The contract firms up a previously announced Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 15 A330-300 passenger aircraft, plus an additional order for two A330-200F Freighters for operation by the carrier’s subsidiary MASkargo.
Deliveries of the passenger aircraft will begin in the first half of 2011, with the first freighter joining the MASkargo fleet later the same year.
Seating 283 passengers in a high comfort two class layout, the A330-300 will become the mainstay of the carrier’s medium haul passenger fleet and will be used on services to destinations across the Asia-Pacific region, as well as to the Middle East.
In the freight market, MASkargo will fly the aircraft on sectors of up to 3,200 nautical miles, with the capability to carry payloads of almost 70 tons.