5 Things about Airbus's revamped wide-body airliner plan

Airbus Group NV is preparing to up the ante in its long-running rivalry with Boeing Co. with a new competitor for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner.

The twist?

Airbus doesn’t have another new plane to woo airlines as its A350 wide-body jetliner prepares to enter service later this year.

Instead, it is talking to airlines about a major upgrade of its existing A330 long-range jet which it would equip with more fuel-efficient engines. With Airbus possibly planning to confirm details of the revamped plane at this year’s Farnborough Air Show, it will hope to repeat the success of the new engine option it offered airlines on its A320 single-aisle jet which grabbed market share from Boeing’s 737 equivalent.

1 -  Saving Fuel with the A330neo

Improvements should make the A330 14% more efficient than the current versions through the combination of new engines and better aerodynamics. Fuel is the single biggest cost for airlines. The A330neo would fly as much as 400 nautical miles farther, giving a smaller A330-200neo and larger A330-300neo models ranges of 7,450 and 6,250 nautical miles respectively.

2 - More Efficient Thrust

Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC will develop the Trent 7000 engine to deliver 72,600 pounds of thrust. The engine will have a  fan of 112 inches in diameter, significantly larger than the 97 inches on the current A330 engine, one of the main reasons for its more efficient performance.

3 - Potential Customers

Airbus expects A330neo sales to top 1,000 aircraft if it goes ahead and builds the jet.  If so, the aircraft would gain a significant extra lease of life considering Airbus has so far notched up more than 1,300 orders for the plane in its current form.

4 - The Price for Airlines

The A330neo will likely cost slightly more than the current models. The list price, one usually heavily discounted by Airbus, for the A330-200 is $221.7 million while the A330-300 retails for $245.6 million. But Airbus is betting that the new A330 will still be cheaper than Boeing’s nearest competitor aircraft.

 

5 - Chasing the Dreamliner

 

Airbus is under a degree of pressure from Boeing now that the U.S. group’s 787 Dreamliner is in service. Airbus’s newest plane, the A350 which shares some similar new technology with the 787 such as lightweight composite materials, is still undergoing test flights. Revamping the A330, which first flew back in 1992, remains a potentially lucrative option. It lets Airbus keep an older, profitable aircraft, whose development costs are long sunk, viable  for many more years.

 

(Robert Wall and Jon Ostrower - The Wall Street Journal)