Lufthansa Technik and Airbus will team up to offer customers a reversible Cargo-in-Cabin solution to satisfy urgent demand quickly and easily. The solution for the Airbus A330 family comprises the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) as well as material kits to modify the passenger aircraft for temporary cargo transport. Cargo capacity is thus increased by up to 15 tons of additional payload depending on aircraft configuration. Finnair is the first airline to modify an Airbus A330-300 to carry commercial, non-dangerous goods in the main pax deck.
Due to the slow air traffic recovery, belly capacity is still low and not likely to return until 2024 to pre-COVID level. Additionally, the exemptions granted by the authorities in the beginning of the pandemic to reuse passenger cabins to transport medical supplies has expired. Together with Airbus, Lufthansa Technik now responds with the “Temporary Cargo Cabin”, an STC which permits the modification of a passenger cabin into a cargo hold.
Finnair is the launch customer for the “Temporary Cargo Cabin”: The operator recently modified an Airbus A330 at its home base in Helsinki, and the approval process for the STC is underway. The simple embodiment can be carried out at any Part 145 provider worldwide.
