A330-800neo Progress

The fuselage section for the first Airbus A330-800neo under assembly in Hamburg. Final assembly of the aircraft is due to start by the end of the year.
Airbus

Production of parts is advancing for the first Airbus A330-800neo. The wing is being equipped in Bremen, the Sharklet wingtip devices by Korean Air Aerospace Industries, the fuselage in Hamburg, the titanium engine pylons in Toulouse and the centre wing box in Nantes. Airbus plans to begin final assembly work on the aircraft at the A330 Final Assembly Line in Toulouse by the end of the year, with the first flight in 2018.

The A330-800neo is optimised for 250 seats and its larger A330-900neo stablemate for 300 seats. The variants aim to cut fuel burn by 14% per seat from the A330-200 and A330-300, with an initial ten maximum take-off weight options available ranging from 230,000kg (507,063lb) to 242,000kg (533,519lb). The A330-900neo was due to have flown by the end of the third quarter of the year, but at the time of writing it had not yet done so.

Mark Broadbent