On June 1, Tibet Airlines welcomed a brand new Airbus A330-200 aircraft at Lhasa Gonggar International Airport, marking a new wide-body era for the Lhasa-based carrier.

The A330-200 aircraft, Registration B-8420, is the first 242 tonnes maximum take-off-weight (MTOW) version to be operated by a Chinese airline. The increased MTOW allows airlines to operate from the most demanding high altitude airports where take off performance, additional range and improved operating costs are key.

The A330-200 aircraft is configured with 279 seats in a three-class cabin layout (12 in business, 32 in premium economy, and 235 in economy) and deployed to open up new international routes.

Tibet Airlines currently operates an all-Airbus fleet comprising of 14 A319s and 2 A320s. The airline is famous for its high-altitude operations with scheduled domestic passenger and cargo services out of Lhasa Airport, one of the world's highest airports at an altitude of 3,500 meters.

With the proven performance of Airbus narrow body, especially the A319 in high-altitude airports, Tibet Airlines has been successfully connecting Tibet with more domestic cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The A330 is the first wide-body equipped with the Required Navigation Performance with Authorization Required (RNP-AR) and the only wide-body airliner today flying over Tibet's sky. It will exceed the airlines' expectation on high-altitude performance also offer unrivalled efficiency, also greater comfort to the passengers.