Aircraft Factfile and Recognition Guide - Airbus A330

Background

In the 1980s Airbus was developing 2 experimental models, the TA9 and TA11. TA11 became the A340 and TA9 the A330. Airbus announced in January 27, 1986 the development of the models TA9 and TA11. The TA9 would be a twin-aisle aircraft with 2 engines designed for medium or long-haul flights. It was one of the most ambitious projects of Airbus.

The Airbus A330 was using the same wing as the bigger A340-200/300. At first, Airbus considered using the new Fowler flaps at the wings, flaps that could simply decrease the drag force and simultaneously increase the lift force. Finally, Airbus turned down that thought because the company wanted the plane to be constructed easily and with no risks, despite the fact that these flaps had many advantages.

In addition, the wing also includes winglets that decrease the drag force. The wings were very effective and their design took place in Bristol, England.

There were 3 available engines for use with the A330, the General Electric GF6-80E1 (thrust 68,000 lb), the Pratt & Whitney PW4168 (thrust 68,000 lb) and the Rolls-Royce Trent 770 (thrust 71,000 lb). These engines make the A330 very effective and fast with maximum range 8,850 km while carrying 335 passengers. Later, Rolls-Royce provided the plane with the upgraded Trents 772 that gave the aircraft the ability to fly non-stop from the western coast of USA to Europe by having lower fuel consumption.

The first A330 made its maiden flight in October 1992. The results were better than the expected! The plane had lower fuel consumption than the expected, drag force was very low and the behavior of the aircraft was excellent. That gave confidence to Airbus and the orders started coming. Besides, A330 was expected to have more sales than the larger A340, as there was great need in aircrafts of that size.

Airbus initially created a single version of A330, the A330-300 which had the same fuselage length with the A340-300. Later, Airbus developed the smaller A330-200. Its fuselage length was smaller. It also had enlarged horizontal stabilizers and vertical tail while sharing the same wing, flight deck and other parts of the aircrafts.

There are two main variants of the A330. The A330-300 was launched in 1987 with introduction into service in 1993. The A330-200 was launched in 1995, introduced in 1998 with passenger, freighter and tanker (Airbus A330 MRTT) variants available.

Airbus A330-200

The A330-200 was developed to compete with the Boeing 767-300ER. The A330-200 is similar to the A340-200 and a shortened version of the A330-300. With poor sales of the A340-200 (of which only 28 were built), Airbus decided to use the fuselage of the A340-200 with the wings and engines of the A330-300. This significantly improved the economics of the plane and made the model more popular than the four-engined variant. Its vertical fin is taller than that of the A330-300 to restore its effectiveness due to the shorter moment arm of the shorter fuselage. It has additional fuel capacity and, like the A330-300, has a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of 233 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 gas turbine engines. First customer deliveries, to ILFC/Canada 3000, were in April 1998.

In May 2009, Airbus released plans for a higher gross weight version of the A330-200 to more effectively compete against the Boeing 787-8. This new version will have a 238 t MTOW and its new range will be up to 7,200 nmi (13,300 km). Airbus believes the first 20 787-8s will have a 219.5 t MTOW and be limited to a 6,720 nmi (12,450 km) range, around 1,000 nmi (1,900 km) less than the figures published by Boeing. Korean Air became the first customer on 27 February 2009, ordering six with deliveries starting in 2010.

The A330-200F is a mid-size, long-haul all-cargo aircraft capable of carrying 64 tonnes over 4,000 NM / 7,400 km, or 69 tonnes up to 3,200 NM / 5,930 km. It introduces a new versatile main-deck cargo loading system that will be able to accommodate both pallets and containers. Several different arrangements will be possible on the main deck, taking up to 23 Side-by-Side (SBS) pallets, aimed at the high volume, high value commodities or Single Row (SR) loading of 16 pallets (96 in X 96 in X 125 in SR pallets) and/or nine AMA containers aimed at the general cargo higher density markets. To overcome the standard A330's nose-down body angle on the ground, the A330F will use a revised nose landing gear layout. The same leg will be used, however its attachment points will be lower in the fuselage, requiring a distinctive blister fairing on the nose to accommodate the retracted nose-gear. This provides a level deck for cargo loading. Power is provided by two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines.

The Multi-Role Transport and Tanker version (MRTT) of the A330-200 provides aerial refueling and strategic transport. To date it has been ordered by Australia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the UK.  A version was also produced for the United States Air Force's KC-135 replacement program.  Known as the Northrop Grumman KC-45, it would have also been based off of the A330-200 and provide the USAF with a significantly larger tanker than the KC-767.  NG won the initial contract, but Boeing disputed, and the state of the KC-45 is in limbo.

Airbus A330-300

The A330-300, which entered service in 1993, was developed as replacement for the A300. It is based on a stretched A300-600 fuselage but with new wings, stabilisers and fly-by-wire systems. The A330-300 carries 295 passengers in a three-class cabin layout (335 in 2 class and 440 in single class layout) over a range of 10,500 km (5,650 nautical miles). It has a large cargo capacity, comparable to early Boeing 747s. It is powered by two General Electric CF6-80E, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, all of which are ETOPS-180 min rated. French domestic airline Air Inter was the launch customer for the aircraft.

Specifications

Sources: Aircraft Photos.net A330 Factfile, Aerospaceweb.org A330 Factfile, Wikipedia A330

© 2004-2010 Steven Holzinger