suitable for application across NAC’s entire fleet of ATR 72s.

Akkodis holds an Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for cargo conversion on ATR legacy aircraft, with more than 70 converted aircraft flying around the world, each offering 75.5 m3 of cargo volume and carrying over eight tons of freight.

“The integration of the freighter modification onto the ATR-600’s New Avionic Suite (NAS) presented a challenge,” said NAC. “Nevertheless, Akkodis engineering experts identified a solution to enable them to extend the certification to the next generation of ATR aircraft.”

Norman Liu, president and chief executive of NAC, said: “We are pleased to expand our existing relationship with Akkodis with a launch order for the ATR 72-600 passenger to freighter conversion programme. NAC aims to remain the leader in regional aviation and expand into larger narrowbody aircraft, while building our full life cycle asset management capabilities.”

Francesco Aucelli, chief operating officer of GBL Aviation at Akkodis, commented: “The ATR 72-600’s modern glass cockpit will be very attractive to freighter operators, as it features the very latest avionics with performance-based navigation capabilities. Despite the technical challenge of the NAS integration, the ATR-600 freighter configuration provides new opportunities for cargo operations and we are thrilled to support NAC and the industry in such a way.”

NAC recently agreed a memorandum of understanding to place the first two Embraer E190F passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions with Kenya-based cargo airline Astral Aviation.

Astral Aviation to operate first two Embraer E190F conversions