While Airbus has increasingly indicated a leaning towards re-engining the A330, it has yet to give any formal pointers towards a possible designation for the type.
But recent Internet domain-registration activity suggests a concerted effort, by unidentified parties, to protect particular names including 'A330neo' and 'A350-300'.
On 7 July several top-level domain names associated with the term ‘A330neo’ were reserved by the US-based brand-protection company CSC, Flightglobal has determined.
These domains were similar in format to a batch based on the term ‘A320neo’ and already assigned to Airbus.
CSC also secured two high-profile domain names on 2 July containing the terms ‘A350-200’ and ‘A350-300’.
There is no immediate indication that Airbus is linked to any of the reservations.
European trademark databases do not show any formal entry for A330neo, A350-200 or A350-300 and Airbus has not confirmed whether any of these brands have been formally submitted for inclusion.
Curiously a version of the site map for the upcoming Farnborough air show appeared to include an allocated aircraft space labelled ‘A350-200’, including tail height data matching that of the A330-200.
Airbus had previously used the A350-800 and -900 designations for its abandoned project to revamp the A330, subsequently incorporating them into its later A350 XWB branding. The airframer declines to comment on whether it might use the A350 brand for any A330 re-engining programme.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
