Airbus A330

The Airbus A330 is a wide-body commercial airliner with twin-engine, single-decker and two-aisle. In the following article, AloTrip will share with you the most useful information about Airbus A330 aircraft.

This aircraft version can fly from 5,000 to 13,430 km, accommodate up to 335 passengers or carry 70 tons of cargo. Since its inception, it has been calculated that an Airbus A330 takes off or lands every 24 seconds.

Development

In the mid-1970s, Airbus began developing the A300B9, a larger derivative of the A300, which would eventually become the A330.

Airbus intended to use the A330 to compete directly in the market that applies the ETOPS standard, especially the Boeing 767 airliner.

On 27 January, 1986, the Airbus Supervisory Board approved the development of the A330 and the A340 with potential customers.  Airbus received the first orders for the twin-jets on 12 March, 1987. Three months later, on 5 Jun 1987, with on-site funding, Airbus launched its A330 and A340 programs at the Paris Air Show.

In addition to receiving orders from airlines such as Air Inter, Thai Airways, Northwest Airlines, Airbus also signed subcontracts with companies in Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Greece, Italy, India, Japan, South Korea, Portugal, United States, and Yugoslavia. In 1989, Asian airline Cathay Pacific ordered 09 A330s and then increased the number to 11.

On 14 October, 1992, the first completed A330 aircraft was rolled out, with the maiden flight following on 2 November.

The Airbus A330 aircraft received a flight certificate from the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 21 October, 1993.

Operational history

Air Inter became the first operator of the A330 airliner. On January 17, 1994, the airline put the aircraft into service with flights from Orly Airport, Paris and Marseille.

In the second half of the year, Thai Airways received its first A330 aircraft and operated on the routes Bangkok to Taipei and Seoul. Cathay Pacific received the aircraft following the certification of that engine on December 22, 1994.

On February 1, 1995, MAS received the A330 and then returned ten other orders. The A330 became the first aircraft to receive approval of ETOPSTHER 240, provided by Airbus as an option in November 2009.

By the end of March 2008, a total of 921 A330s were ordered and 533 ones were delivered.

As of 2012, there were 830 A330s in operation with more than 90 operators, five million flight sales and 20 million flight hours.

Specifications

Airbus A330 specifications
	A330-200	A330-200F	A330-300
Cockpit crew	Two
Capacity	246 (36J @ 60 in + 210Y @ 32 in)	70.000 kg (154.324 lb)	300 (36J @ 60 in + 264Y @ 32 in)
Max seating	406		440
Length	58,82 m (192,98 ft)		63,67 m (208,89 ft)
Span	Wing: 60,3 m (197,83 ft), Main gear: 12,61 m (41,37 ft)
Wing	361,6 m 2 (3,892 sq ft), 25% chord wing sweep: 30 °, 10,06 Aspect ratio
Height	17,39 m / 57 ft	16,90 m / 55 ft 5 in	16,79 m / 55 ft
Fuselage	5,64 m (222 in) diameter, 5,26 m (207 in) cabin width
Seat width	0,46 m (18 in) in 8 abreast economy, 0,53 m (21 in) in 6 abreast business