OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2009. Presentation of Vladivostok Avia's new Airbus A-330-300 long-haul widebody twinjet held at Vnukovo International. The event drew the presence of both the Vnukovo and the Vladivostok Avia top management as well as that of the media corps.

As part of the event and in keeping with the time-honored aviation tradition, the A-330 flight arriving from Vladivostok, was feted with a water-cannon salute upon entering Vnukovo's apron, followed by a formal welcoming ceremony shortly thereafter.

Before the opening of check-in for the likewise A-330-operated Moscow-Vladivostok flight leg, a brief news conference took place featuring addresses to the media corp by Head of Vnukovo's Domestic Terminal, Gennady Proshchikin, Deputy Director General of JSC Vnukovo Handling, Alexey K. Odintsev, and Deputy Director General of Vladivostok Avia, Gennady Belousov.

Anatoly and Ella Soroudiev, and Anna Ishoutina, the first three air travelers to check in for the flight, received commemorative gifts from Vnukovo International and Vladivostok Avia. Following the presentation, the A-330 went on to carry out its first Moscow-Vladivostok revenue flight. In the near term the jet will also be seen operating the carrier's foreign services.

Vladivostok Avia is currently the sole operator of the A-330-300 AC type in the nation. Compared to its similarly-sized competitors, the A-330-300 delivers an improved fuel burn, appreciable cargo capacity, as well as optimized passenger cabin layout and configuration. The air travelers opting for the VA services on the route, stand to benefit from a host of indisputable advantages the aircraft has to offer, such as lower cabin noise levels in flight, a greater seat-pitch and  two wide aisles between banks of seats, improved cabin air conditioning system, and an inflight entertainment system with LCD screens installed in the back of every seat on board.

The AC type also embodies a plethora of groundbreaking manufactruring techniques and cutting-edge technology such as fly-by-wire controls, the cockpit featuring sidesticks as opposed to traditional helms and multifunctional flight and AC systems info LCDs. The aircraf's frontal fuselage sections are majority-composite. The twinjet's powerplant comprises two General electric GE CF6-80E1A2, certified for the Extended-Range Twin-Engine Operations (ETOPS). The aircraft's cockpit arrangement and avionics suite ensure full commonality and crew interchangeability with its A-340 and A-320 sister-types.

VA's fleet newcomer will first and foremost be operated on the traditional Moscow-Vladivostok route. Moscow has always ranked high on the carrier's list of priorities as regards its route network philosophy. Now Vnukovo International, the carrier's leading transfer hub, presently handles the VA schedules to Yekaterinburg, Abakan, Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Vladivostok, as well as its charters to Barcelona, Spain, Heraklion, (Isle of Crete, Greece), Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.