- On 30 June 1994, an A330 owned by Airbus on a test flight simulating an engine failure on climbout crashed shortly after takeoff from Toulouse, killing all seven on board.
- On 15 March 2000, a Malaysia Airlines A330-300 was severely damaged by corrosive liquids that were being transported in the cargo hold on a passenger flight from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur. The oxalyl chloride was mistakenly declared as the non-toxic solid hydroxyquinoline. Eighteen canisters of the substance were transported via Kuala Lumpur intended to transit to Chennai. Some of the canisters leaked and chemicals spilled into the aircraft's cargo hold, causing five airport workers at Kuala Lumpur to fall ill as they were unloading baggage, and resulting in extensive corrosion damage to the fuselage, wing box structure, and undercarriage. The aircraft was subsequently written-off. On 12 June 2007, a court in Beijing ordered China National Chemical Construction Corp, the owner of the cargo, to pay US$65 million to Malaysia Airlines for the loss.
- On 25 May 2000, an Airbus A330-301 on Philippine Airlines Flight 812, en-route from Davao City, the Philippines, to Manila, was hijacked. The hijacker robbed valuables before parachuting off. He died in the jump, and was the only fatality out of 298 people on board.
- On 24 July 2001, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Two SriLankan Airlines A330s were destroyed, among other airliners and military aircraft.
- On 7 October 2008, an A330-303 (VH-QPA) on Qantas Flight 72 suffered a rapid loss of altitude in two sudden uncommanded pitch down manoeuvres, causing serious injuries while 150 km (81 nmi) from the Learmonth air base in northwestern Australia. After declaring an emergency, the aircraft landed safely at Learmonth. A total of 106 people onboard the Airbus A330 were injured, fourteen seriously. A year after the incident Qantas still did not know what caused the critical computer malfunction.
- On 1 June 2009, an A330-203 on Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board, disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft crashed in the Atlantic Ocean 640–800 kilometres (350–430 nmi) northeast of the islands of Fernando de Noronha. All passengers and crew were killed. Malfunctioning pitot tubes provided an early focus for the investigation.
- On 25 December 2009, a passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, an A330-300, attempted to detonate explosives in his underwear while the flight was in the air. Passengers and crew subdued the perpetrator, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
- On 13 April 2010, an A330-300 on Cathay Pacific Flight 780 from Surabaya, Indonesia, with 309 passengers and thirteen crew on board, made an emergency landing at Hong Kong International Airport due to a dual engine problem. Several tires deflated due to severe braking as the aircraft landed at high speed. Eight passengers were injured. The preliminary incident report suggested that contamination of the fuel loaded at Surabaya caused the engine throttles to jam.
- On 12 May 2010, an A330-202 on Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, crashed on approach to Tripoli International Airport, Libya on a flight from OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. All but one of the 104 people on board were killed, the sole survivor being a nine-year-old Dutch boy.
The Airbus A330 is a large-capacity, wide-body, twin-engine, medium- to long-range commercial passenger jet airliner. Depending on the variant, it has a range of 7,400 to 13,430 kilometres (4,000 to 7,250 nmi), can accommodate up to 335 passengers in a two-class layout, or carry 70 tonnes (150,000 lb) of cargo. The A330 was originally developed by Airbus Industrie, and is manufactured at Toulouse, France.
Airbus began studying derivatives of its A300 in the 1970s before moving to larger designs and launching the A330 and A340 in June 1987. The A330 was developed in parallel with the four-engine Airbus A340, with which it shares common airframe components. It incorporates fly-by-wire technology, introduced by Airbus on the A320, and the company also decided that the A330 and A340 would share a common cockpit with the A320. The A330 was the first Airbus airliner with three engine options: the General Electric CF6, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, and Rolls-Royce Trent 700.
The A330-300, the first A330 passenger variant, took its maiden flight on 2 November 1992, and entered commercial service with Air Inter in 1994. Due to dwindling sales, Airbus followed up with the slightly shorter, but more popular A330-200 variant in 1998. Airbus has also used the A330 as the basis for development of a dedicated freighter, as well as two tanker variants: the A330 MRTT and, in conjunction with Northrop Grumman, the proposed KC-45.
Since its launch, the A330 has allowed Airbus to expand its market share in wide-body airliner sales. Airlines have selected the A330 as a replacement for less economical trijet airliners, and to compete with rival twinjet aircraft. Boeing has offered variants of the 767 and 777 as competitors, and it is expected to begin deliveries of the 787 Dreamliner in late 2011. Airbus's A350 will also share this wide-body airliner market. As of April 2011 the A330's order book stood at 1,122, of which 780 had been delivered. The largest operator is Delta Air Lines with 32 aircraft. The A330 is expected to continue selling until at least 2015.
The A330 is a medium-sized, wide-body (twin-aisle) airliner, with two engines suspended on pylons under the wings. On the ground, the two-wheel nose undercarriage and two 4-wheel bogie main legs built by Messier-Dowty support a maximum ramp weight (MRW) of 230.9 t (509,000 lb), while the designed maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is 230 t (510,000 lb) on the A330-200 variant. An option allows a maximum ramp weight of 233.9 t (516,000 lb) with a maximum takeoff weight of 233.0 t (514,000 lb).
The A330 is a low-wing cantilever monoplane, whose wing is virtually identical to that of the Airbus A340. The wing is swept back at 30 degrees, and, along with other design features, allows a maximum operating Mach number of 0.86. Originally designed with a 56 m (183 ft 9 in) span, it was later extended to 58.6 m (192 ft 3 in), and finally to 60.3 m (197 ft 10 in). Each wing also has a 2.74 m (9 ft 0 in) winglet, instead of the wingtip fences found on earlier Airbus aircraft. The wing has a very high thickness to chord ratio of 12.8%, which means that a long span and high aspect ratio can be attained without a severe weight penalty; for comparison, the rival MD-11 has a thickness to chord ratio of 8–9%. Both true laminar flow and variable camber types of wing were considered, but neither were incorporated in the final design.
The failure of International Aero Engines to deliver the radical ultra-high-bypass V2500 "SuperFan", which had promised a significant fuel burn reduction of around 15% for the A340 led Airbus to redesign, among other things, the A340 wing to compensate for the loss in predicted engine efficiency. The wings were designed and manufactured by BAe, and the new design was a long slender wing with a very high aspect ratio to provide high aerodynamic efficiency.[Nb 4] The A330 also benefited since it shared the same basic wing with the A340. At 60.3 m (198 ft), the wingspan is similar to the larger Boeing 747-200, but with only 65% of the wing area.
The A330's fuselage and major components, like its wing, is largely in common with the A340. It features the same fuselage and cabin width as the Airbus A300-600, at 5.64 m (18 ft 6 in) and 5.28 m (17 ft 4 in), respectively. The aircraft's airframe is primarily based on that of the A300-600, with many parts in common. This allows for 2–2–2 six-abreast seat arrangement in first and business class, and 2–4–2 eight-abreast in economy. The A330's vertical stabiliser and rudder are made mostly of composite materials.
As of April 2011, 775 Airbus A330 of all types were in airline service. In July 2010 there were a total 401 A330-200s in service with various airlines, including Emirates (27), Air China (20), TAM Linhas Aereas (18), Etihad Airways (16), Qatar Airways (16), Air France (15), and others with fewer aircraft. For the A330-300, there were 344 in service, with Cathay Pacific (31), Delta Air Lines (21), Thai Airways International (20), China Airlines (18), Korean Air (16), and others with smaller numbers.
Notable accidents and incidents:
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