A key component of the re-engined A330neo’s operating cost gains is Airbus’s project to squeeze up to 10 more passenger seats into the cabin, compared with its current-generation A330ceo equivalents.
The Rolls-Royce Trent 7000-powered A330neo is offered in two versions – the -800neo and -900neo – which have identical fuselage dimensions to the current A330 variants, the -200 and -300 respectively. However, each version has capacity for up to 10 more seats, raising the A330-800’s typical two-class seat count to 256 passengers, and the -900’s to 310 passengers.
With its so-called “increased cabin efficiency enablers”, Airbus aims to “maximise the revenue space between door one and door four by getting more seats without compromising any comfort for the passengers”, says Airbus’s head of A330 product marketing, Crawford Hamilton.
This project borrows ideas from a similar effort to boost the seating capacity of the A320 family, using items such as the “Smart-Lav” and “Space-Flex” toilet concepts. The former is a more optimised lavatory design which occupies less area and therefore provides more space in the cabin.
“This creates a snowball effect of gaining inches here and there to get another row of seats in,” says Hamilton.
The Space-Flex concept involves the relocation of lavatories from the revenue space between door one and four to behind door four, which will in turn help create room for additional seating.
Another area of focus is the flightcrew rest accommodation, says Hamilton.
“We’re looking at taking the flightcrew rest from immediately behind the flightdeck and combining it with the cabin crew rest module in the lower deck,” he points out. “The flightcrew rest behind the cockpit can then be replaced by the galley, so we end up with a net gain in the cabin.”
Airbus is studying a crew-rest module with segregated areas for flightcrew and cabin crew, which would occupy the same amount of space as the current cabin crew rest mobile module that can be installed in the A330/A340 rear cargo hold below door three.
The cabin gains depend on each individual cabin product offering, but “overall we’ve been finding we get up to 10 more seats in most cases”, says Hamilton.
Source: Airline Business
