30 August 2021 | Stratos has today announced the delivery of an A330-300 converted freighter to GEODIS (France) on a long-term operating lease. The aircraft, 2006 vintage MSN713 was returned from Air Asia X through an early termination agreement in mid-2020 and converted to a full freighter. Stratos identified an early opportunity to repurpose the aircraft into a freighter at the onset of the Covid19 crisis, subsequently leasing the freighter to logistics giant GEODIS to enhance their own dedicated air network. GEODIS has contracted Titan Airways (UK) to provide CMI services to operate the aircraft to Asia, Europe and the US.

Commenting on the delivery, Gary Fitzgerald, CEO of Stratos said “We are extremely pleased to have completed the complex task of converting this under-appreciated passenger aircraft into a 63-tonne freighter; we weathered Covid-related delays and many technical setbacks on this delivery. We are now delighted that GEODIS can start operating this freighter on their dedicated routes. We had an incredible team to support us, so I want to give a huge thanks to the large number of suppliers and parties involved in making this a successful transition”. 

Eric Martin-Neuville, Executive VP at Geodis Freight Forwarding Head Office, mentioned “this new delivery represents a new step in the development of our own Airfreight Network and will enable us to provide additional capacity to our customers in a market which remains very tense. We are very grateful to the Stratos team who made this delivery possible in difficult conditions. An incredible effort from the combined Stratos, Titan and Geodis teams!’’.

Alastair Willson, Managing Director of Titan Airways said “We are proud to have been selected to operate this A330-300P2F on behalf of Geodis, which will join two other EFW converted Airbus freighters in our fleet”

Stratos will provide replacement green time Trent700s as required during the lease term. 

EFW (Dresden, Germany) performed the freighter conversion and heavy maintenance, Lufthansa Technik provided CAMO and flight services, Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance (UK) provided a replacement engine, Dale Aviation (France) performed maintenance and engineering services, Civil Aviation Services (Ireland) supported GEODIS on all technical-related aspects. The owners are a series of SME’s invested through a Japan domiciled fund managed by JP Lease. For legal support, K&L Gates (Tokyo) acted for lessor, Norton Rose (London) acted for lessee.