Airbus A330

The Airbus A330 is a large-capacity,wide-body,twin-engine, medium-to-long-range commercial passengerairliner. Built at Toulouse in France by Airbus, over 600 units have been delivered.

First flown in 1992, the A330 was developed at the same time as the four-engined Airbus A340, and was designed with common fuselage and wing components. The first variant (series 300) was delivered to Air Inter in 1994 and was followed by the slightly shorter series 200. This has been followed by dedicated freighter The A330 and A340 programs were jointly launched in November 1987. Airlines purchased it to replace the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The A330 is 38% more fuel efficient than the DC-10.

Airbus intended the A330 to compete directly in the ETOPS (Extended-range Twin-engine Operation Performance Standards) market, specifically with theBoeing 767. In November 2009 the A330 became the first aircraft to receive ETOPS-240 approval, which is now offered by Airbus as an option.

By the end of November 2009 a total of 1,035 A330s have been ordered and 654 delivered. The 1,000 milestone was passed with orders from the 2008 Farnborough Air Show. The largest operators of the A330 are Delta Air Lines and Cathay Pacific with 32 aircraft in service each. Airbus expects the A330 to continue selling until at least 2015.tanker variants.The A330's fuselage and wings are virtually identical to those of the smaller A340 variants, although it has different engines. The A330 basic fuselage design is inherited from the Airbus A300, and the nose/cockpit section and the fly-by-wiresystem and flightdeck are inherited from the A320. Both the A330 and A340 are assembled on the same final assembly line at Toulouse-Blagnac,France.