Conversion to freighter: HAECO Xiamen unveils its first Airbus A321PCF

HAECO Xiamen completed the conversion of the first Airbus A321PCF to undergo the process at its facility.

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The aircraft, with the manufacturer’s serial number (MSN) 2303, is 18 years old. It was delivered to its first operator, Vietnam Airlines, in October 2004. Almost ten years later it passed into the hands of Cambodia Angkor Air and in November 2016 it returned to the fleet of Vietnam’s largest airline. It was then acquired by aircraft leasing company Magnetic Leasing and operated for SmartLynx Malta.

Focus on Airbus A321 conversion lines

HAECO Xiamen worked together with its partner 321 Precision Conversions, a joint venture between Aircraft Transport Services Group (ATSG) and Precision Aircraft Solutions (PAS) which developed a solution that excels in payload capacity and has already obtained the supplemental type certificate (STC).

«We have had a good cooperative relationship with Precision in the past twelve years, and we are delighted to extend this collaboration to the A321PCF conversion», said Kevin Guan, CEO of HAECO Xiamen. The two companies have been working together since 2010, when they carried out the conversion of a Boeing 757-200PCF.

Guan said the company «is busy preparing to convert one Boeing 757-200PCF conversion line to Airbus A321PCF», a work that would be completed by mid-2023. «We expect to introduce several Airbus A321 conversion lines here by then», he added.

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So far, HAECO Xiamen has performed more than seventy freighter conversions of Boeing 747-400, 737-300, 737-400, 737-800, 757-200 and Airbus A321 aircraft.

See also: HAECO Xiamen to build the largest hangar in the world