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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 2918.PDF
25 FLYING YEARS Air Canada is a major Airbus customer, and has launch commitments for both the A 340-500 and -600. Final assembly (right) oftheA330/A340 is undertaken by Aerospatiale in Toulouse The first A340, a -300, had its first flight on 25 October, 1991. JAA certification was awarded on 22 December, 1992 and Lufthansa put the aircraft into service in March 1993. The first A3 30 was flown from Toulouse on 2 November 1992 withJAAand FAA certification being awarded simultaneously in October 1993. Air Inter inaugurated revenue services with its 412-seat A330s between Paris Orly and Marseille in January 1994. The recession of the early 1990s, combined with a diminishing market for medium capacity- twins, saw Airbus struggling to add customers and orders for the A3 30, but sales have been rejuvenated with the launch of a short-fuselage, longer-range version, the A3 30-200. Airbus gave the new programme a go-ahead in Novem ber 1995 providing a direct competitor to Boeing's successful 767-300ER. Boeing has responded with its stretched 767-400ER. "Until now, Airbus has never had a twin widi the range to match the 767-300ER. Now, we have the A330-200, which goes further, while the new stretched 767-400 has less range than its predecessor," says A3 30/A34O product man ager Alan Pardoe. Although the A3 3 0-3 00's fortunes have improved considerably in recent years, Brown would have done things differently in hindsight: "The A3 30-200 is going to be a real winner - in fact we were a little bit slow to identify its market potential...knowing what I know now, I would have reversed the two models' timing, and launched die smaller one first." The new model is ten frames shorter (5.33m) than the -300, and has increased weights (by using the strengthened wing of the HGW A340-300) and additional fuel capacity. It is designed to carry 253 passengers (three-class layout) over 12,000km. "The A330-200's introduction was timed by die development of die die structure for die high weight A340-300," says Pardoe. Airbus flew the first -200 in August 1997, and the new variant enters service in April 1998 with Canada 3000. Widi customers demanding additional capac ity and range, Airbus has moved to meet their requests with new A340 models. Initially, a long range derivative of the A340-200, the 232-seat - 8000, is available which offers a range of 15,000km (8,000nm), but in the longer term Airbus is introducing two major derivatives, the fc, Malaysia Airlines is one of many Asian A330 customers, operating the type on its regional network A FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL SUPPLEMENT A340-500and-600. "In the early 1990s we looked at simple stretches of the A3 30 and A340 [the -400], but these traded range for payload," says Brown. "In the mid-1990s, British Aerospace came up with a more radical solution incorporating a wing insert providing more area, which has enabled us to develop the A340-500 and -600." In April 1996, the consortium signed a six- month exclusive study agreement widi GE over the development of a new A340 engine, but this fell through when the two organisations could not agree on various key issues, such as die commercial terms. After examining offers from bodi Pratt and Whitney and Rolls-Royce, Airbus announced the selection of the latter to provide its Trent 700/800-derived, 235- 270kN dirust Trent 500 at Paris in June, when the programme also received a commercial go-ahead, clearing the way for customers to be signed up. The larger of die two new models, die -600, will be some 1 lm longer than die -300, and will be able to carry 378 passengers (three-class) some 370km further than today's A340-300 (ie 13,900km)- The A340-500 com bines the new wing, engines and increased weights of the -600, with a slightly stretched -300 airframe (to balance the enlarged wing), and some 48% more fuel capacity, creating a 313-seater with a range of over 15,700km. Airbus is aiming to give die programme a full launch before the end of 1997, provided "signif icant" orders are secured. Pardoe says interest so far suggests that demand "...should be fairly evenly split between die two," unlike the current models which has seen the majority of sales going to the larger variant. The programme has taken commitments from Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada for 31 air craft, with deliveries beginning in early 2002. Airbus sees die new models as complements, radier than successors, to die existing A340-300. "There is no reason for it not to continue," says Pardoe: "in fact we expect die new models will have a positive impact on the sales of die existing A340-300." The consortium has also examined the devel opment of an enlarged "-600" version of the A3 30, equipped with die larger wing: "It will still lose range, and the thrust requirements mean diat an engine in the [General Electric] GE90 category will be needed," says Brown. Pardoe adds diat "...the market is luke warm on a larger twin...the market its clearly being driven at the moment by payload/range performance." Despite the recent success of the A300 and A310 in the freighter role, Pardoe does not envisage an early move into die market with die A330/A340. "Combi operations are firmly out of favour now," he says, "while the medium capacity market will be satisfied in die short term byconversions of ex-passenger [MDC ]MD-11 s and Boeing 747-200s," he says.
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