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22-Jul-2013 9:54 AM

Airbus delivers its 1000th A330 to Cathay Pacific

Airbus celebrated (19-Jul-2013) the delivery of the 1000th A330, with the delivery of an A330-300 powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines handed over to Cathay Pacific on 19-Jul-2013. Cathay Pacific together with sister airline Dragonair is the world's largest operator of the A330, with a total of 56 now in service. Cathay Pacific COO Ivan Chu said, "The A330 is the backbone of our mid-size fleet and we are delighted with the reliability, flexibility and above all the economics of this great aircraft. We are very proud to be the recipient of the 1,000th A330." Since its first delivery of the A330 in 1995, Cathay Pacific's Airbus fleet now comprises 38 A330-300s and 11 A340s, while Dragonair operates 21 A320 family aircraft and 18 A330-300s. The Cathay Pacific Group has outstanding orders for 10 more A330-300s. The airline will also take delivery of 48 all-new A350 XWBs in the future, including 46 ordered from Airbus and two leased aircraft. Airbus stated the A330's continued high popularity is reflected in its production cadence: annual rate rises of 10% have brought the output to a record 10 aircraft per month. The A330 family has compiled more than 25 million flight hours on 5.5 million flights with carriers worldwide, demonstrating an operational reliability of over 99%. The manufacturer also noted that around 1250 A330s have been sold to date. Over the last 10 years, Airbus has invested investing one euro in improvements for every euro originally spent developing the aircraft, offering enhancements including cabin upgrades using full LED lighting and fourth-generation IFE, improvements to operating efficiency with reduced fuel consumption. Airbus plans to introduce an higher maximum takeoff weight version in 2015, extending the A330-300's range to 6100nm and the range of the A330-200 to 7250nm. With these upgrades, Airbus will have added about 50% more range since its service entry, while reducing maintenance costs by 20%. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]

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