Airbus A330: the twin-engine widebody workhorse

The Airbus A330 is a twin-engine widebody airliner built by Airbus for medium- to long-haul routes. Airbus markets the current A330-300 as a flexible aircraft for both short, dense routes and long-haul flying². The type has flown for airlines around the world since the 1990s and remains in production and in widespread service¹ today.

Design and development

The original A330 made its first flight on 2 November 1992, developed alongside the four-engine A340 as a shared-wing pair aimed at different route lengths. Airbus later re-engined the family as the A330neo, replacing the original turbofans with Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines¹ to cut fuel burn and extend range without a new airframe programme.

The earlier generation, now called the A330ceo, could be fitted with General Electric CF6-80E1, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700 turbofans, giving airlines a choice Airbus dropped for the neo, which uses the Trent 7000 exclusively¹.

Specifications

The current production model, the A330-300, is 63.66 metres long with a wingspan of 60.3 metres, a span it shares with the shorter A330-200. Its maximum take-off weight is 242,000 kg, while the A330-200 can be configured up to about 251,000 kg. The A330-300 has a range of about 11,750 km²; the longer-range A330-200 reaches roughly 13,450 km, and the newer A330-900 about 13,610 km.

Typical three-class seating on the A330-300 is around 277 passengers, against about 253 on the smaller A330-200 and about 287 on the A330-900. By August 2026, Airbus had delivered 1,672 A330s¹ across both generations.

Variants

The family splits into two generations. The original A330ceo comprises the A330-200 and the longer A330-300, which differ chiefly in length, weight, range and seating as set out above; A330ceo production ended in 2020. The re-engined A330neo family, the A330-800 and A330-900¹, carries the Trent 7000 engine and remains in production, with the A330-900 as the larger and more widely ordered of the two.

Operators and service

The A330 flies with airlines worldwide on both short-haul and long-haul routes, a flexibility Airbus built into the A330-300’s design. The ceo generation ended production in 2020 but continues in airline service¹ alongside the newer neo, which remains in production for new orders.

Similar aircraft

• Boeing 787 Dreamliner: a newer composite-airframe twin-engine widebody aimed at a similar medium- to long-haul market, built by Boeing.
• Airbus A350: Airbus’s newer, larger composite-airframe widebody, positioned above the A330 in the current lineup.