A330 Flight Sim

[Nicol Allphin]

The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid-1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along 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 with Canada 3000 as the launch operator.

Delta Air Lines is the largest operator with 69 airplanes in its fleet as of June 2024[update]. A total of 1,798 orders have been placed for the A330 family, of which 1,604 have been delivered and 1,467 are in service with 148 operators. The global A330 fleet had accumulated more than 65 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 787. It is complemented by the larger Airbus A350, which succeeded the four-engined A340.

Airbus's first airliner, the A300, was envisioned as part of a diverse family of commercial aircraft. Pursuing this goal, studies began in the early 1970s into derivatives of the A300.[2][3] Before introducing the A300, Airbus identified nine possible variations designated B1 through B9.[4] A tenth variant, the A300B10, was conceived in 1973 and developed into the longer-range Airbus A310.[5] Airbus then focused its efforts on single-aisle (SA) studies, conceiving a family of airliners later known as the Airbus A320 family, the first commercial aircraft with digital fly-by-wire controls. During these studies Airbus turned its focus back to the wide-body aircraft market, simultaneously working on both projects.[5]

In the mid-1970s, Airbus began development of the A300B9, a larger derivative of the A300, which would eventually become the A330. The B9 was essentially a lengthened A300 with the same wing, coupled with the most powerful turbofan engines available. It was targeted at the growing demand for high-capacity, medium-range, transcontinental trunk routes.[6] Offering the same range and payload as the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 but with 25 per cent better fuel efficiency,[6] the B9 was seen as a viable replacement for the DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar trijets.[7] It was also considered as a medium-ranged successor to the A300.[8]

At the same time, a 200-seat four-engine version, the B11 (which would eventually become the A340) was also under development.[9] The B11 was originally planned to take the place of narrow-body Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s then in commercial use, but would later evolve to target the long-range, wide-body trijet replacement market.[8] To differentiate from the SA series, the B9 and B11 were re-designated as the TA9 and TA11, with TA standing for "twin aisle".[9] Development costs were reduced by the two aircraft using the same fuselage and wing, with projected savings of US$500 million. Another factor was the split preference of those within Airbus and, more importantly, those of prospective customers; twinjets were favoured in North America, quad-jets desired in Asia, and operators had mixed views in Europe.[6] Airbus ultimately found that most potential customers favoured four engines for their exemption from existing twinjet range restrictions and their ability to be ferried with one inactive engine.[10] As a result, development plans prioritised the four-engined TA11 ahead of the TA9.[10]

Airbus briefly considered the variable camber wing, a concept that requires changing the wing profile for a given phase of flight. Studies were carried out by British Aerospace (BAe), now part of BAE Systems, at Hatfield and Bristol. Airbus estimated this would yield a two per cent improvement in aerodynamic efficiency,[15] but the feature was rejected because of cost and difficulty of development.[9] A true laminar flow wing (a low-drag shape that improves fuel efficiency) was also considered but rejected.[16]

With necessary funding available, the Airbus Supervisory Board approved the development of the A330 and A340 with potential customers on 27 January 1986.[17] Its chairman Franz Josef Strauss stated afterwards that

Airbus Industrie is now in a position to finalise the detailed technical definition of the TA9, now officially designated as the A330, and the TA11, now called the A340, with potential launch customer airlines, and to discuss with them the terms and conditions for launch commitments.

The designations were originally reversed and were switched so the quad-jet airliner would have a "4" in its name. Airbus hoped for five airlines to sign for both the A330 and A340, and on 12 May sent sale proposals to the most likely candidates, including Lufthansa and Swissair.[13]

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.[21] The A330 became the first Airbus aircraft for which Rolls-Royce supplied engines.[18]

In preparation for the production of the A330 and the A340, Airbus's partners invested heavily in new facilities. In south-western England, BAe made a 7 million investment in a three-storey technical centre with 15,000 m2 (161,000 sq ft) of floor area at Filton.[24] In north Wales, BAe also spent 5 million on a new production line at its Broughton wing production plant.[24] In Germany, Messerschmitt-Blkow-Blohm (MBB) invested DM400 million ($225 million) on manufacturing facilities in the Weser estuary, including at Bremen, Einswarden, Varel, and Hamburg.[25] France saw the biggest investments, with Arospatiale constructing a new Fr.2.5 billion ($411 million) final-assembly plant adjacent to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in Colomiers; by November 1988, the pillars for the new Clment Ader assembly hall had been erected.[26] The assembly process featured increased automation, such as robots drilling holes and installing fasteners during the wing-to-fuselage mating process.[27]

On 12 March 1987, Airbus received the first orders for the twinjet. Domestic French airline Air Inter placed five firm orders and fifteen options, while Thai Airways International requested eight aircraft, split evenly between firm orders and options.[10][28] Airbus announced the next day that it would formally launch the A330 and A340 programmes by April 1987, with deliveries of the A340 to begin in May 1992 and A330 deliveries to start in 1993. Northwest Airlines signed a letter of intent for twenty A340s and ten A330s on 31 March.[28] In 2001, the program cost with the A340 was $3.5 billion (equivalent to $5.75 billion in 2023)[29].[30]

BAe eventually received 450 million of funding from the UK government, well short of the 750 million it had originally requested for the design and construction of the wings.[31] The German and French governments also provided funding. Airbus issued subcontracts to companies in Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Greece, Italy, India, Japan, South Korea, Portugal, the United States, and the former Yugoslavia.[32] With funding in place, Airbus launched the A330 and A340 programmes on 5 June 1987, just before the Paris Air Show.[31][33] At that time, the order book stood at 130 aircraft from ten customers, including lessor International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC). Of the order total, forty-one were for A330s.[31] In 1989, Asian carrier Cathay Pacific joined the list of purchasers, ordering nine A330s and later increasing this number to eleven.[34]

The wing-to-fuselage mating of the first A330, the tenth airframe of the A330 and A340 line, began in mid-February 1992. This aircraft, coated with anti-corrosion paint, was rolled out on 31 March without its General Electric CF6-80E1 engines, which were installed by August. During a static test, the wing failed just below requirement; BAe engineers later resolved the problem.[35] At the 1992 Farnborough Airshow, Northwest deferred delivery of sixteen A330s to 1994, following the cancellation of its A340 orders.[36]

The first completed A330 was rolled out on 14 October 1992, with the maiden flight following on 2 November. Weighing 181,840 kg (401,000 lb), including 20,980 kg (46,300 lb) of test equipment,[35] the A330 became the largest twinjet to have flown until the first flight of the Boeing 777. The flight lasted five hours and fifteen minutes during which speed, height, and other flight configurations were tested. Airbus intended the test flight programme to comprise six aircraft flying a total of 1,800 hours.[35] On 21 October 1993, the Airbus A330 received the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certifications simultaneously after 1,114 cumulative airborne test hours and 426 test flights. At the same time, weight tests came in favourable, showing the plane was 500 kg (1,100 lb) underweight.[37]

On 30 June 1994, a fatal crash occurred during certification of the Pratt & Whitney engine when an A330 crashed near Toulouse.[38] Both pilots and the five passengers died.[39] The flight was designed to test autopilot response during a one-engine-off worst-case scenario with the centre of gravity near its aft limit. Shortly after takeoff, the pilots had difficulty setting the autopilot, and the aircraft lost speed and crashed.[40] An investigation by an internal branch of Direction Gnrale d'Aviation concluded that the accident resulted from slow response and incorrect actions by the crew during the recovery.[41] This led to a revision of A330 operating procedures.[42]

Air Inter became the first operator of the A330, having put the aircraft into service on 17 January 1994 between Orly Airport, Paris, and Marseille.[43] Deliveries to Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and Thai Airways International were postponed to address delamination of the composite materials in the PW4168 engine's thrust reverser assembly. Thai Airways received its first A330 during the second half of the year, operating it on routes from Bangkok to Taipei and Seoul.[34][44] Cathay Pacific received its Trent 700 A330s following the certification of that engine on 22 December 1994.[41] MAS received its A330 on 1 February 1995 and then rescheduled its other ten orders.[34] Its initial range was around 4,000 nautical miles but subsequent refinements increased the range of newer models to 5,000 nautical miles and by 2015, the range was 6,100 nautical miles.[45]