EASA awards type certification to Airbus’ A330-900 aircraft

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has awarded type certification to Airbus’ A330-900 family of aircraft.

The certification was granted after a successful flight test campaign that saw around 1,400 flight test hours within a period of less than a year since the first flight on 19 October 2017.

Two A330-900 flight test aircraft were used in the campaign.

Airbus Commercial Aircraft president Guillaume Faury said: “The A330neo embodies Airbus’ spirit of innovation.

“This new generation aircraft with unparalleled efficiency and flexibility from short to long haul routes has tremendous market potential.

“We look forward to delivering the first aircraft equipped with the beautiful new Airspace cabin to our launch customer TAP Air Portugal in the coming weeks.”

The A330-900 is part of Airbus’ A330neo family of next-generation aircraft and the larger version of the A330-800 planes, which is scheduled to make its first flight in the coming weeks.

Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, A330-900 is said to have the lowest seat-mile cost in the 300-seater range.

The aircraft family is also equipped with new 3D-optimised wing and new sharklets developed using lighter composite materials.

These innovations are expected to reduce fuel consumption of A330-900 by 25% compared with older generation aircraft of similar size.

In addition, the A330-900 aircraft feature Airspace by Airbus cabin with newly designed sidewalls and fixtures, larger overhead storage, advanced cabin mood lighting as well as new in-flight entertainment and connectivity to offer improved level of comfort to passengers.

Operationally, the A330neo family has similar pilot type-rating with the larger A350 XWB family, which is designed to offer minimum flight training cost and maximum pilot productivity.

Airbus has received more than 1,700 orders from 120 customers for its A330 family of aircraft.