Qatar Airways has taken delivery of its first A330-300, the latest long-haul aircraft to join its growing fleet.
Qatar Airways is the only operator of the A330-300 in the Middle East and flies the largest all-Airbus fleet in the region. The aircraft is the first of 14 A330-300s to be delivered to Qatar Airways by April 2008. Eleven A330-300s are on firm order and three on option.

The new aircraft will mainly operate on key European routes from Doha such as London Heathrow, Paris and Frankfurt.

The A330-300 features 259 seats configured in three classes - 12 First, 24 Business and 223 Economy - and offers at least 10 per cent more seats than Qatar Airways’ biggest existing three-class capacity aircraft, the A330-200.

The new A330-300 has significantly new features compared to the airlines’ 10 Airbus A330-200s. These new features include:

First Class

- Seat-cum-180 degree flat beds in 1-2-1 configuration
- 79-inch seat pitch
- Buddy seats to allow fellow passengers to join you for dinnerÊ
- Large 23-inch by 18.5-inch meal table allowing dinner for two
- Side cocktail table
- Plenty of personal storage space
- 4 pre-programmed electronic seat controls (aircraft take-off, meal, upright position, fully flat)
- Back massage function
- Neat finishing ultra grey leather sides
- 15-inch personal LCD TV screens (50% bigger than on the A330-200)
- Personal in-seat telephone
- Laptop power point
- Fibre optic reading light
- Seat design joint collaboration between Koito, of Japan, and Dutch firm, Driessen

Business Class

- 60-inch pitch (55-inch on existing A330-200s)
- Seats in 2-2-2 configuration
- Seats convert into two-metre bed length
- 15-inch personal LCD TV screens (50% bigger than on the A330-200)
- Laptop power point
- 5 pre-programmed electronic seat controls (aircraft take-off, meal, upright position, relax, sleeping)
- Personal in-seat telephone
- Seat position memory function
- Back massage control functions
- Seat design by Recaro, of Germany

Economy Class

- Up to 34-inch seat pitch
- Personal in-seat telephone
- Ergonomically designed seats to provide more comfort with greater shin space and living space than the existing A330-200s
- 9-inch personal LCD TV screens (40% bigger than on the A330-200)
- Individual footrests
- Seat design by Recaro, of Germany

The A330-300 also features Qatar Airways’ new Waves in-flight entertainment system offering Audio Video On Demand that gives passengers more personal control of programmes.

Passengers can select one of 32 Hollywood movies and films from around the world, or short programmes with greater personal control, offering play, rewind, forward and pause functionality. There’s also a moving map display to monitor progress of the flight and a selection of 40 CDs and 16 audio channels to choose from, as well as 12 interactive games such as Solitaire and Millionaire.

The twin-engined A330-300, powered by General Electric CF6-80E engines, has a range capacity of 5,650 nautical miles (10,500km) with a full passenger payload, and is capable of flying up to 11 hours non-stop.

The aircraft has an overall length of 208ft 1 inch (63.6 metres) and a maximum cabin width of 17ft 4 ins (5.28 metres).
——-