Although the possible successor to the Airbus A330, the A350, is ready to go, the plane is one of the best selling aircraft of the French manufacturer. The jet, that offers seating for about 300 to almost 450 people in the long version (that was introduced first), was shown to the public in 1987. Six years later, in 1993, it was possible to buy the airliner. A little shortened derivate, the A330-200 which has 253 to 293 seats, streched it wings in 1998.

Halfway in the 1980s, Airbus had just launced its first four-engined aicraft, the A340. The smallest version of that jet, the A340-200 (239 passengers), only sold poorly. Airbus decided to use the fuselage for a new aircraft with more seats, but with less engines. And, a cheaper plane. The wings and engines were equal to the ones fitted on the already introduced -300. The idea turned out to be a good one. In the meantime, the A330-200 has overtaken its main competitor, Boeing with its Boeing 767, concerning the number of sold aircraft. Especially the 767-300 is a direct rival.
This -300, the larger version, was based on the A300. Besides a longer fuselage, the A330-300 was equipped with new wings and vertical stablizers. Compared to the first Airbus, the technique was modified in such a way the A330-300 is a so-called fly-by-wire-aircraft.

There are four different A330's, three of which are used in commercial aviation. The fourth variety is a tanker aircraft, which introduction has not been confirmed yet.

Airbus A330-200 (1995)

The shortest version of the A330 is recognizable on the slightly higher tail (17,4 meters versus 16,85 meters) than big brother -300 has. Luckily, the plane sells better than the A340-200 on which is was based. One of the customers is KLM, which operates 9 of these aircraft. They are registered as PH-AOA, up and till PH-AOK, with an exception of PH-AOG and PH-AOJ. -AOG was dropped because 'AOG' is an abbreviation for Aircraft On Ground. And the On Ground doesn't mean passengers are loaded onto the plane.

Airbus A330-200F (2006)

Every large aircraft has a freighter in the family, just like the Airbus A300. Based on the -200-series, the jet is designed to replace the cargo-versions of the A300 and A310, because these planes don't sell the way Airbus had expected. The delivery hasn't yet started, but 66 planes have been ordered. Best known customer is Etihad Airways with an order for three aircraft. Looking at numbers, the number one customer is Aircastle, with 15 jets planned. Airbus wants to start delivering the new machines in 2009.

Airbus A330-300 (1987)

Most of the times, the first plane to be introduced is a small version. During the time that aircraft is in production, multiple adjustments are carried through. Often, one or more streches are part of these changes to the design. However, Airbus started with the largest version of the A330, the -300, and shortened it after 8 years of service to the -200. With a range of over 10.000 kilometers, many large cities are within reach of the maximum of 440 passengers that can be seated during one flight. The most A330-300's are in service with Cathay Pacific Airways. That airline operates 29 of them (and no single -200.). Northwest Airlines owns 18 aircraft (and 14 A330-200's) and Qatar Airways has thirty A330's, ten of which are the longer version.

Airbus A330 MRTT

When two companies introduce a new product, as much competition as possible. A wants to nick as many orders from B as it could, and vice versa. This also happens with the A and B on these pages: Airbus and Boeing. In addition to the rivalry in the commercial industry, both companies are busy with the design and development of a new tanker aircraft to replace the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, based on the 707. Boeing does so with the KC-767, a derivate from the 767. Airbus develops a new aircraft based on the A330-200, the A330 MRTT. MRTT is short for Multi Role Tanker Transport, which indicates that the plane can also be used as military cargo plane. No MRTT's have been delivered yet, but a couple of them has been ordered. The RAF the (Royal Australian Air Force) has placed an order for 5 of these planes. Whether the A330 MRTT can also serve in America isn't yet clear: they doubt between the Frenchman and the KC-767, made on their own soil.

Not much accidents have taken place involving a A330. The plane does hold a remarkable record. When a A330-243 of Air Transat with registration number C-GITS (flight number 236) ran out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean, the plane glided 120 kilometres to a militaire base where the plane could safely land. The leak was caused by fuel lines that rubbed against each other because a wrong engine had been installed. The biggest damage were 12 tires, which were blown at the touch down.