Airbus A330 NEO, A Quick Response to Boeing 787

At Farnborough International Airshow, Airbus made an announcement that a newer version of the A330 is going to be under production soon. The reported plane would be called A330 NEO (New Engine Option), this product is going to be a direct competitor of the Dreamliner.

The A330 from Airbus has been one of the best planes ever built, this has been one of the better models of its time. But the 787, the latest offering from Boeing, has allowed airlines to operates flights at a cheaper rate due to its fuel efficiency. It consumes almost 20% lesser fuel over any other traditional plane. The 787 has been attracting airlines because, this plane has enabled airlines to launch newer routes which didn`t exist earlier.

Airbus claims that with the new A330, they would be able to improve fuel efficiency by almost 14% and this would indirectly increase the range by 400 Nautical miles. Another plus is that, the plane is going to be cheaper than the 787 and would be delivered earlier as the research program is not very long. The first half of 2014 has not been a great one for Airbus because not many orders were held by it. Airbus is somehow trying to attract the lost traction and hope for revival.

We will get our answers only in 2017, when the first A330 NEO rolls out.

The Beast A380 Comes to Mumbai

The legendary Airbus A380, has been going places since years, but due to regulations in India, it was still not to be seen at any Airport in India. It is good that, the DGCA(Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Government of India) realized that it was loosing the flying race to the Gulf Carriers like Emirates, Etihad and Qatar and later they approved the A380 to operate at its major airports (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai).

9 out of the 10 operators who fly the A380 have scheduled operation to India, so the market surely exists for this particular model in the country.

Late in the month of May, Singapore Airlines became the first airline to have scheduled A380 operation in India with a daily services to Delhi and Mumbai. Emirates is not far behind in making a decision, it has quickly picked its favoured destination Mumbai for operations. And now Lufthansa is planning to deploy two planes for the Delhi and Mumbai flights from its global hub the Frankfurt Airport, popularly know as the Fraport.

The Mumbai airport is so unprepared, that increasing passenger numbers is impossible and there is no additional space to either build a huge terminal or add an additional runway. All the landing slots are sold off at Mumbai, the number of seats are limited and tickets to fly in and out of Mumbai is higher compared to other cities in the world. The best an airline could do is, send in their biggest planes to Mumbai.

Before the A380, the largest plane to be allowed to operate at any Indian airport was the Boeing 747, which is again, disappearing quickly because they are being replaced by better, lighter and more fuel efficient planes like the B777, B787 and A330 which are all twin engined and have lower cost per passenger to operate and still fly on the long haul routes.