Airbus managed to allocate one of the last A330-300s manufactured and not delivered to the company K5-Aviation, from Germany. The widebody was converted to the ACJ330-300 standard, being the first of the model intended for business aviation.
Until now, only VIP versions of the A330-200 had been produced, for civil and government use. The ACJ330-300 was ordered in 2021 and will now undergo a reconfiguration by Fokker Techniek.
The aircraft will have a VIP cabin measuring 243 m² and will be able to fly nonstop for up to 8,650 nm/16,000 km – around 18.5 hours of flight time.
The A330-300 delivered to K5-Aviation was originally manufactured for Hong Kong Airlines, along with other aircraft of the model that have been completed. But the airline, in serious financial crisis, did not receive them.
Serial number 1907, the ACJ330-300 first flew in November 2018 and even received the Hong Kong livery.
According to Airbus’ January 2022 order and delivery report, there are still 12 A330-300s pending delivery. Four of the planes are associated with undisclosed customers and eight for Chinese lessor CASC, which includes the aircraft that would be received by Hong Kong Airlines.
Despite the significant amount, no new A330-300s are expected to roll off the assembly line at Airbus, which only produces government or military versions like the A330 MRTT.
The last passenger A330-300 was delivered to Aer Lingus at the end of February 2020, after after 26 years in production. Air Inter had introduced the widebody into service in January 1994.
