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Airbus’ newest jet, the A330-900neo, successfully completed its first flight on Oct. 19 when it landed at Toulouse-Blagnac, France. The aircraft was powered by the latest technology Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 turbofans.

Airbus has developed a fast-paced development program from launch to first A330neo delivery. This will include 1,100 flight hours for the A330-900 campaign – to achieve its EASA and FAA Type Certification around the middle of 2018. An additional 300 flight hours is also allocated for the A330-800’s own certification flight-test campaign. These respective campaigns will be performed in an ‘airline like’ environment, ensuring maximum aircraft maturity and reliability at entry into service (EIS) with A330-900 launch operator TAP Portugal. This phase will also define the mature aircraft documentation to be available for airline operators at EIS.

Overall, the full flight-test campaigns for both models will be performed by two A330-900s and one A330-800 respectively. To complement these dedicated flight-test aircraft, the first production A330-900 aircraft will also be tasked to validate the full airspace cabin.

Launched in July 2014, the A330neo is the latest generation in Airbus' market-leading A330 product line, comprising two versions: the A330-800 and A330-900. Both of these widebody aircraft incorporate new Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, nacelle, titanium pylon, new wings and an Airspace by Airbus Cabin. The most visible new features of the A330neo are the new wing span extensions to 64m total (up from the CEO’s 60.3m span) and the specially developed curved wingtip Sharklets – which draw on A350 XWB technology. According to Airbus, less visible, but equally important is the implementation of enhanced 3D-optimized aerodynamic refinements along the overall wing profile. Meanwhile, the Trent 7000s deliver double-digit fuel burn improvements and the quietest operation due to latest technology components, materials, new ‘zero-splice’ inlet and composite nacelle, ‘fully-faired’ pylon and also the larger (112-inch diameter) slower-rotating front fan with a bypass ratio of 10:1 – compared with the typical 5:1 ratio of previous-generation turbofans.

To date, 12 customers have placed orders for a total of 212 A330neos