There is a reason Airbus stretched A340, not A330. One reason is that there is not enough space under A330 wing for two engines bigger than those of A330-200/300. For the same reasons, A330 cannot use the big high-bypass engines of A380, even though they have similar thrust.
Hi chornedsnorkack, first to challenge agian
I think with a redesigned wing pylon it can very well be done. Thatīs what I included in the sketch. Basicly the same concept as on the 787, A380 and in an even more extreme way the 737.
On the 777-200 non ER, its only a few tonnes lighter then the 200ER. That is maybe why it stopped selling in numbers after the ER was introduced. It has limited flexibility but isnīt much more efficient.
GE proposed the GENX for the A330F not so long ago.
I suspect to get that kind of extra out of the A330 airframe you would need to redesign an aweful lot of structure perhaps to the point of recertification, destructive testing and major cost and perhaps the addition of a center landing gear, more weight.
Twitter n Bisted, thanks for looking into this idea. The lenght of the longest A330/A340 line in the A340-600. It is 75,30 m long compared to this A330-400īs decent 68m. The A350-500 is 67.5 m.
Both the long range A340-500 and 600 have an OEW of over 170 tonnes compared to the medium range A330-400s 132 tonnes. Designing a suitable fuselage, landing gear etc should be relatively easy.
A long A350 or 787 could be a good alternative but both will be available much later. Both are optimized for long haul, so heavier. Both are not available before 2015-2017? This A330-300 could have an EIS of 2011. Then there is price. The A330 comes from a steaming oiled production line.
Purchasing costs should be significantly lower as well as maintenance costs (large commonality with A330/340 fleet) .. and as stated: "smart provisions for cargo conversion" could be build in. With upperdeck and maindeck LD3 side by side capability over 60 meters it could be converted into an excellent freighter, guaranteing residual value after new better medium range high capasity aircraft become available.