Spain gets its third Airbus tanker, completing 2021 order

Airbus has delivered the third A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport to Spain, completing the three-aircraft order the Spanish Ministry of Defense placed in 2021.

The company announced the handover on X, and Spanish media reported that the ceremony took place on Oct. 20 at its plant in Getafe, outside Madrid.

The tanker will join the 45th Wing of the Spanish Air and Space Force at Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base near Madrid, which already flies the first two. The first entered service in April 2025 and the second followed in October 2025, so the last aircraft arrived ahead of the November 2026 completion date set when the program was rescheduled in 2023.

Spain did not buy new-build jets. The ministry bought three secondhand A330-200 airliners from Iberia in November 2021, and Airbus converted them into tankers at Getafe under a program the Spanish cabinet had approved two months earlier at an estimated €810 million. Before conversion, the airframes flew transport missions for the air force in their original configuration, including evacuation flights from Niger and Sudan.

The Spanish tankers use a hose-and-drogue system, trailing a hose with a basket that receiving aircraft plug into with a refueling probe. Airbus says the aircraft can stay airborne for more than 18 hours, have a range of 16,000 km (9,940 miles) and carry 111 tonnes (245,000 pounds) of fuel in their standard tanks, enough to fly refueling missions without extra fuel tanks. The A330 MRTT can also carry up to 300 troops or 45 tonnes (99,000 pounds) of cargo, and it can be fitted for medical evacuation.

The Spanish crews have already started taking the aircraft abroad. In August 2026, the Spanish Air and Space Force brought an A330 MRTT to Exercise Pitch Black in northern Australia, where it refueled strike aircraft alongside Royal Australian Air Force KC-30As, a Royal Air Force Voyager and U.S. Air Force KC-135s.

The delivery closes out the 2021 contract, but Madrid has a larger tanker purchase in the works. On Aug. 25, the Spanish cabinet approved up to €5.4 billion ($6.3 billion) for a joint A330 MRTT buy with Poland, financed through the European Union’s SAFE defense loan program, as we reported in August. Spanish media have reported a split of three aircraft for Spain and four for Poland, though the official readout did not give a number, and the final contract has not yet been signed.

Airbus says its A330 MRTT order book stands at 91 aircraft, with 68 delivered to more than 18 countries, and that the global fleet has logged more than 375,000 flight hours.