UAE: Etihad Airways Orders Two More A330 Passenger Aircraft

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates has signed a firm order for two additional A330-200 passenger aircraft as part of the carrier’s continued growth plans.

These newly ordered aircraft, like Etihad’s current A330 fleet, will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. Etihad Airways has also converted seven of its previously ordered A320s to the larger and increasingly popular A321 model.

Etihad Airways President and Chief Executive Officer, James Hogan said: “The reliable and highly versatile Airbus A330-200 has been an integral part of our global passenger and cargo success. As our operations and network continue to grow in scale, we feel the A330-200 is the right fleet type to expand with. Our decision to convert seven of our A320s on order into A321s reflects the increasingly strong demand we are seeing across our different routes and we look forward to taking delivery of our first in November 2013.”

“Winning a fifth repeat order from Etihad for A330s is without a doubt a strong endorsement for the aircraft’s unique combination of unbeatable economics, versatility and fuel efficiency,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. “In response to the continuing strong demand, we’re making the A330 better and better, with for example new higher weight variants which offer our customers more payload-range capability with the same high operational reliability.”

The A330 Family, which spans 250 to 300 seats, and includes Freighter, VIP, and Military Transport/Tanker variants, has now attracted more than 1,200 orders and around 900 aircraft are flying with over 90 operators worldwide. Ever since the original version of the A330-300 entered service, the hallmark has been its very efficient operating economics and benchmark reliability above 99 percent.