Airbus A330-200 (A332)

The Airbus A330-200 was the aircraft that turned the A330 from a European medium-haul widebody into a global long-haul seller. The original A330-300 of 1994 had been designed for high-density routes of up to about eight hours, but airlines wanted a smaller, longer-legged version to replace Boeing 767-300ERs and open thinner intercontinental routes. Airbus launched the A330-200 in November 1995, shortening the fuselage by ten frames, enlarging the tail to compensate for the shorter moment arm, and adding a centre fuel tank.

The first A330-200 flew on 13 August 1997 and the Canadian leisure carrier Canada 3000 put it into service in April 1998. Its combination of 250 seats, 6,500-plus nautical miles of range and the A330's low operating costs was exactly what the market wanted: Emirates, Qantas, Air France, Delta (via Northwest), Air Canada, Swiss, Etihad and many others built fleets, and lessors found it easy to place. Through the 2000s it was the best-selling A330 variant and a direct competitor to the 767-300ER and, later, the early 787.

Airbus kept developing it. Maximum take-off weight rose in steps from 230 to 242 tonnes, extending range to around 7,250 nautical miles, and the airframe became the basis of the A330-200F freighter of 2010 and the A330 MRTT tanker-transport, now flown by air forces from the UK and Australia to France, Singapore and South Korea.

The re-engined A330neo of 2014 produced an A330-800 successor, but with only a handful of orders the -800 never matched its predecessor's popularity, and passenger A330-200 production wound down around 2020 after more than 650 deliveries. Hundreds remain in service, increasingly with leisure carriers and in freighter conversion programmes.

The A330-200 keeps the A330-300's wing, engines and cockpit, so the two share a type rating with each other and, through cross-crew qualification, with the A340 and A350. The fuselage is 5.3 m shorter, and to keep the aircraft controllable with the reduced tail arm Airbus fitted a taller vertical fin, 1 m higher than the -300's, which is the quickest external way to tell the two apart. A centre wing-box fuel tank, optional on the -300, is standard.

Engines are a choice of GE CF6-80E1, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 or Rolls-Royce Trent 700, the last the most popular. Maximum take-off weight options range from 230 to 242 tonnes, and the highest-weight aircraft can fly around 7,250 nautical miles with a typical load. The cabin cross-section allows eight-abreast 2-4-2 economy, which operators have mostly retained.

Delta, Qantas, Air France, Air Canada, Emirates (now retiring), Etihad, TAP, Iberia, Korean Air, China Eastern and Hawaiian Airlines have all operated large A330-200 fleets; Hawaiian and Qantas still use it as a long-haul mainstay, and dozens of smaller carriers from Air Mauritius to Aerolíneas Argentinas rely on it. Typical missions are seven- to twelve-hour routes with 230–280 passengers, including many ex-767 routes across the Atlantic and Pacific. The A330 MRTT serves a dozen air forces, and converted A330-200 freighters fly for DHL, Turkish Cargo and others.

The A330-200's great passenger strength is its 2-4-2 economy cabin: side pairs with a window and an aisle and no stranger to climb over, a layout most operators have kept rather than squeezing in a ninth seat. Seats are usually 17.5–18 inches wide at 31–32 inches of pitch. The cabin is quiet for its generation and the ride is stable; it lacks the 787's low cabin altitude and humidity, so long flights feel more conventional, but the tube is wide and the bins are decent. Because the -200 flies so many ex-767 routes, premium cabins vary a lot: lie-flat business is now common on mainline carriers, while leisure operators run dense layouts. For the best seat, take a window in the 2-4-2 side pairs ahead of the wing; avoid the last rows beside the rear galley and the row ahead of the exit, which may not recline.

Against the A330-300, the -200 is 5 m shorter, with a stubbier look, and its fin is taller and more upright, the surest cue. Both share the A330's six-abreast-looking window line, the big twin engines and, on later aircraft, Sharklet-free wingtip fences; the A330neo has large curved wingtips and much bigger nacelles. Against a 767-300ER of similar size, the A330 is noticeably wider with a rounder nose, a longer wingspan with wingtip fences, and the Airbus-style upswept tail cone. Against the A340-200 it shares a fuselage with, count the engines.