Airbus A330/A330-200/A330-200F/A330-300
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner from the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 quadjet and launched both designs with their first orders in June 1987. The A330-300, the first variant, took its maiden flight in November 1992 and entered service with Air Inter in January 1994. The slightly shorter A330-200 variant followed in 1998.
Delta Air Lines is currently the largest operator with 69 airplanes in its fleet. As of January 2024, A330 orders stood at 1,771 of which 1,593 had been delivered and 1,471 were in service with 145 operators. The global A330 fleet had accumulated more than 60 million flight hours since its entry into service. The A330 is the second most delivered wide-body airliner after the Boeing 777. It competes with the Boeing 767, smaller variants of the Boeing 777, and the Boeing 787. It is complemented by the larger Airbus A350, which succeeded the four-engined A340.
Engines
From the beginning of the TA9’s development, a choice of engines from the three major engine manufacturers, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and GE Aviation, was planned. GE Aviation first offered the CF6-80C2. However, later studies indicated that more thrust was needed to increase the initial power capability from 267 to 289 kN (60,000 to 65,000 lbf). GE enlarged the CF6-80C2 fan from 236 to 244 centimetres (92.9 to 96.1 in) and reduced the number of fan blades from 38 to 34 to create the CF6-80E1 with a thrust of 300–320 kN (67,000–72,000 lbf).
Rolls-Royce initially wanted to use the 267 kN (60,000 lbf) Trent 600 to power Airbus’s newest twinjet and the upcoming McDonnell Douglas MD-11. However, the company later agreed to develop an engine solely for the A330, the Trent 700, with a larger diameter and 311 kN (69,900 lbf) of thrust. The A330 became the first Airbus aircraft for which Rolls-Royce supplied engines.
Similarly, Pratt & Whitney signed an agreement that covered the development of the A330-exclusive PW4168. The company increased the fan size from 94 in (2.39 m) to 100 in (2.54 m), enabling the engine to deliver 311 kN (69,900 lbf) of thrust. Like the CF6-80E1, 34 blades were used instead of the 38 found on the smaller PW4000 engines.
Assembly: Toulouse (Europe)
First flight: 2 November 1992
Years of production: 1992—
Production: 1,593 (all modifications)
Length: 58.82 m (192.98 ft)
Wingspan: 60.3 m (197 ft 10 in)
Height: 16.79 m (55 ft)
Crew: 2
Capacity: 300-406 passengers
Engine: 2× General Electric GE CF6
Max speed: 913 km/h (493 kn; 570 mph)
Range: 13,450 km (7,260 nmi; 8,360 mi)
Ceiling: 12,527 m (41,100 ft)
Empty weight: 119,600 kg (263,673 lb)
Price: US$238.5M (A330-200) and US$264.2M (A330-300)
