Twin-engine 278 seat airliner

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   Because the Belgian Air Component's two Airbus A310-222 transport aircraft suffered from frequent engine and component break-downs, the Belgian Ministry of Defence opted in November 2009 to lease a single commercial Airbus A330-300 from the Portuguese airline HiFly trough French airline broker Avico on basis of a 2.000 flying hours annually use and at a fixed price of 12 million Euros per year. The 278 seat Airbus A330-300 CS-TMT (c/n 096) was able to satisfy the Defence's need for a long range transport capacity and  allowed a full contingent of troops to be transported ina single flight to for example Afghanistan, while up to now several flights were needed for a similar deployment. The leasing contract for the Airbus A330-300 with Avico ended in March 2014. (Daniel Brackx)