Airbus has officially begun shipping its highly anticipated A330neo jets. The European aerospace manufacturing company delivered its first A330neto jet to Portugal’s flagship airline, TAP Air Portugal, on Monday, signaling a new market presence for Airbus in its battle against competitor Boeing.
As you may know, the A330neo is Airbus’s answer to the Boeing 737. Both jets feature a similar design, size and price point. Up until now, however, Boeing has dominated the market with its coveted 737. The 737 is used in commercial airline fleets throughout the world, with it being one of the most popular and common types of commercial aircraft. Now that Airbus is shipping the A330neo, though, that may soon change. The A330neo offers a viable alternative for airlines looking to update their fleet with efficient, high-performing jets.
Airbus has been working on the A330neo since 2015. So far, the aerospace manufacturing company has produced two A330neo-900 prototypes, one A330neo-800 prototypes and one flight-ready A330neo-900, the latter of which was recently delivered to TAP Air Portugal. The “neo” in Airbus’s new line of jets stands for “New Engine Option.” Rather than using the same engines found in previous jets, Airbus switched to higher-performing engines to rival those used in Boeing’s aircraft. According to Wikipedia, the A330neo is powered by a Rolls-Royce Trend 7000 engine, creating the perfect combination of performance and fuel economy.
Although the A330neo is still new and just recently penetrating the commercial airline market, there’s already strong demand for Airbus’s new jet. When speaking about the A330neo, Avolon’s Domhnal Slattery explained that he wishes there were more units being sold to customers.
“It is a soft backlog. We would prefer if there were more airplanes sold to more customers—wouldn’t anybody?,” said Avolon’s Domhnal Slattery during a correspondence with Reuters. “But the thing that is giving us comfort is that the replacement wave for the (earlier) A330-200 hasn’t really kicked in and it should kick in this year, next year and the year after.”
So, why is there such as strong demand for the A330neo even though Airbus just recently shipped its first unit to TAP Air Portugal? Airbus says that the A330neo is the single most cost-efficient medium-range jet on the market. As such, airlines that invest in the A330neo will likely increase their profits. And now that the A330neo finally rolling out of the factory, we’ll probably see more airlines include the A330neo in their fleet.
