On November 2, 1992, 25 years ago today, the Airbus A330 took its maiden flight. The A330 is a medium- to long-range twin jet that can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout or carry 154,000 pounds of cargo. It is derived from the A300, the world's first twin-engine widebody airliner and was developed in parallel with the four-engine A340, which shared many common airframe components, only differing in the number of engines. The A330 was ultimately a successor to the A300, especially in the medium-range market. The Airbus A330 was the manufacturer's first airliner that offered three engine configuration choices: the General Electric CF6, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, and Rolls-Royce Trent 700.
The first variant of the A330 family was the A330-300, which first flew on November 2, 1992 and first entered passenger service with the now-defunct Air Inter on January 17, 1994. Airbus then followed up with the slightly shorter A330-200 variant in 1998. Other variants include a dedicated freighter version, the A330-200F, the A330 MRTT/KC-30A Voyager military tanker variant (which formed the basis of the proposed KC-45 in conjunction with Northrop Grumman for the United States Air Force KC-X competition, where it lost to Boeing), and ACJ330 corporate jet variant. Turkish Airlines is currently the world's largest operator of the A330 with 64 airframes in service.
The Airbus A330 currently competes with several Boeing twin-engine wide-body models including the 767, 777, and 787 Dreamliner. The Airbus A350 XWB (which entered service in 2015) and A330neo (currently in flight testing) are slated to be the successors to current A330s in service. Airbus is also working on the development of the Airbus Beluga XL (to be based off the A330 airframe) for outsize cargo and freight as a successor for the current Airbus Beluga (based off the A300-600 airframe).
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| Airbus A330-302 (B-16333) operated by EVA Air. Powered by two General Electric CF6-80E1A4 engines. |
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| Airbus A330-223 (N855NW) operated by Delta Air Lines. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW4168A/4170 engines. |
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| Airbus A330-243 (N395HA) operated by Hawaiian Airlines. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 772B/C-60 engines. |
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| Airbus A330-323 (N803NW) operated by Delta Air Lines. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW4168A/4170 engines. |
The A330 has seen commercial success in the markets it serves. Let's wish this fine twin-jet a happy 25 years and many, many more years of success in commercial and military applications!
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