Photo – First A330-200 Freighter

The first Airbus A330-200 Freighter is seen here in preparation for ground tests in advance of its maiden flight scheduled for November 2009.
The most notable visual difference to the passenger version is a bulge on the bottom of the fuselage right above the nose gear. To overcome the cool looking standard A330’s nose-down body angle on the ground, unfortunately the A330F makes use of a revised nose landing gear layout. 🙁 The same leg will be used, however it will be attached lower in the fuselage, requiring a distinctive blister fairing on the nose to accommodate the retracted nose-gear.

Airbus A330-200F

Airbus A330F Nose Gear Blister Fairing

The A330-200F received its industrial go-ahead in January 2007. The first A330-200F has been rolled out in Toulouse on October 20, 2009.

The A330-200F is a mid-size, long-haul all-cargo aircraft capable of carrying 64 tonnes over 4,000 NM / 7,400 km, or 69 tonnes up to 3,200 NM / 5,930 km. It introduces a new versatile main-deck cargo loading system that will be able to accommodate both pallets and containers. Several different arrangements will be possible on the main deck, taking up to 23 Side-by-Side (SBS) pallets, aimed at the high volume, high value commodities or Single Row (SR) loading of 16 pallets (96 in X 96 in X 125 in SR pallets) and/or nine AMA containers aimed at the general cargo higher density markets.

Power is provided by two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines.

As of 1 January 2009, Airbus had 65 firm orders from nine customers: Aircastle (7), BOC Aviation (5), Etihad Airways (3), Flyington Freighters (12), Guggenheim Aviation Partners (2), Intrepid Aviation Group (20), MatlinPatterson (6), MNG Airlines (2), and OH, Avion LLC (8). Additionally ACT Airlines has signed an MOU for 2. The first delivery will be to Flyington Freighters in Spring 2010.

Photo: Airbus