A330 : Version Passagers ; toute la famille

Airbus is looking at the potential of adapting its sharklet wing-tips to the A330 following good results from initial flight tests of the modification on the A320.

The manufacturer is also interested in raising the maximum take-off weight of the A330-200 further, to 240t.

Chief operating officer for customers John Leahy, speaking to Flightglobal Pro in Hamburg, said the airframer was "getting better results than we thought" from the sharklets fitted to the A320

He said initial results indicated improvements which exceeded early estimates of 3.4%.

Leahy said Airbus was "studying" the possibility of putting sharklets on the A330, and added: "Right now we're still several months away from a decision."

The process was complex, he said, because the A330 already has winglets, so the benefit of sharklets would have to be clear, and the airframer needed to analyse wing loading - particularly because it was also trying to raise the A330-200's maximum take-off weight to 240t.

He said the airframer would "ideally" look for a retrofit as well as new-build solution, but pointed out that Airbus could not indicate a production date until it had determined the nature of the sharklet design. "We don't know what 'it' is," said Leahy.

Leahy added that Airbus would also like to raise the take-off weight of its A330-300, to "the same" level of 240t

Après l'amélioration de l'A320, celle de l'A330. Selon nos informations confirmées par Airbus, l'avionneur planche sur une amélioration des performances de l'A330-300, un biréacteur long-courrier de moyenne capacité (300 sièges en configuration biclasses), mis en service au début des années 90. L'objectif est de pouvoir allonger le rayon d'action de l'A330-300 (la version 200 n'est pas concernée), aujourd'hui de 10.100 kilomètres, de 400 miles nautiques (742 kilomètres) pour qu'il puisse s'attaquer à des lignes que seuls des Boeing 777 ou 787 peuvent assurer depuis l'arrêt, l'an dernier, de la production du quadriréacteur A340. Plusieurs compagnies aériennes ont déjà été sondées.

"Airbus cherche clairement occuper la place laissée par l'A340-300", explique un observateur. Cette performance ne passera par une nouvelle motorisation comme dans le cas de l'A320 Neo, mais par l'augmentation de 5 tonnes de la masse maximale au décollage de l'A330-300, qui sera portée à 240 tonnes. De quoi permettre d'embarquer plus de carburant et d'allonger ainsi la durée des vols. Pour y parvenir certains éléments de l'avion doivent être obligatoirement renforcés. Afin de compenser cet excès de poids et ne pas augmenter la masse à vide de l'avion, Airbus va cherche à alléger d'autres parties de l'appareil. Les pièces communes à l'A340 et l'A330 dont l'utilité était réservée aux seuls A340 seront ainsi retirées.

Cet A330-300 amélioré pourrait être mis en service d'ici trois ou quatre ans. "Il va nous permettre de couvrir tous les besoins du marché car il n'y aura pas de trous entre l'A330-300 et l'A350, dont la première des trois versions (l'A350-900 de 314 sièges répartis en trois classes, Ndlr.) est prévue pour 2014", explique-t-on chez Airbus. Les deux autres, l'A350-800 dont la capacité (270 sièges en version triclasses) est la plus proche de l'A330-300, et l'A350-1000 (350 sièges) sont elles prévues en 2016 et 2017. Même l'investissement financier de l'amélioration de l'A330 devrait être limité, l'initiative a néanmoins du mal à convaincre certains analystes financiers.

The production of Airbus’ A330 reached a rate of nine per month in January, bringing the output of this popular twin-engine jetliner to a record rate in meeting international demand. Assembly of the A330 is performed in Toulouse, France, with Airbus planning a further ramp-up to 9.5 aircraft monthly. The A330 is operated in passenger and freighter versions, along with its use as a multi-role military aerial refueling platform and airlifter. As of year-end 2011, Airbus had booked orders for 1,186 A330s, of which 837 had been delivered.

The information you require is normally contained in the Configuration Deviation List of the Flight Manual. The A330's is as follows:-

(m) One may be missing provided hole is covered.
Increase fuel consumption by 1 %.
Reduce the takeoff and approach climb
performance limiting weight by 2.5 %.
Reduce the one engine inoperative ceiling by
250 ft.

There is no time limit on CDl ITEMS but...

GENERAL

The configuration deviation list belongs to chapter 2 LIMITATIONS ol this flight manual. Flight with certain secondary airframe missing parts is possible, as indicated in this kst Any part not included in this list must be considered as necessary.
It is important to repair the airplane at the first airport where repairs or replacements may reasonably be made, since additional malfunctions may require the aircraft to be taken out of service. A Letter (m) against an item indicates that some maintenance action is necessary to permit flight with these parts missing. Refer to he related Section of the Maintenance Manual for this information,

LIMITATiONS
No more then one part or one combination of part of one system may be missing Parts of different systems may be simultaneously missing, unless otherwise specified with this list. When a missing part introduces additional limitation this limitation is indicated in the Remarks and/or exceptions column. This limitation comes in addition to limitations of chapter 2 of Flight Manual. It must be clearly indicated by a placard on the captains instrument panel

PERFORMANCE
Perfomance penalties are cumulative unless specific penalties for particular combinations of missing parts are indicated. These take off, en route and landing penalties apply to the most limiting corresponding weight.

Hope this helps.

DTG