And so Tibet Airlines goes long-haul. The first of 5 A330-200s on order was just delivered and is now on its way home.

Aircraft comes with an increased 242t MTOW and features 279 seats (12 J, 32 W, 235 Y).


Tibet Airlines Airbus A330-243 cn 1730 F-WWKU // B-8420 by Clément Alloing, on Flickr

Press release
http://www.airbus.com/newsevents/news-e ... irst-a330/

Do they actually plan to use it on longhaul? I thought it would be a domestic people carrier.

Related question: what's the range out of Lhasa?

According to a CAPA article last year Tibet Airlines plans to use the A330 on long-haul routes.

SonOfABeech wrote:

Do they actually plan to use it on longhaul?

Why would they get it with the highest available MTOW if they weren't going to?

....this thing will have greater range than the 744 did at service entry!

You mean Tibet Airlines not Tibes .Right?

That certainly is one very interesting bird. A bit off topic, if they intend to use it longhaul out of Lhasa, I assume that foreigners will be the key market as Chinese Int'l O&D out of Lhasa appears to be rather limited, how are the current restrictions for foreigners to travel to the autonomous region and does it make sense to operate a fleet of 5 330s for such a small market or wouldn't it make more sense to use them Beijing or Changdu routes or to even base them in Chengdu for longhaul operations.

They will definitely use some of these frame for domestic routes Inside China, yet I don't know about which cities.
In the other hand, I see them launch a few international routes out of LXA, maybe seasonal first. The range of A332 gives them full possibility over Europe which is clearly the first place of origin of international tourists.

How much will LXA's altitude (3,570m/11,710') restrict range?

they will probably use it on SHA/PEK because they are pretty far fron LXA and have alot of pax traffic.
i really dont see any international routes from LXA they can use that plane, any suggestions?

Polot wrote:

How much will LXA's altitude (3,570m/11,710') restrict range?

It shouldn't be too much problem for the A332, the furthest destination I can imagine is LHR, which is 4100nm, far below the range limit, so even with restrictions it should make that. Runway lengths are 3600m and 4000m. Anywhere in Asia should be easy.

Is there any precedent for A332s flying at high-altitude airports in S. America?

euroflyer wrote:

They will definitely use some of these frame for domestic routes Inside China, yet I don't know about which cities.

The cabin doesn't seem to be regional configured though.

MrHMSH wrote:

Is there any precedent for A332s flying at high-altitude airports in S. America?

Yes, AV flies BOG(2,548m/8,361')-LHR with the A332, which is longer than LXA-LHR.

I didn't think Tibet Airlines would have any issues with restrictions on plausible routes from LXA unless there are additional issues because of the Himalayas, I was just curious in general how much of a toll that elevation takes on performance.

Polot wrote:

MrHMSH wrote:

Is there any precedent for A332s flying at high-altitude airports in S. America?

Yes, AV flies BOG(2,548m/8,361')-LHR with the A332, which is longer than LXA-LHR.

I didn't think Tibet Airlines would have any issues with restrictions on plausible routes from LXA unless there are additional issues because of the Himalayas, I was just curious in general how much of a toll that elevation takes on performance.

In paragraph 3 you can find some details maybe
http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_g ... -Jan16.pdf

usflyer123 wrote:

they will probably use it on SHA/PEK because they are pretty far fron LXA and have alot of pax traffic.
i really dont see any international routes from LXA they can use that plane, any suggestions?

I was gonna say IST, but than they have the attack.
Rumor has it that they're looking to start HKG and codeshare with CX/KA, I think A320 won't make it to HKG n/s due to LXA's altitude, so this A332 might work.

YLWbased

YLWbased wrote:

usflyer123 wrote:

they will probably use it on SHA/PEK because they are pretty far fron LXA and have alot of pax traffic.
i really dont see any international routes from LXA they can use that plane, any suggestions?

I was gonna say IST, but than they have the attack.
Rumor has it that they're looking to start HKG and codeshare with CX/KA, I think A320 won't make it to HKG n/s due to LXA's altitude, so this A332 might work.

YLWbased

HKG seems like a good choice, there is no way they would have flown LXA-IST considering the large distance, small market and limited numbers of tourists to tibet.
i wonder why there is no LXA-URC route...

Are there any route restrictions between Tibet and Europe? On the relevant maps I don't see any straight airways to the NW, the route would have to be via KTM it seems.

Several photos of the arrival at LXA airport:





See https://twitter.com/winglets747/status/ ... 2557673472 for more.

Will TV launch flights to India, say DEL? There is large Tibetan community in Delhi.

Crazy4Planes wrote:

Will TV launch flights to India, say DEL? There is large Tibetan community in Delhi.

A large community yes, but I don't think there is frequent air travel between the two sides for geopolitical reasons... A lot of Tibetans in India actually don't have passports because they are not Indian citizens so they'd have to go visit the Chinese Embassy to get one.

My guess is they will use A332 to places like HKG, ICN, NRT and perhaps TPE pending Chinese Govt approval.

I highly doubt these will be used for anything other than LXA-Mainland china routes (CTU, PEK, SHA, PVG, ect) HKG is the only non PRC airport I can see in the near term. Entry to Tibet is highly regulated and very difficult for non-Chinese nationals, save for certain limited "pilgrimage" or "boutique" style tourism groups which must flow through PRC for the purpose of having travel permits issued.

Although the technicalities for HK, S. Koreans and Japanese I am not sure of... I do not recall ever encountering anything other than Mainland tour groups while there, excluding occasional Westerners.

I could see them potentially trying some CTU - EU / HK is traffic keeps growing... KLM is up to a 74M on CTU last I checked...

Tibet Airlines mulls Sochi as potential A330 destination.

Tibet Airlines is waiting government approval to launch a daily round-trip service to Sochi, Russia starting November 2016.

Pending government approval, the Lhasa-based carrier will operate the Sanya-Chengdu-Sochi service in November on a daily basis, according to an announcement released Monday on the website of the CAAC.

Tibet Airlines will use its Airbus A330 aircraft on the Sochi service, the CAAC added.

http://www.chinaaviationdaily.com/news/54/54649.html