Airbus A330 – Leading Operators Around the World

Airbus A330 – Success as a Commercial Jet

Airbus A330 is a wide-body commercial aircraft for mid and long-haul flights. The aircraft has been in service since 1994. Many operators, especially Airlines around the world, are still flying it. The aircraft is unique to Airbus in terms of its competition with other long-haul aircraft of Boeing. The A330 reached to 1000th mark in mid-2013 in the category of wide-body long-haul aircraft.

Read more: Airbus a Name to Reckon With

Present Scenario on Airbus A330

The aircraft is still fetching orders for Airbus from more than 120 operators around the globe. As of now, more than 1800 A330’s have been delivered to various operators. The older variants of A330 are the ‘ceo’ [current engine option]. At the same time, the latest variant is known as ‘neo’ [ne engine option].

Read more: Airbus Commercial Aircraft Division

Regional Deployment of the Airbus A330s

The growth in global long-haul travel from the developing world, particularly in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and certain segments of Europe, has improved in recent years. This growth ensured the presence of the  A330 and its demand in the market. The aircraft, however, could not fare well on the American Continent. Only two operators in North America have employed Airbus A330 as part of their fleet. Considering the market position, Airbus A330ceo is doing pretty well among other long-haul aircraft of similar configuration. Many airlines still prefer to have an A33o in their fleet.

The Leading Operators

Turkish Airlines – European Region

As of record, Turkish Airlines has the largest fleet of the A330s than any other operator in Europe as well as in the world. This includes the freighter variants as well. However, the discussion will remain confined to the commercial variants. Despite considering the commercial variants only, it is still in lead in the European region. The details of the Turkish Airlines A330 fleet is as follows:-

Turkish Airlines received delivery of the A330-300 in September, 2010. It already had A330-200 variant in its fleet prior to this delivery. Turkish Airlines had received its first A330-200 in December 2005. Over the last decade, the airlines has managed to bring a total of 40 A330-300 to its substantially big fleet. With the total number tallying 54, this is the largest number of A330 commercial fleet in the European Region. However, talking in terms of both commercial and freighters, Turkish Airlines is still the global leader of the A330s!

Air China – Asia Pacific Region

Air China has the largest A330 fleet in the Asia Pacific Region. As per the current statistics of A330 commercial aircraft, Air China takes the lead from Turkish Airlines by three aircraft. Moreover, it has 58 A330s in its present fleet. The fleet details are as follows:-

Furthermore, Asia Pacific is quite a big market for A330s. China Eastern Airlines comes at second after Air China in terms of A330 fleet size. It has 55 A330s in its present fleet. Similarly, in third place for the most A330s in Asia is the China Southern, which operates a fleet of 50 A330s. The remaining operators in Asia Pacific Region include Cathay Pacific with 43, Hainan with 34, Korean with 29, and Garuda with 27 A330 types in their fleets.

Saudia Airlines – Middle East Region

After the Asia Pacific and Europe, Middle East has the highest number of A330 aircraft. Saudi Airlines has the largest fleet of A330 in the Middle East among all carriers of this region. It has a fleet size of 32 A330 aircraft.

Delta Airlines – North American Region

Delta Airlines is the largest operator in North America that is flying the Airbus A330s. It has a fleet size of 50 of the given type. Hawaiian Airlines follows, but with a fleet size of 24 aircraft. As a matter of fact, the A330 could not compete strongly in the USA against its counterparts of similar configuration from Boeing, unlike its other family members from the A320 family. The unique thing about Delta Airlines is its fleet composition of the A330s. It is also maintaining the most recent and new Airbus A330-900neo, apart from the A330-300 and A330-200. Details of the fleet are as follows:-

Final Review on Airbus A330

Airbus maintains an optimistic view about the A330 since older customers and new orders in the future will keep the A330 in the market for another decade or so. Although with the arrival of the A350 and Boeing 787, the aircraft has lost the flood of orders. It will remain the choice of many operators due to its pricing, availability, reliability, and efficiency.

The aircraft has maintained a strong foothold in the Asia Pacific Region. However, there is still room for further demands. The two big markets of South America and Africa have not tried this aircraft yet. Maybe, the A330neo might be able to fetch some orders from these untapped markets shortly as soon as travel returns to its normal after the pandemic.

Written by guest writer, Faisal Bashir