Airbus A330neo maiden flight takes place in France

CAIRO – 19 October 2017: The first Airbus A330neo took off from Blagnac in Toulouse, France on Thursday to be the first of three certification flight-test aircrafts. The Airbus A330neo is a wide-body jet airliner powered by the latest Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 turbofans technology.

Ready to power into the future! Relive the first flight of Airbus' newest aircraft: the #A330neo. #A330neoFF pic.twitter.com/BIfPWRsJL6

— Airbus (@Airbus) October 19, 2017

The certification development program for A330-900 requires 1,400 flight hours to obtain the EASA and FAA certifications by mid-2018 and 300 flight hours for the A330-800 to be certified by 2019.

Launched in July 2014, the latest generation of the Airbus wide-body family builds upon the A330’s proven economics, versatility and reliability; while reducing fuel consumption by a further 14 percent per seat.

Both models of the A330neo generation – A330-800 and A330-900 – accommodate 257 and 287 passengers respectively in a three-class seating layout. They are also powered by the latest-generation Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, accommodate up to 10 extra seats, offer new “airspace” cabin amenities, and feature a new larger span wing with Sharklet wingtip devices.

The maiden flight by the A330-900 took place over southwestern France. The crew in the cockpit on board this flight comprised experimental test pilots Thierry Bourges, Thomas Wilhelm and test-flight engineer Alain Pourchet.

The engineers monitoring the aircraft systems and performance in real-time at the flight-test station are Jean-Philippe COTTET, Emiliano Requena Esteban and Gert Wunderlich.