The latest development of Airbus’s highly successful A330 wide-body airliner family, the A330neo, is set to have its design frozen by the end of this year and should enter into service in late 2017. Neo stands for ‘new engine option’ and the A330neo is the major airliner manufacturer’s second such programme, following on from the A320neo (which is due to enter service later this year).

The twin-engined A330neo will be powered by the latest-generation Rolls-Royce power plant, the Trent 7000. This will provide a lower specific fuel consumption while, because it is a development of the current Trent engine family (the first version of which, the Trent 700, entered service in 1995), minimising risk. Rolls-Royce describes the Trent 7000 as the seventh generation of the Trent family.

But there are significant other changes to the aircraft as well. “We have extended the wingspan,” noted Airbus commercial aircraft executive VP and head of programmes Didier Evrard. Large winglets, known to Airbus as ‘sharklets’, have been added to the ends of the wings. The aerodynamics of the aircraft have been “reoptimised”. The new engines and the aerodynamic improvements will reduce fuel consumption by 14%.

The cabin layout has also been optimised, increasing efficiency and increasing capacity by up to ten seats. And the cabin as a whole has been modernised. “It will be the same cabin as on the A350,” pointed out company COO:customers John Leahy.

Yet the A330neo retains 95% spares commonality with the existing A330. And, if the regulatory agencies agree, the A330neo could have the same type rating as the A330 (meaning that, if you are qualified to fly the one, you are automatically qualified to fly the other). More strikingly, the regulators have already approved a common type rating for the A330neo and Airbus’s latest new design, the A350XWB family. Because of this, pilots moving from one type to the other do not need to do full training on their new type but only carry out “differences training”, which will reduce pilot conversion training time by 65%.

“We can see the A330 and A350 families as a truly integrated family,” affirmed Evrard. “We are delivering more value to our customers without them taking high risk.” Indeed, the A330neo programme also reduces the risk for Airbus. “All the experience from the A380 and A350 [programmes] has been taken on board.” Airbus has already received 145 firm orders for the A330neo, which will come in two models, the A330-800neo (which will be the successor of the current A330-200) and the A330-900neo (which will replace the A330-300).

Not that development of the current A330 family has stopped. At the end of May, the first 242 t maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) version of the A330-300 was delivered to Delta Air Lines of the US. This version can take an optional centre fuselage fuel tank, has shortened flap track fairings and improved engines. Fuel consumption can be reduced by 2% and range increased to 6 100 nautical miles (nm). Back in 1994, the early model A330-300 had a range of 3 950 nm and a MTOW of 212 t. Delta already operates eleven A330-200s and twenty-one A330-300s and has nine more A330-330s on order (excluding the new one handed over on May 28). The airline has also ordered twenty-five A330-900neos (as well as twenty-five A350-900s).

A 242 t version of the A330-200 will also become available, from next year. Further, a lower-weight version of the A330-300, for regional operations, is also on offer, although it has not yet been ordered. To date, a total of 1 183 A330s have been delivered and the order backlog stands at 319. “We have made this the world’s best-selling widebody,” highlighted Leahy.

Didier Evrard and John Leahy were speakers at the Airbus Innovation Day 2015, in Toulouse, France, which Keith Campbell attended as a guest of the company.