Airbus slips A330-200F first deliveries into 2010

By Max Kingsley-Jones

Airbus has slipped first deliveries of the A330-200 Freighter into 2010 to enable its production line to accommodate the high demand being experienced by the passenger version of the twinjet.

When the all-cargo 64t payload variant of the A330 was given the go-ahead in January 2007, Airbus said the first aircraft for India's Flyington Freighters, the launch customer, would "join the fleet in the second half of 2009".

However, the airframer now says it has "retimed initial deliveries of the A330-200F to accommodate high demand for the passenger versions".

Production of the freighter and passenger model will be integrated on the Toulouse line, and priority is being given to the latter following a surge in sales driven partly by the widebody capacity shortage created by ongoing delays to the Boeing 787 programme.

Airbus says first deliveries of A330-200Fs to Flyington are due in spring 2010. The first aircraft is to make its maiden flight towards the end of 2009. Flyington has specified Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines for its A330-200Fs. The Rolls-Royce Trent 700 has also been selected by A330-200F customers.