Airbus plans to modify Boeing's new mid-size jet

Airbus will offer a modified version of its A330neo Wide Body designed for shorter journeys, to limit the demand for a new medium-lift aircraft that Boeing is expected to launch next year.

Crawford Hamilton, director of aircraft marketing, said Monday in an interview in Toulouse that the A330neo engines could be brought down to a lower thrust, helping to reduce fuel load and take-off weight La France.

This would make the model more suitable for mid-range routes that Boeing would target with its 797 jet aircraft. While the A330 will remain a larger aircraft, Airbus seeks to reduce the global market for the new Boeing, with Narrow body versions of A321neo already eat in the bottom of the same niche with a series of sales to transatlantic carriers.

The maximum take-off weight of the A330neo is 242 metric tons, but it could be reduced to 200 tons, while its Rolls-Royce Holdings engines could be reduced to 72,000 kilograms of thrust, Hamilton said.

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He spoke after Airbus delivered its first A330neo to the Portuguese company TAP. This delivery is about a year behind test problems and delays in the development of Rolls-Royce's Trent 7000 turbines.

With the A330neo and the changes made to the A321neo, Airbus wants to "completely reduce the gap between single-aisle and long-haul," said Guillaume Faury, who will head the airline lineup branch. the company and that should become the group 's general manager next year. .

The A321's capacity expansion projects with an XLR model – for the very long-range – are gaining popularity among customers and will be detailed next year, he said.

The A330neo, a reinvented version of a model that dates back to the original A300 model of Airbus, is struggling to sell the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a brand new concept that uses a construction largely composite to reduce fuel consumption.

According to Hamilton, the mere fact that the A330 is still there shows that the 787 "fails in its mission," adding that while the Airbus aircraft is heavier, its higher seat count offers better profitability by passenger. In the early years, the original A330 was also sold slowly before demand grew, he said.

Airbus is also targeting the A330neo to replace the similarly sized Boeing 767, abandoned as a passenger aircraft, and even the largest of the 777, whose older models are about to retire, Hamilton said. .