TAP Air Portugal has converted an Airbus A321 for freighter operations, joining its existing fleet of 3 Airbus A330 aircraft also specially adapted for cargo transportation. In total, TAP Air Cargo’s dedicated fleet of 4 freighters has 700 cubic metres worth of capacity.
The Airbus A321 Preighter, as the carrier is calling it, is registered CS-TJE – a 20 year old airframe which hasn’t flown scheduled services for months. The plane, which hasn’t carried paying passengers at all this year, is therefore a perfect fit for cargo conversion, especially considering the current demand for vaccine transportation and more.
Miguel de Paiva Gomes, TAP Air Portugal’s Global Chief Cargo Officer, said the plane is “perfect for valuable time-critical cargoes like pharma/vaccines, perishables, as well as e-commerce parcels.” Gomes continued: “The right fit for our customer needs on the short-medium haul corridors within Europe, the Atlantic islands, and Africa (north/west).”
The plane has space for nearly 100 cubic metres of freight and 20 tonnes worth of payload. This compares to the Airbus A330-200s currently being used for freighter operations which have approximately 200 cubic metres of capacity each.
Worth noting that all of TAP Air Cargo’s dedicated freighter fleet are light conversions; seat removals have taken place to make room for cargo. It is therefore easy to return the seats back to the aircraft which is likely to happen once passenger demand returns to somewhat normal levels.
