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Airbus A330-200

(wikipedia.org)
Updated: 2010-09-02 14:52

An Air China Airbus A330-200 [sina.com.cn]

The A330-200 was developed to compete with the Boeing 767-300ER. The A330-200 is similar to the A340-200 and a shortened version of the A330-300. With poor sales of the A340-200 (of which only 28 were built), Airbus decided to use the fuselage of the A340-200 with the wings and engines of the A330-300. This significantly improved the economics of the plane and made the model more popular than the four-engined variant.

Its vertical fin is taller than that of the A330-300 to restore its effectiveness due to the shorter moment arm of the shorter fuselage. It has additional fuel capacity and, like the A330-300, has a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of 233 tonnes. Typical range with 253 passengers in a three-class configuration is 12,500 km (6,750 nautical miles).

Power is provided by two General Electric CF6-80E, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700 gas turbine engines. First customer deliveries, to ILFC/Canada 3000, were in April 1998.

The A330-200 is available as an ultra-long range corporate jet by Airbus Executive and Private Aviation. The Boeing equivalent is currently the 767-300ER and in the future will be the 787-8.

Timeline

First Flight: August 13, 1997 (msn 181) (General Electric CF6-80E1A2 powered aircraft).

Certification (JAA): March 31, 1998 (GE CF6-80E1A2 powered aircraft).

Certification (FAA): March 31, 1993 (GE CF6-80E1A2 powered aircraft).

First Delivery: April 29, 1998 Canada 3000 (msn 211).