summary
- Airbus has received an order for one new A330-800, bringing the total number of orders for this aircraft to 12.
- The identity of the customer who ordered it is unknown, but it is speculated that he may be a government official or a wealthy individual.
- It is unclear whether the newly ordered aircraft will be completely new or whether it could be an existing A330-800 testbed aircraft.
Earlier this year, Airbus quietly added another A330-800 to its order. This increased the total number of orders for this variant from his 11 to 12. While this type of activity may not be considered new to most people, the trends surrounding this slow-selling variant take it to an even more interesting level.
We have added one more A330-800 customer.
For quite some time, the Airbus A330-800 order book was stuck at 11.
But earlier this year, that number rose to 12.Of course, to be a little cheeky, we did it It said the 2023 order increases the total number of A330-800 aircraft on order by nearly 10%.
Photo: Airbus
So who exactly is this latest customer?According to Airbus’ publicly available and downloadable order and delivery spreadsheet file (accurate as of September 30, 2023), this single order It was done by a company. “Government, Executive Jets and Private Jets” Category.
unknown customer
Unfortunately, the operator who actually placed the order remains unknown. The deal appears to have closed in the first quarter of 2023, but no new details have been disclosed.
No new customers are listed in the production list for the A330-800 on Planespotters.net, even though it has been several months since the order was recorded. Furthermore, according to the website Aviation Flights, the latest activity related to the production of the A330-800 was that on December 7, 2022, the aircraft registered OY-GKN (MSN 2020) was delivered to Air Greenland. That’s it. Yes, 2023 was a very quiet year. Anything related to A330-800 manufacturing.
Photo: Airbus
At the risk of stating the obvious, it’s clear that this aircraft will be a means of transportation for government officials, wealthy executives, and individuals. If the latter, the jet could be equipped with the interior of his A330 ACJ.
Will new orders be made for old aircraft?
Another question that needs to be answered is whether the aircraft will be a completely new construction or could be an A330-800 configured as a testbed for Airbus.
Airbus has one A330-800 in its inventory. This jet was registered to his F-WTTO to MSN 1888 and was his first ever A330-800. It has been open for five years, and flight tracking services such as Flightradar24 indicate that no flights have been conducted on the aircraft in years. In fact, Planespotters.net states that this particular jet is stored in Toulouse as of his June 2020 date.
It is not uncommon for testbeds, prototypes, and early production jets to be sold to customers. In fact, the 737 MAX 7 aircraft currently being used for testing will eventually end up at Southwest Airlines. The testbed 737 MAX 10 is listed for delivery on United Airlines. On the Airbus side, one of his earliest A321neo aircraft is currently operated by Vietjet Air. Perhaps Airbus has priced it right and finally found a new home for this lonely A330-800.
it’s just a matter of time
Eventually, production lists and registrations will change to reflect the new A330-800 operator, even if it’s an obscure name or leasing company. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with this mysterious command.
Any thoughts on who would want to order one of the A330-800s? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!
source: planespotters.net, Air mail, flight radar 24