A couple of big projects are underway at Aerosoft right now with their Airbus A330 project well underway. The news is, however, that the A330 is making progress towards release and that Aerosoft intend to follow it up with an A330neo. Let’s have a look!

NEO and CEO

Airbus in recent years have been updating their aircraft portfolio. Their A320 and A330 lines are still popular and that popularity is being boosted by NEO or “new engine option” variants often combining other efficiencies to ensure greater rang and efficiency. The NEO exists alongside the “current engine option” or CEO which have been the initial variants on offer.

Aerosoft are, from all indications, not too far away from launching their multi-year in-development A330 project. This first release will be an A330ceo, which according to the FAQ, is an A330-343 with Trent 772B-60 engines.

That project is being followed up with a NEO iteration of the A330. So says Mathijs Kok from Aerosoft in this recent post on their forum.

Well the next project will be the A330neo; we got some pretty good information we can finally use. After that, we’ll go for the smaller fish!

Mathijs Kok

The A330neo is an interesting type as the wing has been completely redesigned with a new enhanced shape for efficiency and no longer requiring commonality with the four engine A340. The type has also seen only a few buyers until recently with airlines now going on a buying spree after retiring older airframes in recent years. The A330neo is suddenly becoming a popular option and on not only on trans-Atlantic and Pacific routes but on some high capacity continental operations too.

From a developer perspective, it also lets Aerosoft offer a unique type that hasn’t seen much coverage while benefiting from system and cockpit commonality with their other A330 project.

My recent deep dive into other airliners has me interested in this type. I’ll be keeping a closer eye on the project going forward.