The least popular aircraft in Airbus history, the A330-800 has so far only 15 aircraft on order.
Although it exhibits relevant performance and includes a range of 15,094 km and capacity to transport up to 260 passengers, the twin-engine widebody was only ordered by four companies.
It’s something that certainly bothers the European planemaker, already grappling with the drop in demand for large aircraft.
But Airbus is taking some steps to try to reverse this situation. One of them was revealed by Flight Global this week, the availability of new variants of the A330neo family.
The subvariants are basically characterized by offering a different maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), which is customary in the market.
But the WV809 variant caught the eye for offering an MTOW of just 200,000 kg (440,924 lb). That is almost 52 tonnes less than the standard version of the A330-800.
The reason to expand the A330-800 variants (and also the larger A330-900) is economical. With lower MTOW, potential customers of these aircraft can reduce air navigation and airport fees paid and which are based on weight.
The benefit cannot be enjoyed by airlines that need the A330neo’s maximum performance, such as its wide range, but it is an attraction for companies that intend to use the widebodies on routes that do not require maximum fuel takeoffs, for example.
So far, only Air Greenland (one aircraft), Garuda Indonesia (4), Uganda Airlines (2) and Kuwait Airways (8) are interested in the A330-800.
