Airbus are celebrating the success of its wide-bodied twin engine A330. Perhaps recently over shadowed by the launch of the double decker A380, the A330 could be described as Airbus’s real jewel in the crown.
During July ’08 alone the European manufacturer added 31 new orders for the A330 to its order-book, securing significant deals with Gulf Air for 20 A330-300s, Saudia for eight A330-200s and Tunis Air for three A330-200s.
In total the order book now stands at 1006 meaning the Airbus currently stands at the 4th most popular wide-bodied aircraft in commercial aviation history. It is now expected it will overtake the Boeing 767, the aircraft it was designed to compete with before the end of 2008.
And the future looks bright, as Airbus has secured tentative deals with carriers such as Air China, Alis Aerolinee Italiene and Emirates.
The A330 programme was launched 21 years ago with just a single version and a capacity for 295 passengers in a normal 3 class configuration and was designed to compete with the 767 and the less economical Lockheed L1011 TriStar and the Douglad DC10.
The first jet was delivered to Air Inter (subsequently absorbed by Air France) on Dec 30th 1993.
The introduction of the smaller A330-200 was introduced in 1995 and a freight version is expected to enter service in the second quarter of 2009.
According to official Airbus figures 555 A330s have been delivered, and 552 remain in service, which have completed more than 11 million hours of service.
Airbus also looks set to reach another significant milestone in the near future, approaching total sales of 10000 aircraft of all types.
It hopes to reach this mark before the summer of 2009.
A Pick of Airbus’ biggest A330 customers
A330-200
ILFC 65
Air China 40
AerCap 29
CIT Leasing 28
Emirates 28
US Airways 25
Airbus Executive & Private Jets 24
Hong Kong Airlines 20
A330-200F
Intrepid Aviation 20
Aircastle Advisor Ltd 15
Flyington Freighters 12
A330-300
Cathay Pacific 34
ILFC 30
Air Asia X 25
Northwest Airlines 21
Gulf Air 20
Thai Airways 20
Singapore Airlines 19
Most successful wide-bodied airliners
Rank 1 Boeing 747 orders 1523
Rank 2 Boeing 777 orders 1088
Rank 3 Boeing 767 orders 1011
Rank 4 Airbus A330 orders 1005
Rank 5 Boeing 787 orders 896
