Airbus has shared some striking images of Air Greenland's first and only A330-800neo airframe on Twitter. The plane, bearing MSN 2020 and Airbus' temporary registration F-WWCR, was spotted leaving the paint shop with its brand-new eye-popping Air Greenland livery. The airline can now expect to receive the aircraft towards the end of this year to replace its older A330-200 variant.

Air Greenland A330neo spotted

Air Greenland's bold red livery is highly polarizing, which hasn't changed with the new airframe. However, the carrier has decided to add some minor changes like the bigger 'Air Greenland' script that now runs almost the entire height of the aircraft's door. Previously, the carrier's logo was placed below the windows and ended just before where the wings' leading edges started.

Air Greenland ordered the A330neo to replace its single A330-200 aircraft registered as OY-GRN. The latter is nearly 24 years old now and still serving the Greenlandic people with regular flights to Copenhagen in Denmark from the airline's base at Kangerlussuaq Airport (SFJ) in central-western Greenland.

Many believe Air Greenland's order saved the unpopular Airbus A330-800neo variant as its orders paled in comparison to the larger -900neo variant. However, due to the limited runway length available at Greenland's airports, the carrier didn't have much of a choice. But chances are, it didn't need one either, as the -800neo was perfect for Air Greenland's operations, thanks to its increased range and short takeoff distance.

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New configuration

The Greenlandic carrier's older A330 featured a two-class cabin configuration totaling 278 seats split as 30 in business class and 248 in economy. All that changes on the new plane, though; Air Greenland has opted for a much denser configuration of 305 seats. Business class capacity is now up by 12 to a total of 42 seats, while economy will accommodate 15 more people, data from ch-aviation shows.

Considering the fact that Air Greenland's longest route (Copenhagen – Kangerlussuaq) is under five hours, the dense seat map shouldn't be that much of a problem for economy passengers. However, if the airline plans to expand operations by adding more long-haul routes, which it can given the -800neo's range, the ride would be far from smooth.

Air Greenland initially plans on deploying the new aircraft on the CPH-SFJ route just like its predecessor. In the future, the carrier also has plans to serve two other airports in the country, namely Nuuk and Ilulissat. Both these regions are expected to get new international airports with longer runways sometime next year.

Apart from Air Greenland, the -800neo variant doesn't have many takers. Only Kuwait Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, and Uganda Airlines have ordered the type.

What do you think of Air Greenland's new Airbus A330-800neo aircraft and its slightly reworked livery? Have you flown on their older -200 plane before? Please, let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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  Airbus

  Stock Code:

  AIR

  Date Founded:

  1970-12-18

  CEO:

  Guillaume Faury

  Headquarters Location:

  Toulouse, France

  Key Product Lines:

  Airbus A220, Airbus A320, Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350, Airbus A380

  Business Type:

  Planemaker