Airbus Updates No.3490

 

Qatar Airways Has Removed Most Of Its Airbus A330-300s From Storage

Over the past month or so, Qatar Airways has been steadily removing its Airbus A330-300 fleet from storage. The entire fleet has now been relocated from Doha International Airport to Hamad International Airport, with five out of eight aircraft already operating cargo and passenger flights.

Qatar Airways is in the process of reactivating its Airbus A330-300 fleet. Photo: Qatar Airways

While Qatar Airways was the only of the Middle East giants to keep flying passengers around the globe at the height of the pandemic, it didn’t keep its entire fleet operational. Many were shuttled to Doha International Airport for long-term storage, with some, such as the Airbus A380 fleet, unlikely to even return to service.

Five of eight back in service

According to fleet data from ch-aviation.com, Qatar Airways has eight Airbus A330-330 aircraft. The oldest is A7-AED which is 16.03 years old. Meanwhile, the youngest, A7-AEO, is only 13.42 years old. The aircraft had been in storage at the old Doha International Airport.

According to flight data from RadarBox.com, the airline has moved all eight of the aircraft the four-mile as the crow flies journey from Doha International Airport to Hamad International Airport. Unfortunately, the A330 doesn’t fly as the crow flies, meaning that the journey instead took a quarter of an hour.

All of the aircraft have made the short hop from Doha International to Hamad International. Photo: RadarBox.com

The first A330-300 returned to service on July 1st. They hadn’t flown since July 1st, 2020, with the last commercial flight operating from Chennai. It seems the A330-200 fleet could be following suit. A7-ACI flew to Brussels on August 1st, following its removal from storage. It seems one of the airline’s former A330-200s won’t be flying again, having been sent to Air Italy and then the desert.

The data available shows that five of these aircraft have so far returned to service. Given the flight numbers in use by the aircraft, QR8—, it appears that the planes are primarily being used for their cargo capacity on preighter flights. Despite this, ch-aviation.com did suggest that the aircraft was being used for passengers from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) in place of the Boeing 777-300ER.

Three aircraft still not active

Three of the Airbus A330-300 aircraft remain inactive for the time being. These include A7-AEE, A7-AEG, and A7-AEO. EE and EO have so far only been ferried across to Hamad International Airport. Meanwhile, it seems A7-AEG has already taken a big day out, albeit without getting very far.

According to data from RadarBox.com, this aircraft was ferried across to Hamad International Airport on April 23rd, taking 14 minutes. The plane remained on the ground until June 9th, then it completed a test flight above the sea adjacent to Qatar. During two and a quarter hours of flight, the aircraft reached a max height of 40,000 feet. The aircraft remained in the local area, completing a touch and go before returning to land at Hamad International Airport.

Airbus Updates No.3468

 Airbus A330 Fuselage To Be Used As Stage At Spanish Music Festival

A week ago, residents of North-East Spain may have noticed the fuselage of an Airbus A330 traveling past their window. The scrapped aircraft was being transported from Teruel to the desert area of Fraga, where the Monegros Desert Festival will be held next year.

Last week an Airbus A330 fuselage section made the 230km journey from Teruel to the Monegros Desert. Photo: Monegros Desert Festival via Facebook

We’ve seen some exciting uses for retired planes. From holiday accommodation to reefs and coffee shops, you’d think somebody had already tried everything possible. Now, a Spanish music festival is turning a former Airbus A330 into a stage for up to 1,000 people as it welcomes guests back from a pandemic break.

A stage for 1,000 people

A week ago, a scrapped Airbus A330 left Teruel, widely known for its aircraft storage facility, to take the first step in its post aviation life. The plane was taken to a field in the Monegros Desert, not far from the town of Candasnos.

According to Business Insider, the journey took 230km (143 miles), mostly traveling along the A-23 highway. Once the aircraft arrived at the festival ground, cranes hoisted it off the truck and into its resting place, where it joined previously delivered wing sections. Commenting on its plans via Instagram, the festival said,

“We can finally announce that MDF & 8.6 Beer bought an AIRBUS Plane for Monegros Festival 2022 and we will transform it into a secret club for 1.000 people! [This is] by far the craziest project we have done…many months to make another dream come true, endless meetings with the council and government, last minute decisions.”

The fuselage is being transported in three sections due to its size. Photo: Monegros Desert Festival via Facebook

Which aircraft is being used?

It’s impossible to confirm which aircraft is being turned into a festival stage, but we have a couple of clues to help us narrow it down, hopefully. According to data from ch-aviation.com, there are 30 Airbus A330 aircraft at Teruel, ranging in age from a four-year-old A330neo test aircraft to a 27-year-old former Cathay Dragon jet.

According to the data, only two of these 30 aircraft have actually been scrapped, with the remainder in storage. The two scrapped aircraft both came from Air Italy, flying with Qatar Airways before this.

The first of these aircraft is MSN 511, an 18.22-year-old A330 that took its first flight in January 2003. The plane was registered as A7-ACC with Qatar Airways and then EI-GGO with Air Italy. As of February 28th, it had completed 78,328 flight hours over 14,829 flight cycles.

The second of these aircraft is MSN 571, a 17.09-year-old A330 that took its first flight in March 2004. This plane was registered as A7-ACE when delivered to Qatar Airways and subsequently reregistered as EI-GFX with Air Italy. As of February 28th, this jet had flown for 73,976 hours across 13,624 cycles.

Air Italy’s Airbus A330 aircraft also had a grey belly. Photo: Getty Images

The second clue that it may be a former Air Italy plane is the paint scheme on the aircraft. While the area where the Air Itlay logo would’ve been is painted grey, the base of the aircraft is also painted grey in a pattern that matches the former Air Itlay livery. It would make sense to cover the operator’s logo, but painting the base grey for an aircraft with this use seems unpractical.