Airbus freighter makes first test flightAirbus will deliver the first of its new freight cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft is an airplane designed and used for the carriage of goods, rather than passengers. This role demands a number of features that makes a cargo aircraft instantly identifiable; a "fat" looking fuselage, a high-wing to allow the cargo area to sit near the ground, a in the summer of 2010, the company said Thursday after the plane took off on its maiden MAIDEN. The name of an instrument formerly used in Scotland for beheading criminals. test flight. Airbus says the aircraft, the A330-200F, meets a growing demand for freight haulers with smaller holds than the jumbo models currently based on rival Boeing Co.'s 747, and will be more economical to operate than the aging DC-10 freighters now serving the mid-size market. "We see the first signs of recovery in the cargo market," Airbus' freighter marketing manager Jonathan Lesieur told reporters in a conference call. Airbus forecasts total demand for about 1,600 freighters in the 30- to 80-ton capacity segment over the next two decades, Lesieur said. The first A330-200F will be delivered to Etihad Crystal Cargo, an airline based in the United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates, federation of sheikhdoms (2005 est. pop. 2,563,000), c.30,000 sq mi (77,700 sq km), SE Arabia, on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. , which has ordered three of the aircraft. The A330-200F is a modified version of Airbus' A330-200 passenger jet, and it has a list price of around $180 million, Lesieur said. Since the program was announced in January, 2007, Airbus has received 67 firm orders from nine airlines for its freighter. Last week Turkish Airlines announced its commitment to buy two A330-200Fs, though it has not yet placed a firm offer. A version of the aircraft is also Airbus' contender for the U.S. Air Force's $35 billion contract to build new air refuelers and replace the Air Force's aging fleet of 179 tankers. Lesieur said that Airbus could locate manufacturing of the A330-200 in Alabama Alabama, indigenous people of North America Alabama (ăləbăm`ə), indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Muskogean branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). if it wins the contract. Airbus is competing with Chicago-based Boeing for the order. Airbus and its partner Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. Corp. are offering a tanker based on the Airbus A330. Boeing may offer tankers based on its 767 or 777 jets or both. Airbus is a a unit of European European emanating from or pertaining to Europe. European bat lyssavirus see lyssavirus. European beech tree fagussylvaticus. European blastomycosis see cryptococcosis. Aeronautic aer·o·nau·tic also aer·o·nau·ti·cal adj. Of or relating to aeronautics. aer  o·nau Defence and Space Co.
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