Airbus A330

The A330 is a safe long-haul jet with one famous crash that shaped how every airline trains its pilots. In about 21.4 million passenger flights since 1993, two crashes have killed passengers: Air France 447 in 2009 and Afriqiyah 771 in 2010. Both are in our score, and nothing else counts against it.

What the A330 is and where you fly on it

The A330 first flew in 1992 and entered service in 1993. It shares its cockpit and fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls with the four-engine A340 and the A320, so pilots can move between them with short training. The main passenger versions are the A330-200 and the longer A330-300, and since 2018 the re-engined A330-800 and A330-900, called the A330neo. About 1,640 have been built and about 1,450 are in service.

You meet it on medium and long-haul routes: transatlantic flights with Delta, Aer Lingus or TAP, routes to Asia with Turkish Airlines, and high-density regional flights in Asia with carriers such as Cebu Pacific. Typical seating is two-four-two in economy.

Design features that matter for safety

Like the A320, the A330 has sidestick fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary with envelope protection. It is a twin flying long ocean routes, so it operates under ETOPS rules that set how far it may stray from a diversion airport and what standard its engines must meet.

The design's weak points showed up in its air data systems. On Air France 447, ice crystals blocked the pitot tubes, the airspeed readings dropped out and the autopilot disconnected. The flight controls fell back to alternate law, which removes stall protection. The crew kept the nose up and the aircraft stalled from cruise altitude into the Atlantic. Operators replaced that model of pitot probe, and the crash changed how pilots worldwide are trained to handle stalls and unreliable airspeed.

A year earlier, on Qantas 72 off Western Australia in 2008, a faulty air data unit sent false angle-of-attack spikes and the flight computers twice pitched the aircraft nose down. No one died, but many passengers and crew were hurt. Airbus changed the software to filter such spikes.

The fatal record

Two events count up to 7 October 2026:

• 1 June 2009, Air France 447, Rio de Janeiro to Paris: all 228 on board died.
• 12 May 2010, Afriqiyah Airways 771, on approach to Tripoli: 103 of 104 died. A Dutch boy was the only survivor. Libyan investigators cited crew actions and training.

We leave out the 2000 hijacking of Philippine Airlines 812, in which the hijacker died after jumping with a home-made parachute, and the 1994 Airbus test flight crash at Toulouse that killed all seven on board. Neither was a passenger flight accident. As our methodology explains, deaths unrelated to the aircraft or its flight, such as a passenger falling from the stairs at the stand, do not count either.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight apps and booking pages show the ICAO code: A332 for the A330-200, A333 for the -300, A338 for the -800 and A339 for the -900neo. The neo has larger engines and curved wing tips.

If your long-haul flight is on an A330, the type is not something to worry about. On a route where the airline offers a choice, the carrier's record and the airports involved matter more than whether you board an A330, a 787 or an A350.