Today German airline Lufthansa started operating its first A330-300 on a scheduled flight from Frankfurt to Cairo and Karthoum, Sudan. The A330-300 is a new Airbus aircraft type in the carrier’s fleet. Lufthansa has ordered ten A330-300s, the spacious medium-range twin-engine aircraft from Airbus’ market leading A330/A340 Family. All A330-300 aircraft will be delivered by end of 2005. The carrier will introduce the aircraft on its route network to the Middle East, Africa and the US East Coast. With 43 Airbus A330/A340s currently in service, Lufthansa operates the world’s largest fleet of Airbus wide-body aircraft.

The A330s will give Lufthansa the full benefit of Airbus’ unique operational commonality, which will enable Lufthansa to operate the A330s and A340s using the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers. This gives Lufthansa more crew and fleet planning flexibility and will result in significant cost savings in training.

Airbus’ wide-body cabin is renowned for its outstanding level of comfort and its optimised cabin layout providing passengers with ample space, where space really matters. With its new A330-300s Lufthansa offers a three class layout for 221 passengers, including a premium first class. The carrier also continues to introduce its new business class product with new lie-flat seats and individual entertainment systems with video on demand. Economy class passengers also benefit from newly designed seats providing more leg room on intercontinental flights.

Lufthansa’s choice to order the A330-300 underlines its commitment to operate the most modern and most environmental friendly fleet of aircraft. With its combination of state-of-the-art technology, optimised wing design and low emission Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, the A330-300 offers the lowest fuel burn in its class.

Lufthansa‘s selection of the A330 further reinforces the remarkable success of Airbus’ A330/A340 Family as the preferred medium to ultra long-range aircraft among airlines worldwide. The A330/A340 Family has booked some 820 orders from more than 60 customers to date.

The leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on the market, Airbus is a global company with design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK and Spain as well as subsidiaries in the US, China and Japan. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS joint Company with BAE Systems.





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