Yesterday, Airbus cleared a significant hurdle in the Airbus A330 neo project, with the Airbus A330-900 obtaining type certification by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification is expected to follow shortly.
Airbus A330-900 in flight – Image, Airbus
With the type now cleared for entry into service, the type will debut with TAP Air Portugal (which assisted in the demonstrator purposes of the type, along with two other aircraft).
The test campaign has been completed in under a year with 1,400 flight hours logged with Rolls Royce Trent 7000 engines. With the flight test programme commencing on the 19th October 2017, the plane has been certified in under a year.
On the certification, Guillaume Faury, President Airbus Commercial Aircraft states:
“The A330neo embodies Airbus’ spirit of innovation. This new generation aircraft with unparalleled efficiency and flexibility from short to long haul routes has tremendous market potential,”
“We look forward to delivering the first aircraft equipped with the beautiful new Airspace cabin to our launch customer TAP Air Portugal in the coming weeks.”
TAP Portugal have 21 of the type on order, and will be fitted with the full Airspace by Airbus cabin, which features newly designed sidewalls and fixtures, larger overhead storage, advanced cabin mood lighting . In addition, the plane will be fitted nose to tail with Recaro seating in business class, premium economy and economy class.
With certification done, comes the important parts – entry into service and ongoing use in service. With the pedigree of the A330-200 and A330-300 behind it, the future looks bright for the in-service possibilities of the plane.
It just needs a few more customers to buy the Airbus A330 neo family…
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