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Bloomberg
Airbus SE is considering building a freighter version of its slow-selling A330neo wide-body, spurred by requests from potential customers Amazon.com Inc and United Parcel Service (UPS) Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
The interest from Amazon and UPS could rekindle a competition between Airbus and Boeing Co. as the global air-cargo market rebounds from a decade-long slump. Production of the popular Boeing 767 freighter has been restricted as the US manufacturer focusses on a military tanker variant that is more than a year behind schedule, the people said.
If Airbus goes ahead, the cargo model could help lift sales of the A330neo, a re-engined version of the European planemaker’s smallest wide-body, which has struggled in the marketplace.
The aircraft has garnered 214 orders and lost a sale this month after Hawaiian Airlines switched to Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.
Toulouse, France-based Airbus declined to comment, as did Amazon.
Atlanta-based UPS studies options for acquiring new and used aircraft as a matter of routine, spokesman Glenn Zaccara said, adding: “Anything you may be hearing is speculation.’’
Airbus has already been exploring ways to lift sales of the A330neo, including a pitch to boost its maximum takeoff weight. Both Amazon and UPS are asking Airbus to consider stretching the A330-900 variant’s fuselage to carry more cargo while flying a shorter range, according to the people, who asked not to be named.
A freight variant would be a natural advancement of an aircraft that uses the same fuselage as its predecessor, the A330ceo. There is already a cargo version of the earlier model, though it garnered just 42 orders over more than a decade, all but four of which have been delivered.
Boeing, by contrast, has logged 196 orders for its 767-300 freighter, almost five times more than the Airbus A330-200F, and has 61 undelivered planes.
A freighter version of the A330neo, offering reduced fuel burn from its upgraded engines, would at least provide Airbus with a product that could benefit once the 767 eventually retires.
Boeing isn’t currently planning an upgrade of the plane, which ceased production as a passenger model in 2014, and the replacement 787 doesn’t come in a cargo version, though Randy Tinseth, the US company’s marketing chief, said that a number of options are in the pipeline for boosting sales of the larger 777 freighter. Goods volumes are now coming back strongly after a slump dating to the 2007 financial crash, he said.
Amazon Fleet
Amazon plans an initial fleet of 40 used 767 freighters for its Prime Air fleet, and has discussed ordering airplanes with Boeing in the past. The $1.5 billion air hub the company is plotting to build near Cincinnati suggests it will eventually have a far larger operation. Cargo carriers typically value cost and capacity over performance, said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant at Teal Group.
While Boeing’s freighter, at a list price of $212.2 million, is cheaper, brand-new cargo planes from both companies also face competition from inexpensive conversions of used passenger models. A wave of retired 767s and A330s provide “a lot of feedstock,’’ Aboulafia said.
Airbus even has its own conversion programme, holding a 30 percent stake in Dresden, Germany-based EFW.
The venture shipped its first A330-P2F—for “passenger to freighter†in 2017 to launch customer DHL Express.
