South African Airways takes delivery of its first Airbus A330-300

South African Airways (SAA) has taken delivery of its first of five new leased A330-300 widebody jetliners, becoming Airbus’s first Southern African operator of the aircraft type.

The pictured A330-343 F-WWKT became ZS-SXI (msn 1745) when it was handed over to the carrier on December 1, 2016.

SAA’s A330-300 are configured in a comfortable two-class cabin layout with 46 seats in Business Class and 203 in Economy class seats.

SAA has selected the latest 242-ton Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) variant of the A330-300, which incorporates a new aerodynamic packages enabling the aircraft to cover distances of up to 6,350 nautical miles (11,750km) in flights up to 15 hours in duration. This payload/range capability allows the aircraft to be deployed across SAA’s long-haul, intra-Africa and peak domestic routes.

Photo; Airbus.