The stretched-fuselage A330-300 matches twin-engine efficiency with increased passenger capacity – all while retaining the A330 Family’s highly comfortable, low-noise cabin and operating commonality with the entire Airbus fly-by-wire product line. This jetliner currently has a range of up to 5,570 nautical miles while carrying 300 passengers in a typical two-cabin arrangement, seating 36 in first or business class at a 60-inch seat pitch, and 264 in economy at 32-inch pitch.
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A further enhancement of the A330 comes with Airbus’ launch of an increased maximum takeoff weight capability to 242 metric tonnes. With this improvement, the A330-300 will benefit from up to 500 nautical miles of extra range, to 6,100 nautical miles – with 300 passengers, and carry nearly five tonnes more payload than the previous 235-tonne aircraft. In operational terms, the increased takeoff weight A330-300 will be able to connect to the following new city pairs: London to Tokyo; Frankfurt to Cape Town; Beijing to Melbourne; Beijing to San Francisco; Kuala Lumpur to Paris; and Los Angeles to Dublin.
Airbus will apply the 242-tonne maximum takeoff weight capability first to the A330-300, with an entry in service targeted for mid-2015 (followed by the A330-200 and A330-200F). With these enhancements, Airbus will have added some 50 per cent more range to the A330-300 since its service entry, while reducing maintenance costs by 20 per cent.