A subsidiary of Aircastle Limited has signed a contract to acquire 15 A330-200F aircraft, the newest freighter from Airbus and the latest member of the highly successful A330/A340 family. With this order Aircastle is one of the launch customers for the new Airbus freighter, with deliveries expected to commence in 2010.
Aircastle is a global company that acquires and leases high utility commercial jet aircraft to passenger and cargo airlines throughout the world.
“Aircastle is excited about the market potential for the A330-200F, given its payload/ range profile, operating efficiency and flexibility,” said Ron Wainshal, Aircastle’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is Aircastle’s first new order contract and we are pleased to be working together with Airbus.”
“We believe aircraft lessors will play an important role in developing the air freight market and enabling the introduction of advanced and efficient new aircraft,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers. “We are delighted to be working with dynamic firms such as Aircastle and view their selection of the A330-200F as a great endorsement for our latest Freighter model.”
The A330-200 freighter is the only mid-size, long-haul all-cargo aircraft capable of carrying 64 metric tons over 4000 nautical miles / 7400 kilometers in “range mode” configuration, or 69 metric tons up to 3200nm / 5930 km in “payload mode.”
Flexibility has been further enhanced on the A330-200F with the introduction of a versatile main-deck cargo loading system, which can accommodate both pallets and containers, enabling operators to service each of these very different markets. This versatility offers several different arrangements on the main deck, taking up to 23 Side-by-Side (SBS) pallets, aimed at the high volume, high value commodities or Single Row (SR) loading of 16 pallets (96”x 96”x125” SR pallets) aimed at the general cargo higher density markets.
