Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI) Aviation Group has signed an agreement with Etihad Engineering to establish a passenger-to-freighter conversion site for Boeing 777-3000ER aircraft. The new conversion center, which will operate as the company’s maintenance center in Abu Dhabi, will supply a solution for the global rise in demand for cargo jets of this model. The conversion center in Abu Dhabi is an addition to other global cargo conversion sites that IAI operates, besides its existing conversion lines at the company’s campus at Ben Gurion International Airport.
Etihad Engineering is one of the largest commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services provider in the Middle East, and the center in Abu Dhabi will be certified by the UAE Civil Aviation Authority, the U.S.’s Federal Aviation Administration, and the European Aviation Safety Agency. At the conversion center, passenger planes will be converted to cargo configuration, and maintenance, renovation and overhaul services will be supplied.