Aer Lingus A330 to be Scrapped

Aer Lingus ( IATA: EI ) is planning to scrap one of its Airbus A330-300 aircraft, EI-ORD. The aircraft, MSN 59, originally delivered to Air Inter in 1994, is to be ferried BOD-BGR-GWO on 29th March for scrapping for parts.

EI-ORD was one of the first A330s delivered to Air Inter, and had a lower MTOW as they were planned to be operated on French short-haul routes. The short-haul routes driven up the aircraft’s cycles to a higher number than most other comparable A330s.
Due to the lower MTOW, and with Dublin’s shorter runway, the aircraft had some range issues operating one of EI’s long haul routes, ironically to Chicago ORD.
In 2010, the aircraft suffered an alieron fracturing, while in flight to – ORD – and as a result had to be repaired with a downtime of two weeks.
Aer Lingus had been trying to sell the aircraft, but been unable to, and has now decided to let it be scrapped for parts. We bid ORD a farewell !
EI-ORD however is not the first A330-300 to be scrapped, this was 9M-MKB which was written off in 2001 due to a leakage of corrosive chemicals.