All About Airbus A330

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The Airbus A330 is a large-capacity, wide-body, medium-to-long-range commercial passenger airliner manufactured by Airbus. It was developed at the same time as the four-engined A340.

Airbus intended the A330 to compete directly in the ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operation Performance Standards) market, specifically with the Boeing 767.

The A330's fuselage and wings are virtually identical to the A340's, although it has different engines. The A330 basic fuselage design is inherited from the Airbus A300, as is the nose/cockpit section and the fly-by-wire system and flightdeck from the A320.

By the end of May 2006 a total of 574 A330 had been ordered and 413 delivered.

There are two variants of the A330: the long fuselage A330-300 measures 63.6 m (208 ft 1 in) in length and can fly up to 10,500 km (5,650 nautical miles). The short fuselage A330-200 measures 59.0 m (193 ft 7 in) in length with an operating range of 12,500 km (6,750 nautical miles).

The A330-200 was developed in part to replace the A300-600R and to compete with the Boeing 767-300ER.The A330-200 is a shortened version of the original -300.

Its vertical fin is taller than that of the -300 to restore its effectivness due to the fuselage shrink. It has additional fuel capacity and has an MTOW of 275 tonnes. Typical range with 253 passengers in a three-class configuration is 12,500 km (6,750 nautical miles).

Power is provided by two General Electric CF6-80E, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. All engines are ETOPS-180 min rated. First customer deliveries, to ILFC/Canada 3000, were in April 1998.

The A330-200 has sold strongly since its launch, outselling the Boeing 767 by 23 to 9 in 2004. As a result, Boeing has asked both Rolls Royce and GE to design engines that enable the 787 Dreamliner to be 15% more economical than the A330-200.

The direct Boeing equivalents are the 767-400ER and 787-9. The A330-200 is being replaced in the Airbus lineup by the A350-800 XWB.

Operators of the A330-200 include Aer Lingus, Air Algerie, Aircalin, Air Caraibes, Air China, Air France (and KLM), Air Transat, Austrian Airlines, BMI, China Eastern, China Southern,Cyprus Airways, EgyptAir, Emirates, Etihad, EVA Air, Gulf Air, Korean Air, Livingston, LTU, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, MEA Middle East Airlines, Monarch Airlines, MyTravel Airways, Northwest Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, SriLankan Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, TAM Linhas Aéreas, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines , Yemenia.

Due to flagging A300-600F and A310F sales, Airbus is to begin offering a freighter dervative, dubbed the A330-200F.[1]

The A330-300 was developed as replacement for the A300. It is based on a stretched A300-600 fuselage but with new wings, stabilisers and new fly-by-wire software.

The A330-300 carries 295 passengers in a three-class cabin layout (335 in 2 class and 440 in single class) over a range of 10,500 km (5,650 nautical miles). It has a large cargo capacity, comparable to a Boeing 747. Some airlines run overnight cargo-only flights after daytime passenger services.

It is powered by two General Electric CF6-80E, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. All engines are ETOPS-180 min rated. It entered service in 1993.

The direct Boeing equivalent is the 777-200. The A330-300 is being replaced in the Airbus lineup by the A350-900 XWB.

The Multi Role Tanker Transport version of the A330-200 provides aerial refueling and strategic transport. In January 2004 the UK Ministry of Defence announced that the A330 MRTT had been selected to provide air-refueling for the RAF for the next 30 years under the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft programme. In this and the Australian contest, announced April 16, 2004, the A330 beat competition from the Boeing 767 AAR derivative. The Royal Australian Air Force has placed an order for 5 A330 MRTT aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of 707s.

The A330 MRTT is also in the running to land a contract from the United States Air Force for perhaps up to 200 tankers to replace aging KC-135 and KC-10 aircraft. EADS is teamed with Northrop Grumman for the bid. If the contract is won, it will require EADS to invest approximately US$600 million in an assembly plant in the United States. Boeing 767 derived tankers (Boeing KC-767) were originally selected by the USAF. However in December 2003 the US Defense Department announced the project was to be frozen while allegations of corruption by one if its former procurement staffers, Darleen Druyun (who had moved to Boeing in January) was investigated. The fallout of this resulted in the resignation of Boeing CEO Philip M. Condit and the termination of CFO Michael M. Sears.

In early 2006 the United States Congress passed a defence bill which reverses an earlier amendment which barred Airbus from bidding for the contract.[2]

(As of 2005)

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