IAI Flies Its First Airbus Freighter Conversion, an A330-300 for the Cargo Market

On September 4, 2026, Israel Aerospace Industries flew a converted Airbus A330-300 freighter for the first time, a roughly 75-minute flight from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. The flight opens the certification campaign for the aircraft, which IAI calls the A330-300 Bedek Special Freighter.

IAI’s first Airbus conversion

For decades IAI’s Bedek division has converted only Boeing airframes, turning used 737s, 767s and 777s into freighters, tankers and head-of-state transports. The A330-300 program, launched in 2024, is the first time the company has cut a cargo door into an Airbus jet, and IAI says it did so with the manufacturer’s approval.

The prototype is a 12-year-old aircraft that flew passengers for Air Europa before arriving at IAI’s Tel Aviv site in September 2024. Converting it meant installing a large main-deck cargo door, reinforcing the floor, reworking parts of the fuselage and cargo systems, and stripping out the passenger cabin.

IAI is targeting supplemental type certificates from Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency by the end of 2026, according to reporting by FlightGlobal. The converted aircraft can carry up to about 67 US tons (61 tonnes) of freight and 30 main-deck containers.

IAI chief executive Guy Bar Lev said the flight “reflects the continued investment” of the company in aviation technology while “strengthening our position in the global air cargo market.” Yaakov Berkovitz, an executive vice president at IAI, said the program gives cargo operators “advanced and competitive capabilities,” in comments reported by The Jerusalem Post.

Why airlines convert old jets instead of buying freighters

A new-build widebody freighter costs upward of $250 million. A passenger jet pulled from an airline fleet at around 20 years old, plus the conversion work, runs to a fraction of that, often tens of millions of dollars all in, according to figures IAI gave Israeli media. That gap is what keeps the conversion business alive.

The supply of donor aircraft is growing. Airlines are retiring early A330-300s as newer, more efficient widebodies arrive, and those airframes have years of structural life left for cargo work, which is easier on an airframe than passenger flying.

IAI is not alone in chasing them. Elbe Flugzeugwerke, a joint venture between Airbus and ST Engineering, already sells an A330-300 passenger-to-freighter conversion, and Airbus still builds the purpose-designed A330-200F new. IAI is entering a segment Airbus and its partner have largely had to themselves. The lessor Avolon is IAI’s launch customer, with an order for 30 A330-300 conversions and slots booked through 2028.

If IAI holds that schedule, the first Avolon aircraft could enter service in 2027, adding to a global freighter fleet that operators have struggled to grow fast enough to match demand from air cargo and e-commerce.