Welcome to the Airbus A330neo Production/Delivery Thread - 2021. Please continue to add your comments below

Link to last thread

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1437945&p=21893201&hilit=production#p21893201

Azul A300-900neo PR-ANV ferried TLS-CHr for storage (6 Jan)



https://twitter.com/Frenchpainter/statu ... 24224?s=20

Starlux A330-900neo MSN 1981, taxi test at TLS (12 Jan)

F-WWYY Airbus A330-941 Starlux s/n 1981 * Toulouse Blagnac 2021 * by @Eurospot, on Flickr

Starlux A330-900neo MSN 1981, first test fight TLS-TLS (19 Jan)

F-WWYY Airbus A330-941 Starlux s/n 1981 * Toulouse Blagnac 2021 * by @Eurospot, on Flickr

Is Starlux delaying delivery/ntu this frame? It’s strange that it has been painted all white without even the mask, which would seem to indicate a white tail or destined for storage.

Polot wrote:

Is Starlux delaying delivery/ntu this frame? It’s strange that it has been painted all white without even the mask, which would seem to indicate a white tail or destined for storage.

According to this source below the A330 are leased for ALC because their A350 are delayed. So maybe there was a switch between some leased frames hence it is, so far, painted all white.

Starlux Airlines Increases Its Airbus Order, Adding A330neos

According to this source below delivery is scheduled for Q4 2021 so this could be another reason why they are painted all white, for temporary storage before delivery later this year.

STARLUX bucks the trend by adding more aircraft

As far as I know this aircraft was scheduled to be delivered for XL Airways, but it went bankrupt.

does DAL have any built frames in TOULOUSE?

Polot wrote:

Is Starlux delaying delivery/ntu this frame? It’s strange that it has been painted all white without even the mask, which would seem to indicate a white tail or destined for storage.

This Aircraft was either to go to Air Asia or XL Airways. Starlux just happened to get the production slot in the last minute, that's why its not painted yet. There are a few AirAsia A330neo White tails at TLS.

bspc wrote:

Polot wrote:

Is Starlux delaying delivery/ntu this frame? It’s strange that it has been painted all white without even the mask, which would seem to indicate a white tail or destined for storage.

This Aircraft was either to go to Air Asia or XL Airways. Starlux just happened to get the production slot in the last minute, that's why its not painted yet. There are a few AirAsia A330neo White tails at TLS.

MSN 1981 was destined for XL Airways France. Five of the six Air Asia X frames stored in TLS have the Air Asia X tail cls. The white tail should be MSN 1973

Has anyone calculated the "likely to actually be delivered" backlog for the A330NEO? Can this realistic backlog (also accounting for white tails) keep the line running for another year or 2?

Skyliner report Lion Air's 5th A330-900 is scheduled for delivery today

Airbus A330 -941 1956 PK-LEQ Lion Airlines delivery 30jan21 TLS-CGK

Jetport wrote:

Has anyone calculated the "likely to actually be delivered" backlog for the A330NEO? Can this realistic backlog (also accounting for white tails) keep the line running for another year or 2?

I won't say I calculated, but I'm fairly sure the following airlines will accept deliveries, just delayed:
Delta
Lion Air
TAP
Air Greenland (1)
Kuwait


I'm not seeing 2 years at minimum production as everyone needs to differ. AirAsiaX is... in no condition to even afford what they have on hand. While I expect a few leased aircraft to be placed, there is a coming crisis.

Lightsaber

lightsaber wrote:

Jetport wrote:

Has anyone calculated the "likely to actually be delivered" backlog for the A330NEO? Can this realistic backlog (also accounting for white tails) keep the line running for another year or 2?

I won't say I calculated, but I'm fairly sure the following airlines will accept deliveries, just delayed:
Delta
Lion Air
TAP
Air Greenland (1)
Kuwait


I'm not seeing 2 years at minimum production as everyone needs to differ. AirAsiaX is... in no condition to even afford what they have on hand. While I expect a few leased aircraft to be placed, there is a coming crisis.

Lightsaber

Why is Starlux not on your list ? As much as I know they will take delivery in Q4 this year

oldJoe wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

Jetport wrote:

Has anyone calculated the "likely to actually be delivered" backlog for the A330NEO? Can this realistic backlog (also accounting for white tails) keep the line running for another year or 2?

I won't say I calculated, but I'm fairly sure the following airlines will accept deliveries, just delayed:
Delta
Lion Air
TAP
Air Greenland (1)
Kuwait


I'm not seeing 2 years at minimum production as everyone needs to differ. AirAsiaX is... in no condition to even afford what they have on hand. While I expect a few leased aircraft to be placed, there is a coming crisis.

Lightsaber

Why is Starlux not on your list ? As much as I know they will take delivery in Q4 this year

I personally would add Garuda Indonesia as a safe customer as well. They already have taken some and AFAIK so far unlike some other regional competitors they have managed the pandemic okayish. Maybe I have missed something?

lightsaber wrote:

Jetport wrote:

Has anyone calculated the "likely to actually be delivered" backlog for the A330NEO? Can this realistic backlog (also accounting for white tails) keep the line running for another year or 2?

I won't say I calculated, but I'm fairly sure the following airlines will accept deliveries, just delayed:
Delta
Lion Air
TAP
Air Greenland (1)
Kuwait


I'm not seeing 2 years at minimum production as everyone needs to differ. AirAsiaX is... in no condition to even afford what they have on hand. While I expect a few leased aircraft to be placed, there is a coming crisis.

Lightsaber

I reckon Cebu Pacific (as well as the aforementioned Garuda) are solid bets to take more.

Capricorn wrote:

oldJoe wrote:

lightsaber wrote:

I won't say I calculated, but I'm fairly sure the following airlines will accept deliveries, just delayed:
Delta
Lion Air
TAP
Air Greenland (1)
Kuwait


I'm not seeing 2 years at minimum production as everyone needs to differ. AirAsiaX is... in no condition to even afford what they have on hand. While I expect a few leased aircraft to be placed, there is a coming crisis.

Lightsaber

Why is Starlux not on your list ? As much as I know they will take delivery in Q4 this year

I personally would add Garuda Indonesia as a safe customer as well. They already have taken some and AFAIK so far unlike some other regional competitors they have managed the pandemic okayish. Maybe I have missed something?

Starlux is an interesting unkown to me. How are their financials? I cannot find a quarterly report. They are an unknown in terms of financial status (to me). In this environment, I make few assumptions. Even with them, the A330NEO needs more orders. Is this source accurate that Starlux is trying to sell stock in EVA Air correct (not a source I depend upon)? They seem to be too short on cash. I'm not saying they might not take 1 or 2, evidence suggests they must differ.
https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... -air-stock


Garuda fired their finance director and received a massive government bailout. I cannot consider them safe. Not even close They are on my list of airlines likely to be too expensive to save.

https://en.tempo.co/read/1407218/garuda ... fuad-rizal

Cebu Pacific is trying to raise cash, I do not think they can afford A339s at this time. They might take one, but that is a financial hardship for to them.
https://www.bing.com/amp/s/www.philstar ... -cash/amp/

I also excluded Virgin Atlantic due to their bankruptcy. I excluded TAP Portugal and Azul as they are differing like mad.

Lightsaber

Corsair is safe bet for me too. Last year they signed a leasing contract for three frames. First flight of the first frame was October 2020. The second frame is already built and for other two frames parts are built and arriving in TLS. They plan to have nine when their 747 are send to the desert.

source : https://www.flightglobal.com/strategy/corsair-to-lease-a330neos-and-go-all-airbus-under-new-owner-intro/131900.article

"Uganda Airlines is on track to receive its second Airbus A330-800neo next week."

https://simpleflying.com/uganda-airline ... -a330-800/

I would consider Starlux a big if. Its nothing more than its founder and former BR CEO CK Changs dream. The only good news is he has a half billion in inheritance from the Evergreen group to waste (in addition to whatever he was worth before that which is probably in the hundreds millions also and whatever funds he can find from elsewhere). They may have had a chance pre Covid but how you plan on starting a new airline to compete with two entrenched local airlines. in the post Covid era is , shall we say, extremely difficult.
One, his family and former employer BR, will love to bury him alive still. Nothing like a family inheritance spat to make good sound business decisions. Two, the "national carrier" CI, which the government is still the largest (though no longer majority) shareholder through a government-owned foundation arent goin down without a fight either.
For what was a play at "premium traffic" they started going to Danang, Macau, Penang with a handful of A321s. Good luck on that one for premium traffic.
Taking on new widebodies to compete with CI, BR is going to be the proverbial, how do you make a million in the airline business, start with two!
I would bet more on Starlux going bust and CI and BR picking up its tattered remnants. CI could use those A359s and A330neos. BR those Leap powered A321neos

trex8 wrote:

I would consider Starlux a big if. Its nothing more than its founder and former BR CEO CK Changs dream. The only good news is he has a half billion in inheritance from the Evergreen group to waste (in addition to whatever he was worth before that which is probably in the hundreds millions also and whatever funds he can find from elsewhere). They may have had a chance pre Covid but how you plan on starting a new airline to compete with two entrenched local airlines. in the post Covid era is , shall we say, extremely difficult.
One, his family and former employer BR, will love to bury him alive still. Nothing like a family inheritance spat to make good sound business decisions. Two, the "national carrier" CI, which the government is still the largest (though no longer majority) shareholder through a government-owned foundation arent goin down without a fight either.
For what was a play at "premium traffic" they started going to Danang, Macau, Penang with a handful of A321s. Good luck on that one for premium traffic.
Taking on new widebodies to compete with CI, BR is going to be the proverbial, how do you make a million in the airline business, start with two!
I would bet more on Starlux going bust and CI and BR picking up its tattered remnants. CI could use those A359s and A330neos. BR those Leap powered A321neos

Are all the Starlux frames former white tails? The order timing seems such that despite the excuse they gave, the real reason is that they could get these planes now but also get them dirt cheap. I do wonder at what point the slots aren’t full, do we know how far out a customer has to commit to taking the aircraft per production schedule? Are they actually building at rate 2 at this point?

Speedy752 wrote:

trex8 wrote:

I would consider Starlux a big if. Its nothing more than its founder and former BR CEO CK Changs dream. The only good news is he has a half billion in inheritance from the Evergreen group to waste (in addition to whatever he was worth before that which is probably in the hundreds millions also and whatever funds he can find from elsewhere). They may have had a chance pre Covid but how you plan on starting a new airline to compete with two entrenched local airlines. in the post Covid era is , shall we say, extremely difficult.
One, his family and former employer BR, will love to bury him alive still. Nothing like a family inheritance spat to make good sound business decisions. Two, the "national carrier" CI, which the government is still the largest (though no longer majority) shareholder through a government-owned foundation arent goin down without a fight either.
For what was a play at "premium traffic" they started going to Danang, Macau, Penang with a handful of A321s. Good luck on that one for premium traffic.
Taking on new widebodies to compete with CI, BR is going to be the proverbial, how do you make a million in the airline business, start with two!
I would bet more on Starlux going bust and CI and BR picking up its tattered remnants. CI could use those A359s and A330neos. BR those Leap powered A321neos

Are all the Starlux frames former white tails? The order timing seems such that despite the excuse they gave, the real reason is that they could get these planes now but also get them dirt cheap. I do wonder at what point the slots aren’t full, do we know how far out a customer has to commit to taking the aircraft per production schedule? Are they actually building at rate 2 at this point?

Starlux’s A330neos are all leases, not direct orders. So if they were white tails they were planes that were going to be leased to another customer that dropped out/died, or a leasing company is taking over a built white tail instead of a later production aircraft (since they didn’t order additional planes last year when Starlux leased the A330s).

Everyone is focused on their favorite airline. What matters is will 48 be accepted over the next two years to keep production going. I was unable to come up with 48 examples over two years. Considering white tails at leasing companies must compete for customers, has anyone else put some thought into which will be delivered to see if 48 plus white tails left over from prior deliveries is achievable?

At this point, my answer is no.

Lightsaber

No 48 in 2 years will be a stretch, but all widebody types are struggling now. The 787 and A350 also have dodgy orders like from the Hainan group and Asiana and parked planes like the Norwegians depressing the market. I can't imagine they will give up production on the A330 now, I can see some future orders, perhaps Emirates or China to replace the packs of A330 ceo's they have in abundance.

Typically, Airbus widebody production works on an 11 month year, so 44 in 2 years, from which there are still A330-200s to build for MRTT completion and & or 2 Beluga XL airframes to come, so NEO output should be somewhere in the mid-30s which is probably just about do-able unless air travel remains in the doldrums past mid 2021. Beyond that, new customers (or revival of near-death existing ones) will be needed.

MEA-707 wrote:

No 48 in 2 years will be a stretch, but all widebody types are struggling now. The 787 and A350 also have dodgy orders like from the Hainan group and Asiana and parked planes like the Norwegians depressing the market. I can't imagine they will give up production on the A330 now, I can see some future orders, perhaps Emirates or China to replace the packs of A330 ceo's they have in abundance.

The issue is minimum vendor part buys. That is typically 25 parts per year. The A350 and 787 will easily accomplish that (e.g., discussion on rate reduction to 50/year, not below 25 per year). The 777 has the frieghter, which just puts the interior vendor, Zodiac aka Airbus Interiors, in a tough bind. But overall the line is fine.

Small production widebodies are tough to make a profit on, e.g. 747 or A380 as parts cost more when tooling sits idle.

Emirates has A350 and 789 orders to replace the A330. They have never been loyal to a type in replacement. So they are unlikely to save the A330 line.

I'm not seeing the airlines that can accept orders in the backlog who would take more. For example, Delta and Azul differed deliveries.

Lightsaber

Lion Air has taken delivery of their 6th A339, as reported by skyliner

Airbus A330-941 1978 PK-LER Lion Air delivery 01feb21 TLS-CGK

https://www.skyliner-aviation.de/regdb. ... av4&page=2

Uganda Airlines has taken delivery of their 2nd A338, 3rd delivery of the year.

Airbus A330-841 1979 5X-CRN Uganda Airlines delivery 02feb21 TLS-EBB “Mt.Rwenzori” ex F-WWCI

https://www.skyliner-aviation.de/regdb. ... av4&page=2

Please note there is a dedicated sales campaigns and prospects thread which can be found here:

Airbus A330neo Sales Campaigns and Prospects Thread - 2021


A few posts have been moved into this thread. Feel free to continue your discussion there as this is the production and delivery thread. Thanks.

lightsaber wrote:

Cebu Pacific is trying to raise cash, I do not think they can afford A339s at this time. They might take one, but that is a financial hardship for to them.

This Flightglobal link works.....

https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/c ... 11.article

lightsaber wrote:

Garuda fired their finance director and received a massive government bailout. I cannot consider them safe. Not even close. They are on my list of airlines likely to be too expensive to save.

Too expensive maybe...but save they will. Although its doubtful GA could reasonably afford even the rumored A338 LOI which is in this category.....

lightsaber wrote:

Small production widebodies are tough to make a profit on

Starlux A330-900neo MSN 1981, second test flight TLS-TLS (29 Jan)

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/f-wwyy

Starlux A330-900neo MSN 1981, third test flight TLS-TLS (9 Feb)

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/f-wwyy

Corsair A330-900neo F-HRNB MSN 1975, returns from storage CHR-TLS (12 Feb)



https://twitter.com/CAlloing/status/136 ... 60032?s=20

Starlux A330-900neo MSN 1981, ferried TLS-CHR for painting?? (17 Feb)

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/f-wwyy

Delta Airlines A330-900neo N411DX MSN 1991, out of final assembly (18 Feb)

Delta A330-941N msn 1991 F-WWYC / N411DX by dn280tls, on Flickr

Delta Airlines A330-900neo N409DX MSN 1983, out of paint at TLS (19 Feb)

Delta A330-941N msn 1990 F-WWCR / N410DX by dn280tls, on Flickr

Garuda Indonesia A330-900neo MSN 1988, currently painted al white at TLS (19 Feb)

Airbus A330-941N msn 1988 F-WWCC by dn280tls, on Flickr

qf789 wrote:

Starlux A330-900neo MSN 1981, ferried TLS-CHR for painting?? (17 Feb)

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/f-wwyy

Most probably storage for a few months, it isn’t due to be delivered until Q4/21

qf789 wrote:

Delta Airlines A330-900neo N409DX MSN 1983, out of paint at TLS (19 Feb)

Delta A330-941N msn 1990 F-WWCR / N410DX by dn280tls, on Flickr

This is actually MSN 1990...F-WWCR/N410DX, as noted at the bottom of the photo.

qf789 wrote:

Azul A300-900neo PR-ANV ferried TLS-CHr for storage (6 Jan)



https://twitter.com/Frenchpainter/statu ... 24224?s=20

I realize it’s probably a special livery, maybe even breast cancer awareness (a good cause) but I find it odd when an airline called a color doesn’t have any of that color on the aircraft