Lufthansa Technik develops STCs for Pax-to-Cargo quick conversions
Romain Guillot
 le 23/04/2020 , Maintenance aéronautique
This is a subject that occupies many DOAs around the world today. Lufthansa Technik has just announced that it is working hard to obtain Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) to quickly convert passenger aircraft into auxiliary freighters.
The Lufthansa group's MRO specifies that it is not only a question of responding to the high demand for medical supplies linked to the coronavirus pandemic, but also of overcoming the difficulties of transporting commercial goods that have arisen with the immobilization of a very large part of the passenger wide-body fleet, their hold normally providing a large part of the global air cargo transport.
Lufthansa Technik did not have to look for an example very far, having just modified four of the fifteen Airbus A330-300s operated by Lufthansa (photo) so that they could temporarily support the large fleet of Lufthansa Cargo.
The MRO company specifies that this type of conversion is mainly due to a comprehensive technical documentation, the aircraft having been modified in less than 36 hours. The four A330s have obtained a specific approval from the German Federal Office for Civil Aviation (exemption Engineering Orders for specific tailsigns).
Lufthansa Technik now wishes to land new STCs for all common aircraft types in order to offer them to airlines around the world.
We are working to have the complete technical documentation and certification available within a short time so that our airline customers can use the STC. The conversion itself should then be possible within a few days," explains Henning Jochmann, Senior Director Aircraft Modification Base Maintenance at Lufthansa Technik.
The German maintenance company adds that it is also developing solutions to protect interior installations (monuments, etc.) as well as to secure cargo in the cabin quickly and easily.
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