Industry Launch Operator A330Neo completes maiden flight

  • Airbus

The first A330Neo for the type’s launch operator TAP Air Portugal has completed its maiden flight.

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Seven months after the maiden flight of the new Airbus A330Neo in October 2017, the first branded A330Neo has completed its 4:32 hours maiden flight. The aircraft with the manufacturer number MSN1819 will now join the fleet of two A330-900 test aircraft.

MSN1819 is the first aircraft fitted with the Airspace cabin by Airbus. It is equipped with light Flight Test Instrumentation during its test phase to check cabin systems such as air conditioning and crew rest. The delivery of the A330-900 is scheduled for summer 2018.

As a reaction to Boeing’s B787 and the demand for higher fuel efficiency, Airbus has launched the Neo project for its A330 long-haul aircraft in 2014. The new generation aircraft will have larger Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, improved sharklets and a higher maximum take-off weight. According to Airbus, the A330-900Neo should offer a 14% fuel burn reduction per seat compared to the former A330-300 generation. Similar to the current A330 generation, Airbus offers two different variants of its twin-engine long-haul aircraft: The A330-800 with a maximum seating capacity for 406 passengers and the A330-900 with a maximum capacity for 440 seats.

Launch customer TAP Air Portugal has ordered 21 A330-900Neo and has chosen a seating configuration with 34 seats in business and 264 seats in economy class. Compared to its current A330-300 fleet, the new generation jet will have four additional seats in business and nine additional seats in economy class. TAP Air Portugal will replace older A340-300 and A330 with the new jets.

Airbus has received orders for 214 Airbus A330-900. As Hawaiian Airlines has cancelled its order for the -800 type, no customer has ordered the smaller variant. With 66 ordered aircraft, Asia’s long-haul low cost carrier AirAsia X is the largest customer for the new jet.

Source © Airbus.com

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