Airbus A330 Wide-Bodied Medium/Long-Range Twin-Engine Airliner, Europe

The A330 is the original wide-bodied medium- and long-range twin engine airliner of the Airbus A330/340 family of aircraft. The A330 twin engine and A340 four engine airliner were developed at the same time.

The A330 and A340 were the first airliners to be designed entirely by Computer Aided Design (CAD). The aircraft first flew in 1992 and entered service in 1993.

The A330-300 first entered service in 1994 and was designed for flights up to 13,500km, and typically carries 335 passengers. In 1998 the A330-200 entered service with a range of 12,300km and seats 253 passengers in three classes.

A330 orders and deliveries

Orders are: 551 for the A330-200 with 316 delivered and 378 for the A330-300 with 246 delivered.

A330 versions are currently in service with: Air Afrique, Air Algérie, Air Canada, Air Caledonie International, Air Caraibes, Air China, Air Lanka, Aer Lingus, Air France, Air Transat, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, British Midland, Canada 3000, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, CIT Aerospace, Cyprus Airways, Dragonair, Egyptair, Emirates, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, Garuda Indonesia, GECAS, Gulf Air, Intl Lease Finance Corp, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), SriLankan Airlines, Swissair, TAM, Thai Airways and US Airways.

Recent orders include ten for Jet Airways and five for Kingfisher Airliners placed in June 2005, 20 for Air China ordered in July 2005, ten for China Southern Airlines ordered in September 2005, two for Aer Lingus ordered in March 2006, three for Afriqyah Airways, 12 for Grupo Marsans ordered in July 2006, five for Lufthansa ordered in October 2006, six for TAM ordered in November 2006 and 20 for AerCap ordered in December 2006. Gulf Air ordered 20 A330-300 in May 2008.

In January 2007, Airbus launched the A330-200F medium- to long-range freighter. The freighter is to have a payload of 64t and range of 7,400km. Orders for 74 freighters have been received, including Flyington Freighters of India (six), the launch customer and Guggenheim Aviation (six). Commitments to order have come from Intrepid Leasing (20), Avion Aircraft (six), and MNG Airlines (two plus one). The A330-200F is planned to enter service in the second half of 2009.

Airbus Industrie is a consortium formed by EADS and BAE Systems. EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, was formed by a merger of Aerospatiale-Matra of France, Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace of Germany and CASA of Spain (former members of Airbus). In October 2006, BAE Systems completed the sale of its shareholding to EADS, which is now the sole owner of Airbus.

In January 2004, the UK government announced the selection of a multi-role tanker transport based on the A330-200 as its Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA). The aircraft was proposed by the Air Tanker team, led by EADS. FSTA is scheduled to enter service in 2008.

Australia ordered five A330-200 MRTT in December 2004 and the aircraft was also selected by the United Arab Emirates in February 2007, with a requirement for three aircraft.

A version of the A330-200 tanker, the KC-30, was chosen by the US Air Force in February 2008 for its tanker aircraft replacement programme to replace the KC-135. Northrop Grumman, teamed with EADS North America, proposed the aircraft, to be designated the KC-45.

Flight deck

The same two-crew flight deck is installed in the A330 and A340 and is very similar to the flight deck of the A320.

The high level of operational commonality in the Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft gives enormous logistical benefit and cost saving. A pilot can transfer from a 107-seat A318 to the A330 aircraft and to the 380-seat A340-600 or vice-versa with only a minor amount of additional training.

The pilot and co-pilot have sidestick controllers and rudder pedals. There are six main displays in the cockpit, with a duplicated set, one for each pilot, of primary flight displays and navigation displays. The electronic flight instrumentation system (EFIS) includes the flight and navigation displays and the electronic centralised aircraft monitors (ECAM).

Avionics

The aircraft's fly-by-wire system is configured around three primary and two secondary flight control computers (FCPC and FCSC), which all operate continuously. The flight management and guidance and envelope computers control the aircraft at every phase of the aircraft's flight. The system has the same flight envelope limit protection as the A320, (stall and excess speed protection and protection against manoeuvres exceeding the aerodynamic and structural limits of the aircraft) but maintains the protection for a longer period of time than that of the A320.

Airbus has developed the Future Air Navigation System, (FANS-A) which integrates a Smith's digital control and display system and a Honeywell flight management system. The FANS-A system is fitted on new build A330 and A340 aircraft and can be retrofitted on existing A330/340 aircraft.

Engines

The aircraft is powered by two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons. The airline can specify the 300kN General Electric CF6-80E1, the Pratt and Whitney PW 4168A or the Rolls Royce Trent 772B engines.

Fuselage

The wide fuselage of the A330 and 340 family is 5.64m in diameter, which allows a comfortably roomy cabin width of 5.28m. The A330 and 340 family features a six abreast seating arrangement in First and Business Class, so each passenger has an aisle or window seat. Economy class passengers are generally seated in an eight abreast layout with no passenger being more than one seat away from an aisle.

The front and rear cargo doors are of sufficient width and height to accept standard pallets (2.24m x 3.17m) or LD3 containers. The underfloor cargo hold can accommodate up to 32 LD3 standard containers or eleven pallets. A bulk cargo hold of capacity 19.7m³ is situated just aft of the main rear cargo hold.

Some airlines have flown regional overnight freight-only services with the A330 aircraft after a full day's passenger service, showing that the aircraft is able to operate profitable cargo flights even without a single passenger.

A330-500 product development study

CIT Aerospace, an operating unit of the CIT Group financial services corporation based in USA, has ordered 35 Airbus single-aisle aircraft and 15 Airbus A330 including the planned A330-500 aircraft. The A330-500 product development study aircraft will have a capacity for 200 to 275 seats, higher payload and range as well as a high level of commonality with the smaller A320 family and the larger A330/A340 family.