Airbus A330-800 Completes Maiden Flight

The Airbus A330-800 took to the sky for the first time on Monday, performing a maiden flight from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport that lasted four hours and four minutes.

The Airbus crew for this first flight were Captain François Barre, Copilot Malcom Ridley, Test Flight Engineer Ludovic Girard, as well as Flight Test Engineers Catherine Schneider and Jose Angel Corugedo Bermejo.

As the second member of the A330neo Family, the A330-800 joins the longer-fuselage A330-900 variant which will soon be entering airline service with launch operator TAP Air Portugal.

The A330-800 and A330-900 have more than 99% commonality across the two A330neo versions, and they share the same type rating with the other members of Airbus’ A330 Family. Additionally, the two A330neo aircraft have a common type rating with the A350 XWB, facilitating pilots’ transition among these widebody Airbus aircraft for maximum efficiency.

The passenger capacity of the A330-800 variant is 257 passengers in a three-class configuration, with the A330-900 version seating 287 passengers with similar typical three-class layout.

Fitted with the new Airspace by Airbus cabin, the A330neo features an innovative and customisable entrance, full LED ambient lighting, new lavatories, as well as the latest in-flight entertainment system for an exclusive experience aloft.

The A330-800 and A330-900 are powered by Rolls-Royce’s Trent 7000 engines. For the A330-800, this results in a range of up to 8,150 nautical miles, enabling non-stop flights between Southeast Asia and Europe, as well as transpacific travel between Southeast Asia and the U.S. West Coast.

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