The Airbus A330-900 has received type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), clearing it for first delivery to launch customer TAP Air Portugal, the European airframer announced Wednesday. TAP’s first aircraft served as a demonstrator for route proving, during which it visited 12 countries. Including the two A330-900 flight-test aircraft, the certification campaign logged some 1,400 hours in the air since first flight on October 19, 2017.
Carrying an Airspace by Airbus cabin and powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, the A330neo family consists of the A330-900 and the smaller A330-800, scheduled to make its first flight in “the coming weeks.”
Airbus launched the A330-900 and -800 simultaneously in July 2014. The company stresses the negligible extra cost of developing the smaller -800 due to the fact that the variants share 99 percent commonality. Fuel efficiency benefits come from a switch from the A330’s Rolls-Royce Trent 700 to the new Trent 7000, the addition of sharklet wingtip devices and the use of composite nacelles. Primarily as a result of those changes, both the A330-900neo and its smaller sibling, the A330-800neo (based on the A330-200), deliver a claimed fuel-burn improvement of some 25 percent over older generation aircraft of a similar size. While the fuselages remain unchanged, Airbus specifications show 10 more passenger seats, giving the -900neo a three-class capacity of 287 and the -800neo a capacity of 257.
To improve the A330neo’s attractiveness and accommodate demands from several unidentified customers, Airbus offers the aircraft with an increased maximum takeoff weight of 251 metric tons, up from 242 metric tons, enabling what it calls “true long-haul widebody operations.” The A330-800, at 251 metric tons, can fly up to 8,150 nm with full passenger load in a three-class configuration, while the A330-900 flies as far as 7,200 nm fully loaded, or another 650 nm compared to the respective standard A330neo variants. Airbus offers the higher mtow A330neo as an option and expects EIS in 2020.
Firm orders for the A330-900 now stand at 224, while the A330-800 lost its sole remaining customer in May, when Hawaiian Airlines canceled its order for six airplanes. TAP Air Portugal has ordered 10 of the -900 jetliners and plans to operate a similar number on lease. AirAsia X by far ranks as the largest customer, having placed an order for 66 A330-900s