Following the release of one of Nigeria’s presidential jets which was seized by Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, the Airbus 330-200 has finally arrived in Nigeria.
Recall that Zhongshan, the Chinese firm, had secured a court order to confiscate three Nigerian presidential jets pending when Zhongshan received $74.5 million awarded to it against Nigeria.
The 5N-FGA Airbus 330-200 is 14 years, nine months old and the production site is Toulouse. The A330-200 aircraft with serial number 1043, which made its first flight on the 10th of September, 2009 October has seat configuration of F25 and engine type 2 x RR Trent 772B-60.
Read also: Tinubu set to travel to France on new presidential jet
Brief history of A330s
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid-1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along with their first orders in June 1987.
The A330-300, the first variant, took its maiden flight in November 1992 and entered service with Air Inter in January 1994.
The slightly shorter A330-200 variant followed in 1998 with Canada 3000 as the launch operator. Aircraft configuration typically carrying between 210 and 250 passengers in its 222-inch-wide twin-aisle fuselage, the A330-200 can be configured with as many as 406 seats in higher-density layouts – providing a capacity solution for operations on routes up to 7,250nm.
The A330-200’s seat pitch is adaptable in units of one inch, while galleys, lavatories and stowage areas can be arranged in different groupings and locations – resulting in excellent versatility for operators.
On longer-range journeys, the aircraft can accommodate comfortable crew rest areas that can be removed in approximately 50 minutes should an airline wish to optimise the cabin interior for shorter routes. When installed, these rest areas contain up to seven bunks and do not impact the cabin space for passengers.
The A330-200 is configurable with modern fourth-generation in-flight entertainment, including video-on-demand, as well as mobile telephone and e-mail connectivity via satellite. Inflight entertainment Passengers can settle in with movies of their choice and stay in touch with what’s happening on the ground below, providing a tailored experience that suits everyone.
Read also: Tinubu to visit France Monday amid presidential jet seizure squabble
Operational capabilities
The A330-200’s commonality with fellow members of the A330 Family and other Airbus in-production aircraft generates efficiency savings through training and maintenance.
Like all Airbus jetliners, it uses the revolutionary fly-by-wire digital controls. With an in-service operational efficiency of 99.4 percent, it’s no wonder that airlines trust the quality of the A330-200’s design. Additionally, the aircraft is an ideal complement to Airbus’ top-of-the-line widebody A350, especially the A350-900 which offers around 80 additional seats in typical 3-class configurations.
The A330 shares many underpinnings with the airframe of the early A340 variants, most notably the same fuselage and wing components, and by extension the same structure.
However, the A330 has two main landing gear legs instead of three, lower weights, and slightly different lengths. Both airliners have fly-by-wire controls as well as a similar glass cockpit to increase the commonality.
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. The A330-300 has a range of 11,750 km (6,340 nmi; 7,300 mi) with 277 passengers, while the shorter A330-200 can cover 13,450 km (7,260 nmi; 8,360 mi) with 247 passengers.
Other variants include the A330-200F dedicated freighter, the A330 MRTT military tanker, and the ACJ330 corporate jet. 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.
Read also: Seized presidential jets: Amosun denies wrongdoing, says Chinese firm is an impostor
Aircraft orders
Delta Air Lines is the largest operator with 69 airplanes in its fleet as of June 2024. A total of 1,805 orders have been placed for the A330 family, of which 1,609 have been delivered and 1,469 are in service with 148 operators.
The global A330 fleet had accumulated more than 65 million flight hours since its entry into service.
The A330 is the second most delivered wide-body airliner after the Boeing 777. It competes with the Boeing 767, smaller variants of the Boeing 777, and the 787. It is complemented by the larger Airbus A350, which succeeded the four-engined A340.
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