The first development aircraft in Europe-based major aerospace group Airbus’ new A330neo (new engine option) family made its maiden flight on Thursday, from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France. The aircraft took off at 09:57 local time and landed at 14:10, having flown for four hours and 13 minutes.

“Today’s [Thursday’s] first flight of the A330neo marks yet another milestone along the Airbus journey of continuous innovation,” affirmed Airbus chief operating officer and president of Airbus Commercial Aircraft Fabrice Brégier. “My congratulations and thanks go to all the teams who have contributed to make today’s flight happen, and to our customers for choosing this very efficient and capable aircraft to give them market advantage. We look forward to a successful flight test campaign and entry into service of the A330neo in 2018.”

The widebody A330neo family will comprise two versions: the A330-800 and the longer A330-900, and the flight test programme will involve three aircraft, two of which will be A330-900s. The first development aircraft, MSN1795, is a -900. The flight test, development and certification campaign will involve 1 100 flying hours for the A330-900, with another 300 hours for the A330-800. Airbus is aiming for the certification of the A330-900 in both Europe and the US sometime in the middle of next year.

The A330neo is the new generation version of the company’s well-established and highly successful A330 family. Both the A330-800 and A330-900 are powered with new, improved economy, Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 power plants, with new nacelles and engine pylons (made from titanium).

The aircraft also has new wings (which have a greater span, 64 m, than those of previous A330 family aircraft, whose wing span was 60.3 m). The A330neo wings are also fitted with curved wingtips called Sharklets by Airbus – which are based on technology developed for the A350XWB family. The wings also benefit from aerodynamic improvements to their overall profiles.

The new airliners will also be fitted with “Airspace by Airbus” cabins and each will be able to take up to ten more passengers than its conventional engine option counterpart, while increasing their comfort. The A330-900 will thus be able to take a maximum of 287 passengers in a three-class cabin layout, while the equivalent figure for the A330-800 will be 257.

The launch customer for the A330-900 is TAP Air Portugal. To date, 212 A330neos have been ordered by 12 customers.