Nigel Pittaway | Seville
A delegation from the Royal Australian Air Force arrived in Spain last week to discuss the installation of VIP interiors in the two Airbus Defence & Space KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft it has on order.
The European manufacturer has a contract to convert two ex-Qantas A330-200 passenger aircraft to tanker configuration and the first aircraft is currently at the company’s facility in Getafe, outside Madrid. The two aircraft are in addition to five already in service and their order was announced by then Defence Minister Kevin Andrews in July.
Senior government officials have in the past indicated that one or two aircraft would be fitted with a VIP interior to replace the current Boeing 737-BBJ fleet, while at the same time retaining full tanker capability.
However Airbus D&S head of MRTT programs Antonio Caramazana confirmed the proposal during the annual Trade Media Briefing in Seville on October 26.
“We have signed a contract with Australia to do the MRTT tanker conversion and they are asking for VIP configurations. In fact the Australian delegation is coming to Spain this week and we will be discussing that request,” he said.
“We will be in these discussions and we are open to do the conversions.”
Caramazana said that while Airbus D&S is trying to keep the MRRT to as common a standard as possible across its customer base, it tries to give each customer the flexibility to customise the cabin interior.
“So for us, the customisation to single class configuration, three class configuration or whatever is something that we do on a daily basis with our customer,” he said.
In October last year the Airbus Group announced that it would begin development of a VIP cabin for the A330-200.
The five existing RAAF KC-30As have a two-class 270-seat cabin similar to the original Qantas configuration, before the airline began installing Skybeds and refurbishing the interior.
While the tanker configuration for the two additional aircraft is frozen and the conversion contract signed, the cabin configuration is not frozen at this point in time.
“We have to bid on both of the two aeroplanes, different configurations,” Caramazana said.
“So we are looking at all possibilities (but) it’s up to the customer to decide which cabin configuration they wish to have.”
Disclaimer: Nigel Pittaway travelled to Spain as a guest of Airbus Defence & Space.