Airbus A330neo

A330neo
Computer rendered image of the upcoming Airbus A330-900neo
Role	Wide-body jet airliner
National origin	Multi-national
Manufacturer	Airbus
First flight	Expected spring 2017[1]
Introduction	Expected Q4-2017 with TAP Portugal[2]
Status	Under development
Produced	2015-present
Unit cost	A330-800neo: US$252.3M (2016)[3] A330-900neo: US$287.7M (2016)[3]
Developed from	Airbus A330

The Airbus A330neo ("neo" for "New Engine Option") is a wide-body jet airliner currently under development by Airbus from the Airbus A330 (now A330ceo - "Current Engine Option"). A new version with modern engines developed for the Boeing 787 was called for by owners of the current A330. It was launched on 14 July 2014 at the Farnborough Airshow, promising 14% better Fuel economy per seat. It will use exclusively the larger Rolls-Royce Trent 7000. Its two versions are based on the A330-200 and -300 : the -800 should cover 7500 nm (13,900 km) with 257 passengers while the -900 should cover 6550 nm (12,130 km) with 287 passengers. The -900 should be introduced at the end of 2017.

Development

Studies

At the Boeing 787 launch in 2004, Airbus' response was at first an improved A330, but after negative feedback from airlines and lessors the A350 XWB became a new design in 2006. After the A320neo launch in December 2010 and its commercial success, Air Asia's boss Tony Fernandes said he would like Airbus to re-engine the A330.^[4] New engines like the GEnx or Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 developed for the 787 could offer a 12%-15% fuel burn improvement, and sharklets at least 2%.^[5]

Airbus sales chief John Leahy's argument is that the lower purchase price of an A330 even without new engines make the economics of buying an A330 competitive at midrange routes with that of the Boeing 787.^[6] An A330neo would accelerate the demise of the A350-800, close in size. AirAsiaX ordered 25 A330 aircraft in December 2013.^[7] Airbus is also considering re-engining the A380, but is wary of having two major modification programs simultaneously.^[8]

In March 2014 Delta Air Lines was interested by it to replace its Boeing 767-300ER.^[9] In the 250-300-seat market, CIT Group believes an A330neo enables profitability on shorter ranges where the longer-range A350 and Boeing 787 aren't optimized. Steve Mason, CIT vice president for aircraft analysis, said "The A350-800 is not as efficient as they'd like". Steven Udvar-Hazy, chairman and CEO of Air Lease Corp., said “We don't believe it is rational for us to take the A350-800 and the A330neo [...] I don't see the A350-800 surviving if they do the A330neo”.^[10]

AirAsiaX flights to London and Paris from Kuala Lumpur were scrapped in 2012 since Airbus A340 weren't fuel efficient enough ; AirAsiaX will try again with A330s.^[11] As Airbus gradually increases output of the new A350, prolonging the production run of the A330 could help to maintain profitability.^[12] As Emirates cancelled 70 orders for the A350, Airbus said it continued to work on re-engining the smaller A330.^[13]

Launch

On 14 July 2014 at the Farnborough Airshow, Airbus launched the A330neo programme, to be powered by the new Rolls-Royce Trent 7000. It will improve the fuel burn per seat by 14%, Airbus hopes to sell 1,000 A330neo aircraft. Its range will increase by 400 nautical miles (740 km) and although 95% of the parts will be common with the A330ceo, maintenance costs will be lower. New 3.7 metres wider A350 XWB styled winglets, still within ICAO category E airport requirements, and new engine pylons will improve aerodynamics by 4%.^[14]

The larger 112-inch Trent 7000 is 11% more efficient than the 97-inch previous engine, a 2% loss is due to increased weight and 1% due to additional drag from the larger engine, but the sharklets and aero optimization regains 4% for a 12% fuel advantage per trip. Furthermore, fuel consumption per seat is improved by 2% due to the rearranged cabin (Space-Flex and Smart-Lav) with increased seating, offering a 14% fuel burn reduction per seat for the new −900neo compared to the previous 235-tonne −300 version.^[15] The newer 242-tonne −300 is already 2% more efficient.^[6]

Its development costs will have an impact of around -0.7% on Airbus Return on Sales target from 2015 to 2017.^[16] Airbus thinks lower capital cost makes the A330neo the most cost-efficient medium-range wide-body aircraft in the market.^[17] Airbus says that it can pursue demand for 4,000 aircraft and says there is an open market for 2,600 jets not already addressed by backlogs with operators already using A330s. The A330-900neo is to be introduced in the fourth quarter of 2017, while the A330-800neo is to be introduced in early 2018. Aerodynamic modifications are to include a re-twisted wing and optimised slats.^[18]

Airbus believes the A330neo derives much of its market advantage from being a less expensive widebody positioned to serve high density routes shorter than 4,000 nautical miles that otherwise would be served by aircraft primarily designed for routes of 8,000 miles. Ed Greenslet, editor of Airline Monitor, told Aviation Week that the A330neo could create a monopoly in that segment, because the 767 is "essentially out of production" and the only other aircraft suited for it is the Boeing 757; the largest 737 does not have the passenger capacity to compete effectively. A major upgrade program for the A330 could also cause problems for Airbus. The re-engined A330 would be launched into a twin-aisle market already crowded by the Boeing 787, 777X, and Airbus A350, and could take sales from other Airbus aircraft.^[19]

John Leahy estimates that the A330-900 will have operating costs on par with the 787-9, but will be available at 25% lower capital costs and can reach a production rate of 10 per month after a 7/8 per month rate at the production start.^[20] Both variants are to have a maximum take-off weight of 242 t. The type design was frozen in late 2015.^[21]

Detailed design

Airbus unveiled a distinctive cockpit windscreen to be featured on the A330neo, similar to that on the A350.^[22] Airbus will introduce its new interior concept that promises a better passenger experience on the A330neo.^[23] Initially based on the largest 242t MTOW A330, Airbus is studying an improvement to 245 t (540,000 lb) MTOW for the A330neo, which would match the figure originally given for the Airbus A350-800 before it was sidelined in favor of the A330neo.^[24]

Engines

Candidate engines included variants of Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 and General Electric's GEnx-1B. Both engine makers were reportedly interested in winning an exclusive deal should a re-engined A330 be offered. The Trent 1000 TEN (Thrust, Efficiency, New Technology) engine is under development for the 787-10, but Rolls-Royce intends to offer a broad power range.^[25]

The A330neo will use the Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engine, which is an electronic controlled bleed air variant of the Trent 1000 used on the Boeing 787-10, it will have a 112 in (284 cm) diameter fan and a 10:1 bypass ratio.^[17] They will deliver a thrust of 68,000 to 72,000 pounds-force (300 to 320 kN).^[26]

The Trent is the exclusive powerplant, the British manufacturer offered better terms to obtain the exclusivity. Customers bemoan the loss of competition among engine makers : Steven Udvar-Hazy, CEO of Air Lease Corporation, said that he wants a choice of engines, but Airbus has pointed out that equipping a commercial aircraft to handle more than one type of engine adds several hundred million dollars to the development cost. The head of Pratt and Whitney said "Engines are no longer commodities...the optimization of the engine and the aircraft becomes more relevant."^[21]

The decision to offer the aircraft with only one engine option is not unique to Airbus : the Boeing 777X will come equipped exclusively with General Electric GE9X engines, Rolls Royce made a bid with its Advance configuration but was not selected.^[27]

Production

On 7 September 2015, Airbus announced that it had began production of the first A330neo with the construction of its centre wing box and engine pylon.^[28] Final assembly of the first one, an A330-900, started in September 2016 at the Toulouse Line with the station 40 centre fuselage and wings join.^[29]

Variants

The two versions, the A330-800neo and A330-900neo, will retain the fuselage lengths of the A330-200 and A330-300, respectively. The cabin optimisation allow for up to 10 more seats on the A330-900neo for up to 310 passengers and six additional seats for the A330-800neo accommodating up to 252 travellers, still with 18-inch-wide economy seats.^[14] The -800 should cover a 7500 nm (13,900 km) with 257 passengers (406 max) while the -900 should travel 6550 nm (12,130 km) with 287 passengers (440 max).^[30]

Market

Independent analysis for a 3,350 nm transatlantic flight show the 787-9 has a slight advantage over the A330-900neo in cash cost per available seat miles, while the Airbus outperforms the Boeing once capital costs are included.^[31] Teal Group's Richard Aboulafia opinion is the A330neo should dominate the low end of the twin aisles range/capacity because the 787-8, designed for 8,000-nm+, has the high operating economics and unit price associated.^[32]

In January 2016, Iranian officials signed an agreement with Airbus for 18 A330-900neo.^[33] This order was still awaiting export licenses in July 2016. As of June 2016, the 186 firm orders can keep the line busy only for a couple of years after the A330neo enters production. Of those, 66 are from AirAsiaX, spread out over nearly a decade. While it is starting to return to profitability, AirAsia X has been unprofitable for most of the past few years, forcing it to defer some aircraft deliveries.^[34]

Orders

2014

Following the A330neo programme launch at Farnborough in July, Airbus received commitments for 121 aircraft from three airlines, and three lessors : 50 for AirAsia X, 12 for Transaero Airlines, 4 for an unnamed Asian customer and 55 for Air Lease Corporation, Avolon and CIT Group.^[35] After the Airshow, Hawaiian Airlines committed for six Airbus A330-800neos, with additional purchase rights for six more A330-800neos, replacing the airline's previous order for 12 (six firm, six purchase rights) A350-800 aircraft.^[36]

On 19 November, Delta Air Lines became the launch customer for the Airbus A330neo, ordering 25 A330-900neo aircraft.^[37] On 3 December, CIT Group firmed up their order for 15 A330-900neo aircraft.^[38] On 15 December, AirAsia X announced a firm order for 55 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft, five more than the original 50 aircraft committed, the largest single order to date for the A330 family.^[39]

On 18 December, Hawaiian Airlines finalized their order for 6 A330-800neo aircraft.^[40] On 23 December Avolon firmed its order for 15 A330neo aircraft.^[41] On 24 December 2014, Taiwanese carrier Transasia Airways revealed themselves as the unknown customer, announcing a firm order for four Airbus A330-800neos.^[42]

2015

On 18 February, Israeli airline Arkia Israel Airlines committed to the purchase of four Airbus A330-900neo aircraft.^[43] On 9 March, Air Lease Corporation firmed up its order for 25 Airbus A330-900neo jets.^[44] On 13 November, TAP Portugal ordered 14 A330-900neo.^[45] It was later confirmed as the launch operator of the A330neo.^[2]

2016

On 12 January, AirAsia X placed a follow up firm order for 11 A330-900neo, replacing its existing order for the current 11 Airbus A330-300.^[46] An undisclosed customer ordered 14 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft at the January Singapore Airshow.^[47] Later, Garuda Indonesia was revealed to be the undisclosed customer and firmed its order 19 April.^[48] On November 22nd 2016, Transasia Airways announced that it would shut down and wind down operations, defacto cancelling its 4 A330-800 orders.^[49]

Firm orders

Specifications

See also

• Competition between Airbus and Boeing

Related development

• Airbus A330

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Airbus A350 XWB
• Boeing 787 Dreamliner

References

External links

• Official website
• "Airbus: More Than 1,000 Orders Coming For A330neo". Aviation Week. Jul 21, 2014. (subscription required)
• "Airbus revamps A330 jet in long-haul battle with Boeing". reuters. 14 July 2014. 
• Wall, Robert, and Jon Ostrower (15 July 2014). "From big jet makers, smaller changes". Wall Street Journal. p. B3.  CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
• Daniel Tsang (15 July 2014). "Dissecting the A330neo from a weight perspective". Aspire Aviation.