New A330neo completes first flight

World
Europe

On Friday, Airbus China confirmed that the first of the new A330neo planes had completed its maiden flight and that the new A330 Completion and Delivery Center in Tianjin will be able to deliver this new model in China.

The first jet in the A330neo family, an A330-900 variant, successfully landed at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France on Thursday afternoon after its maiden voyage, said a press release from Airbus.

The first aircraft of the A330neo family has completed its maiden flight on Thursday. /Airbus Photo‍

The A330-900 is expected conduct 1,100 hours of test flights before it is delivered. Airbus plans for the A330-900 to obtain EASA and FAA Type Certification around mid-2018.

The wide-body A330neo range is composed of two models of A330-900 and A330-800 aircraft, with 287 and 257 seats respectively, in a three-class configuration. To date, 12 customers worldwide have placed orders for a total of 212 A330neos.

On September 20, Airbus opened its A330 Completion and Delivery Center (CDC) in north China's port city of Tianjin, marking the first such center for its wide-body aircraft outside Europe.

The A330 Completion and Delivery Center in Tianjin, China /Airbus Photo

As of this August, the Airbus fleet in China had exceeded 1,480 aircraft, including 202 from the A330 family.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency