SAN DIEGO and GUANGZHOU, February 10, 2016 — The PACAVI Group and GAMECO (Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, Co., Ltd.) report that both companies are on track being first to market with their joint Airbus A320/A321 Passenger-to-Freighter conversion in 2017.

PACAVI Group CEO Dr. Stephan Hollmann commented on the program’s progress: “Our recent completion of the PDR (Preliminary Design Review) marks an important milestone as we are moving forward on schedule with our STC development operation.”

“We will commence the first industrial conversion of an A320 Freighter LITE at our Guangzhou facility in China, to be converted simultaneously with the prototype in Hahn, Germany,” explained GAMECO’s General Manager Norbert Marx. He also announced the appointment of Frank O. Eichelbaum, a former Airbus and MTU executive, as GAMECO’s coordinator for the joint conversion project with PACAVI.

GAMECO will also convert PACAVI’s A321 Freighter LITE prototype in Guangzhou, while conversion of the prototype A320 Freighter LITE, started in January 2015, is progressing on schedule at the HAITEC facility in Frankfurt/Hahn (Germany).

During their joint presentation at the 12th China Air Cargo Summit in Shanghai, the chief executives of both companies laid out their vision to be the dominant provider of Airbus narrow body freighter solutions in China and beyond.

“We are going to advance the industry’s traditional approach with a groundbreaking one stop shop-concept, offering tailored turnkey packages of airframe sourcing, purchase, customized conversion, and leasing or sale to airline customers of all tiers, worldwide,” says Hollmann.