Tag Archives: 42 ton Airbus A330-300

SAS is the first airline in Europe to place the new Airbus A330-300 Enhanced into service

Scandinavian Airlines-SAS (Stockholm) today places its newly-delivered 242-ton Airbus A330-343 LN-RKR (msn 1660) into revenue service. The pictured LN-RKR IS named “Tore Viking” and was delivered on September 16 and is the first enhanced version in Europe. The airline issued this statement:

SAS is the first European airline to fly the new long-haul Airbus A330-300 Enhanced. The first commercial flight leaves today (September 21) from Copenhagen to Chicago (O’Hare). SAS continues to strengthen its intercontinental offering with new aircraft and the launch of new routes to destinations with high demand.

SAS’s thirteenth and newest long-haul aircraft, Tore Viking, is flying from Copenhagen to Chicago on Monday, September 21, with a departure time of 3.40 pm. This is the first of four new A330-300 Enhanced that will be added to the SAS fleet over the next six months. Another aircraft will be delivered in September and the remaining two in 2016.

From 2018, deliveries will also commence of SAS’s new Airbus A350-900. The new aircraft enable SAS to improve its offering to customers and to fly longer distances with lower fuel consumption.

The materials and color scheme in the cabin of the new aircraft have been carefully chosen to create a calm and welcoming atmosphere. All through the cabin, mood lighting provides a pleasant environment throughout the journey. The seats in SAS Go and SAS Plus are designed to provide good storage and create extra space. SAS Business has direct access to the aisle and seats that can be fully reclined into a bed position. The beds feature linen from Hästens, ensuring passengers sleep well. There is also a new in-flight entertainment system throughout the cabin, offering HD screens and wireless Internet access. SAS is also updating its existing long-haul aircraft with the same new cabin interior in 2015 and 2016.

The first new A330-300 Enhanced will the first month operate the route between Copenhagen and Chicago and will then fly from Stockholm to Hong Kong and Chicago.

On September 10, SAS launched a new route between Stockholm and Hong Kong, and in March 2016 SAS will be launching a new route between Stockholm and Los Angeles. In the fall of 2016, the new route to Miami from Oslo and Copenhagen will begin operating.

Facts about the Airbus A330-300 Enhanced

Delivery of four A330-300 Enhanced in 2015/2016; two aircraft in September 2015, one in February 2016, and one in May 2016
Significantly improved range compared with the A330 (10,400 km compared with 9,600 km)
Maximum weight 242 tonnes
262 seats: 32 SAS Business, 56 SAS Plus and 174 SAS Go
2% lower fuel consumption than the A330

Photo: F. Lancelot/Airbus.

SAS aircraft slide show:

Air Lease Corporation orders one additional Airbus A350-900 and four A320 Family aircraft

Air Lease Corporation (ALC) (Los Angeles) today at the 51st International Paris Air Show announced a firm order for additional Airbus widebody and single-aisle aircraft (1 A350-900, 1 A321ceo and 3 A320ceo).

Including today’s announcement, ALC’s fast growing portfolio of Airbus aircraft stands at a total of 262, of which 66 are widebodies (15 A330ceo, 25 A330neo, 21 A350-900, 5 A350-1000) and 196 are single-aisles (30 A320ceo, 31 A320neo, 26 A321ceo, 109 A321neo).

Image: Airbus. The Airbus A321ceo with Sharklets.

Vueling Airlines outlines its expanded 2015 summer schedule

Vueling Airlines (Barcelona) will operate more than 60,000 flights between June and September, offering more than 11 million seats, a 13% percent increase over the same period in 2014.

Vueling now operates on 366 routes with a fleet of 100 aircraft and 3,000 flight personnel.

The fast-growing airline issued this outline for its summer schedule:

Vueling, the busiest airline at its Barcelona base, will make more than 60,000 flights and 366 routes in the summer season beginning on 15 June, its eleventh. It will offer a total of more than 11 million seats, 13% more than in 2014.

In the busy summer travel season the company will take off and land more than 700 times each day –an average of once every two minutes– at the 155 airports it serves.

Vueling’s fleet numbers some 100 Airbus A319s, A320s, and A321s which will log more than 62 million kilometers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa this summer, with nearly 3,000 people making up its cockpit and cabin crews.

Photo Above: Vueling Airlines. The cockpit of Airbus A320-214 EC-JTR (msn 2798).

To meet the summer demand, Vueling will field flights crews totalling nearly 3,000 people, including 979 pilots and 1,974 cabin staff.

Vueling’s newest aircraft feature wingtip “sharklets” (above) and other features enhancing fuel efficiency and environmental protection.

The new Airbus A319s, A320s and A321s have been joining the fleet gradually since January, and are being named in the airline’s inimitable style: You’re the Vueling that I Want (EC-MEL); Keep Calm and Vueling (EC-MEQ); Vueling my best dream (EC-MER); Leonardo da Vueling (EC-MES); Vueling Topic (EC-MFK); Ich Bin Vuelinger (EC-MFL); Are you Vueling to me? (EC-MFM); In Vueling We Trust (EC-MFN); and #BuenVueling (EC-MGE).

366 Routes, from Cape Verde to Moscow

Vueling will operate on a total of 366 routes to 155 cities in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. New destinations this summer include Saragossa in Spain; Ancona and Trieste in Italy; the Algarve in Portugal; Manchester, Belfast and Birmingham in the UK; Rabat in Morocco; Accra in Ghana; and Moscow-Sheremetyevo in Russia.

Also noteworthy are the airline’s new direct routes to the islands of Lampedusa in Italy; Madeira in Portugal; Yerba in Tunisia; Sal in Cape Verde; and Corfu, Lemnos, Lesbos, Samos, Cephalonia and Zakynthos in Greece. Vueling flies to more islands than any other airline, reaching no fewer than 35 by direct flights from its hubs in Barcelona-El Prat and Rome-Fiumicino.

Copyright Photo: Ariel Shocron/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-232 EC-LZM (msn 5877) with Sharklets and painted in the special Coruna livery departs from Madrid.

Vueling Airlines aircraft slide show:

Air France to resume services to Freetown, Sierra Leone

Air France (Paris) on June 30, 2015, is resuming services to Freetown with three weekly frequencies from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

Flights will be operated by Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 208 seats: 40 in the Business cabin, 21 in Premium Economy and 147 in Economy.

In other news, Air France will close its Toulouse, Nice and Marseille pilot bases by October which will result in the reassignment of approximately 200 pilots to Paris according a report by Midi-Pyrenees.

Read the full report (in French): CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo below: Jay Selman/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A330-203 F-GZCI (msn 502) approaches the runway at New York (JFK).

Air France aircraft slide show:

Greenland Express is planning to resume operations in May

Greenland Express (Aalborg) is planning to resume operations on May 11, 2015, this time using a leased 168-seat Airbus A320-200 from an unnamed carrier. The A320 will operate from Billund to Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq in Greenland via Copenhagen (Kastrup). The flights will operate until late October.

Last time the virtual airline depended on Denim Air Fokker 100s. The company suspended flight operations on September 18, 2014.

Image: Greenland

The first 242-ton Airbus A330-300 is rolled out in Delta colors

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta) will take delivery this year of the first 242-ton Airbus A330-300 as a launch customer. Airbus has issued this statement and photos:

Just four months after entering the Final Assembly Line, and less than two months after its maiden flight, the first 242 ton Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) variant of the A330 rolled out of the paintshop in Toulouse, France in Delta Air Lines livery.

This first, new higher weight variant of the A330-300 is powered by two GE CF6-80E1 engines and will be delivered this year to the new variant’s launch customer Delta Air Lines.

Delta Air Lines is a major Airbus widebody customer, with 32 A330 Family aircraft (11 A330-200s and 21 A330-300s) in service today and 35 more on order (25 A330-900neo and 10 A330-300). In addition, Delta has equally 25 A350-900s on order. Delta also operates 126 A320 Family aircraft (57 A319ceo, 69 A320ceo) and has 45 A321ceo on order.

The A330 242 ton MTOW is the platform for the future A330neo and offers more capability at lower operating cost with a range extended by up to 500 nautical miles and up to two percent reduced fuel consumption while also benefiting from today’s A330 operational reliability of 99.4 percent. The 242 ton MTOW is capable of flying missions up to 15 hours.

Photos: Airbus. Right now this A330-300 airframe is carrying the test registration of F-WWYX (msn 1627) and is also carrying a future fleet number of 3322.

Delta Air Lines aircraft slide show (current livery):

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