In July 2014, Airbus announced the re-engined A330neo ( new engine option) comprising A330-800/900, which entered service with TAP Air Portugal in December 2018. The A330 MRTT was proposed as the EADS/Northrop Grumman KC-45 for the US Air Force's KC-X competition, but lost to the Boeing KC-46 in appeal after an initial win. Other variants include the A330-200F dedicated freighter, the A330 MRTT military tanker, and the ACJ330 corporate jet. The A330 was Airbus's first airliner to offer a choice of three engines: the General Electric CF6, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, or the Rolls-Royce Trent 700. Both airliners have fly-by-wire controls as well as a similar glass cockpit to increase the commonality.
The A330 shares its airframe with the early A340 variants, having two main landing gear legs instead of three, lower weights, and slightly different lengths. The slightly shorter A330-200 variant followed in 1998. The A330-300, the first variant, took its maiden flight in November 1992 and entered service with Air Inter in January 1994. 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 Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.Īirbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. For other uses, see A330 (disambiguation).Īn Airbus A330-300, the first and most common variant, of Turkish Airlines, the largest A330 operatorġ,527 as of 31 December 2021