Enthusiastic Welcome For A330-200F Likely To See Strong Residuals

The new A330-200F met with considerable interest from a variety of lessors and operators such that current and residual values of the type should perform well in the short to medium term. The new A330-200F is much needed by Airbus for a variety of reasons. The extended service entry of the A350, the delay over the A380 and the lack of fresh orders for the A340 will have implications for widebody production. While narrowbody production cannot cope with demand, Airbus needs to maintain widebody production and revenue through the medium term. Orders may still be coming in for the A330-200 passenger aircraft but as the B787 enters service and the flight testing of the A350 nears, there will be a dip in Airbus widebody production, just as Boeing has found with the B747 and B767. At the end of the product life cycle of an existing widebody, freighters usually dominate and the A330 will be no different. The A330-200F therefore offers a medium term solution to potentially falling widebody production until the arrival of the A350 and A350F in the next decade. With cargo market economics dictated more by short term trends, there will be the ability to maintain production of the A330-200F until the A350F is close to service entry.