There are only 7 in all: who the world's rarest Airbus flies with and where (spoiler: also in Milan)
"Look, the 330-800!" And the Poodle, with the swiftness of a seasoned photographer, points his smartphone, managing to capture in [...]
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"Look, the 330-800!" And the Poodle, with the swiftness of a seasoned photographer, pointed his smartphone, managing to capture in two shots the plane from the apron of Terminal 2 in Milan Malpensa. We were veterans of the official presentation of the SEA 'Alda Merini' lounge. and just before we got into the car, we witnessed the takeoff of what is The world's rarest Airbus, in that case In the colors of Kuwait Airways operating flight KW164 Milan-Kuwait City..
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For the past few weeks, the company from the small emirate sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Iraq has been positioning the plane on the four-weekly connection between the Lombard capital and the city that sadly ended up on all the world's TV during the first Gulf War, that of '91.
For homegrown 'spotters,' the photographers specializing in commercial aviation who can be found at Malpensa as well as along the fences of airports almost all over the world, this is a real treat. Both because the Kuwait Airways livery 'dresses' the A330-800 beautifully, but especially because of the exceptional rarity of the model of the house of Toulouse. That even exceeds that of the A340-600 (the extra-long version of the 340), of which about 15 remain operational around the world.
Why Of Airbus A330-800s, just seven are flying in the skies of the world: four in the colors of Kuwait Airways plus two in the colors of Uganda Airlines e a single specimen which works for Air Greenland. All definitely exotic carriers and not easy to see at airports in Europe. (Airbus photo, Seth 230210 and Quintin Soloviev Wikimedia Commons)
The small group could have been enriched by another exotic operator, the American Hawaiian Airlines, except that the Honolulu-based airline, after ordering 10 Airbus A330-800s, preferred to tack on a similar number of Boeing 787-9s, the first of which entered service just a few weeks ago.
In theory, the 330-800 was supposed to be the technologically advanced, remotorized heir to the hugely popular A330-200 (as the A330-900 is of the A330-300). Airbus had no reason to doubt that the aircraft, like the -200 many years earlier, would break through: same passenger capacity, even more fuel-efficient engines, a revamped interior, and an exceptional flight range (15,000km nonstop). Instead, things went decidedly differently, with airlines, including, for example, ITA Airways, which were attracted by the improved economies of scale of the -900 and the -800 which remained at the pole.
The production line is, for the most part, the same for the two planes, since they are identical in everything except for a few more or fewer fuselage sections, depending on which of the two you are talking about. So production has not been finished. But Of orders, other than those seven, none come. Or rather, there would be 4 pending ones from Garuda Indonesia, dating as far back as 2016 and never turned into deliveries.
Covid must have played its part as well, since. the plane's debut was in Kuwait Airways colors in October 2020, when the Gulf carrier received the first two examples. The other two arrived nearly two years later, in September 2022.
Kuwait Airways has set them up in two classes, with eight rows of Business 1-2-1 for a total of 32 seats and 203 Economy seats in the classic 2-4-2. The plane was on Kuwait City-New York (JFK) for a long time before the route was upgraded with a more capacious Boeing 777-300ER. It also flew for a long time over Paris, for a while over Frankfurt, and was to be placed on the new route to Washington, D.C., which, however, never took off. In recent weeks it is also flying to Milan Malpensa, constituting a significant upgrade over the A320s and A330-200s that the company has always used to serve the northern Italian city.
Uganda Airlines took delivery of the first of its two aircraft in December 2020, with the second coming shortly after, in January 2021, and he has them set up in three classes, with 20 seats in Business (1-2-1), 28 in Premium Economy (2-3-2) and 213 in Economy (2-4-2). The plane cannot be seen in Europe because Uganda Airlines, although it has long announced its intention to serve London, has not yet arrived at Heathrow. Instead, it uses 330-800s to connect its Entebbe hub with Dubai, Mumbai, and Johannesburg.
Finally, the last carrier to choose the -800 was Air Greenland, which replaced its only A330-200 with what was designated, precisely, as its heir. The company with all red livery and based in Nuuk, Greenland. Entered the -800 into the fleet in December 2022, putting it on its most important route, the daily connection to Copenhagen.
The interior layout is very high density of seats and by no means comparable in space and comfort to that of Kuwait and Uganda: instead of Business with lie-flat seats there is in fact a 42-seat Premium Economy with six 2+3+2 rows and recliner-only seats, and in Economy a whopping 263 seats (2-4-2) leading to the total number of seats at 305. Low-cost Asian stuff .
