As TAP Portugal is the launching airline partner with European aircraft manufacturer, they received yesterday the first A330-900 ever made and the Portuguese company will receive 20 others in the next years.
It has a classic tri-class configuration with 298 seats including 34 sleeper seats in Business class, 168 in Eco-class and 96 in Eco-class Plus. This aircraft will fly between Portugal, America and Africa.
As the others "neo" aircraft from Airbus, the A330-900neo is equipped with next generation engines, Trent 7000 from Britain engines manufacturer Rolls Royce, and reviewed composite sharklets. These innovations lead new generation aircraft to reduce fuel consumption about 25% compared to actual aircraft. Other innovations are part of the A330-900 as a composite nacelle, a titanium mast and an innovative "zero-splice" technology that gives to the latest aircraft from Airbus advanced acoustic and aerodynamics characteristics.
"More than 1380 A330 are actually flying around the world. These aircraft have an average lifetime of 25/30 years. With A330neo, we anticipate renewal needs from our client's fleet. We will need at least 10 years to replace the half of the A330 fleet actually used" said Crawford Hamilton, A330 program marketing directors.
Today, Airbus refers 242 commands for A330neo almost every command concern A330neo-900. Into Clement Ader facilities, where all A330 are assembled, the "neo" a big part of the job as it represents almost 80% of production. At the moment we do not know where next ones will be delivered.
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