Kuwait Airways has released a video that shows a brand-new Airbus A330-800 coming together at Airbus’ paint shop. The national carrier of Kuwait is the launch customer of the newest Airbus A330neo version, which received regulators’ approval less than a month ago ‒ in February 2020.
Having placed its order back in 2018, the airline initially planned to take the first delivery in March 2020. However, recent reports indicate that the aircraft might be delivered and enter passenger service later on, in the third quarter of the year.
Besides being the launch customer, Kuwait Airways is by far the largest buyer of Airbus newest A330neo addition, being responsible for over two-thirds of an unimpressive pool of orders the wide-body has received so far. In total, the A330-800 orders stood at a modest total of 14, Airbus’ books show as of January 31, 2020. The Kuwaiti carrier has ordered eight of them, Uganda Airlines ‒ two, while the four remaining planes were ordered by undisclosed customers.
لقطات لأول طائرة A330-800 مملوكة للخطوط الجوية الكويتية يتم تحضيرها حالياً للتسليم في مصنع الإيرباص
The first fully owned aircraft by Kuwait Airways, the A330-800, is getting ready for delivery, at the Airbus factory pic.twitter.com/SUp9XAkAV2
— Kuwait Airways (@KuwaitAirways) March 5, 2020
Airbus A330-800 is the smaller, but further-reaching variant of two A330neo versions available. After starting its flight test campaign in November 2018, the jetliner received its joint-type certificate from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration on February 13, 2020.