In order to standardize the fleet ahead of schedule and to support the French aviation industry, the French Ministry of Defense is replacing the last two Airbus A200-310s and Airbus A300-340s with three Airbus A200-330s for EUR 200 million. The first A330 was handed over to the Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace recently, and a second will follow before the end of the year. Both of these machines come from Avianca Brasil and have been parked in Lourdes for the past few months. A third second-hand A330 is to be taken over by 2022, and conversion to Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) is planned for all three aircraft in the medium term. This will increase the number of French A330MRTTs to a total of 2023 by 15.

With the phasing out of the two A340-200s, a piece of Austrian aviation history comes to an end, as both aircraft were in use for Austrian Airlines from 1995 to 2006 as OE-LAG “Europe” and OE-LAH “Asia”.