RCAF Buys Two Used A330-200s For Tanker Conversion

The RCAF is buying two used A330-200 widebody passenger aircraft for conversion tankers and executive transport aircraft. The Air Force announced Thursday it was buying the two former airliners from International AirFinance Corporation for $102 million. The planes were built in 2015. Airbus will do the conversion. Its new-build A330 MRTT tanker is based on the same platform and costs about $150 million. The cost for Airbus to do the conversion on existing airliners was not included in the government announcement.
The A330s will replace part of the fleet of four Polaris tanker/passenger aircraft which are based on the original A300 platform and are among the last airworthy examples of the type. The aircraft “will play an integral role in providing air-to-air refuelling, strategic airlift, aeromedical evacuations, and strategic Government of Canada personnel transport, including transport of the Prime Minister, Governor General, and others, for decades to come,” the announcement said. Last year, the government spent $14 million to repair the Polaris used to carry government officials after a hangar accident at CFB Trenton.