Qantas has made the longest flight ever by an Airbus A330-200 – nonstop from Toulouse, France, to Melbourne, Australia – covering a distance of almost 17,000 km in a flight time of 20 hours and 4 mins.
The flight is believed to have set two new records in its class – a distance without landing of 16,910 km, and the fastest speed between Toulouse and Melbourne of 865 Km/hr.
The delivery flight of the brand-new A330-200 was flown by four Qantas pilots, carried 12 people in a fully equipped passenger cabin, and followed normal operating procedures, highlighting the fuel efficiency of Airbus aircraft.
Qantas’ A330 left Toulouse on 24th December, landed in Melbourne on Christmas day, and entered service today on Qantas domestic services. It is the second of an initial Qantas order for 13 Airbus A330s, which are the backbone of its fleet modernisation on domestic and regional routes.
One of the key reasons that Qantas selected the A330 was that it offered the best economy on short domestic sectors, as well as the range for long nonstop flights to Asia, which are well within ETOPS limits. Qantas is also a launch customer for the Airbus A380, of which it has ordered 12, for deliveries beginning in 2006.
Airbus aircraft have a well-earned reputation for long-range. In October 1992, Airbus pilots flew an A340-300 nonstop from Toulouse to Perth, Australia. And in June 1993 they flew an A340-200 nonstop from Paris to Auckland, New Zealand, and then nonstop back to Paris. The longest previous flight by an A330-200 was made in March 1998, when Airbus pilots flew the aircraft nonstop from Toulouse to Santiago, Chile.
The Airbus A330/A340 family are the most modern and successful airliners in the 250-375 seat class, where they have won the most orders as well as the most customers – some 750 aircraft from over 60 customers. They consistently lead in independent passenger surveys, as well as offering the best value and appeal in the marketplace.
By: mongu - 14th January 2003 at 13:59
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
Possibly, though Biz class pax may conversely have heavier cabin baggage as there is often a laptop to accompany the briefcase.
And I know of a few people who swear blind that it’s cheaper to fly Biz class (with better and more flexible weight restrictions) than fork out for excess baggage charges in Economy!
By: EGNM - 14th January 2003 at 00:18
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
lol – also i’m presuming the avg Joe Buisnessman carries less luggage then Joe Economy? – another big factor as well
By: wysiwyg - 13th January 2003 at 20:30
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
Yes you’ve both struck the nail on the head. Little aeroplanes can go a very long way provided you just have one or two very high paying customers.
I would be very interested to know a typical APS (aircraft prepared for service) weight for a BBJ compared to a typical config 737. I wonder if the weight reduction by removing the vast number of seats is less than the weight of the gold trim!
By: KabirT - 13th January 2003 at 16:49
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
around double the normal business class price i presume?
By: EGNM - 13th January 2003 at 15:05
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
very interesting those comments! – hence the Privatair BBJ that flies frankfurt – newark or JFK on behlaf of lufthansa in full buissness config! – how much a seat i wonder
By: wysiwyg - 13th January 2003 at 10:33
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
Yes but again it was empty!
Let me give you some figures to illustrate the point. Imagine a typical aeroplane that has 200 seats and weighs 60 tonnes when empty. Lets assume that its maximum take off weight is 100 tonnes. This aeroplane would typically burn about 30 tonnes of fuel to cross the pond. So we load 30 tonnes of fuel into the aerplane and we now weigh 90 tonnes giving 10 tonnes remaining for passengers and freight. A typical passenger (including his/her baggage) weighs about 90kg so we can put 111 passengers on board the 200 seater before reaching the max take off weight. Now what we haven’t yet considered that as well as the fuel required to get there we must also carry holding fuel, diversion fuel (enough for ETOPS requirements) and a contingency amount which could easily total another 7 tonnes. Now we weigh 60+37=97 tonnes before adding payload. We can now depart and cross the pond so long as we only carry 33 passengers on our 200 seater and no freight! Those ticket prices had better be very high if we want to make a profit!
One other point to note is that the designers can put on fuel tanks of any size they like but it doesn’t mean you can fill them.
By: EGNM - 12th January 2003 at 22:32
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
the skyservice A320 this year that operated for MYT from Leeds flew direct home from Leeds to Toronto – thats one hell of a long trip in a 320!
By: wysiwyg - 12th January 2003 at 19:12
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
If a real A320 was to fly those routes with a full load you would be swimming the second half of each leg!
By: andrewm - 12th January 2003 at 13:30
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
You shud take a look at my charity organisation, www.wfni.co.uk
We have a program that exactly simulated all fuctions of a Airbus A320 and we are gonna fly our A320 on three long haul routes (as well as other shorter flight) Our longest segments are:
Dubai->Delhi
Nadi->Honolulu (We have just tested this route and it seems fine)
Halifax->Glasgow
Anyone want to try them routes in a real A320?? We shall ahve a full load of people for every trip! (be they virtual)
By: Ren Frew - 12th January 2003 at 13:12
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
I must admit I was a little surprised to find myself going non-stop on an A330 from Dublin to Los Angeles last summer. Not quite in the same league as the Australia flight but a long one for a twin engine all the same. It goes to show what an efficient design the A330 is, and a joy to fly in as well.
By: Bhoy - 11th January 2003 at 17:45
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
yeah, but the seats were fitted for this flight… ‘fully equipped passenger cabin’.
By: KabirT - 11th January 2003 at 16:43
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
yup…specialy when no seats are fixed.
By: wysiwyg - 11th January 2003 at 14:47
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
Any aeroplane can go a long way when it has no payload!
By: EGNM - 11th January 2003 at 11:57
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
sounds gud does that – wonder what it’s actual range is – i’m presuming it may have been able to go further?
By: KabirT - 11th January 2003 at 10:48
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
Thanx for the news. 🙂
By: T5 - 10th January 2003 at 19:10
RE: QANTAS FLIES AIRBUS A330 NONSTOP FROM EUROPE TO AUSTRALIA
Good old A330! Thanks for the information. It goes to show the the A330 is quite an aircraft in more ways than one.
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January 10, 2003 at 6:49 pm