Northwest Airlines is using Fargo's Airport to train its pilots on a brand new Airbus A330 aircraft that was just recently delivered to the airline.  The aircraft is painted in the new livery that was introduced in April of this year.

The aircraft was manufactured by Airbus Industries in Toulouse, France.  The A330 is 197' long, has a 210' wingspan and can weigh up to 467,000 pounds at take-off.  Northwest has 138 Airbus aircraft in its fleet comprised of the smaller A319 and A320 aircraft.  These aircraft seat 124 to 150 passengers while the A330 seats 298 passengers.  The A330-323 aircraft will enter service with Northwest Airlines in September on its long-haul routes normally flown by the McDonnell Douglas DC-10.

Northwest Airlines has used Hector Airport for pilot training in the past on numerous occasions and the long runway at Hector makes it a good place for practical training experience.  The aircraft is not carrying any passengers but a training crew of pilots.