Airbus have been working away with their updated version of their narrowbody aircraft – the Airbus A320neo.
The new version of the Airbus A320neo entered assembly in March, and rolled out in July.
Yesterday, the new aircraft (registered as F-WNEO, frame MSN6101),it took its first flight into the skies to begin the test and certification campaign.
During take-off
Air-to-Air
All images, Airbus
The A320neo completed a two hour twenty-two minute sortie across southern France, beginning a 3000 hour flight test programme.
For the first flight of the A320neo, the aircraft was fitted with Pratt & Whitney “PurePower” PW1100G-JM engines (which look big in comparison to the engines on a normal A320). In addition, the A320neo is fitted with sharklets and other aerodynamic improvements.
Future aircraft will be offered with the CFM International’s LEAP-1A engine as an option.
In total, eight aircraft will form the cadre of test aircraft made up of:
- Four A320neo’s (two using Pratt and Whitney Pure Power, two using CFM Leap 1A)
- Two A321neo’s (one using Pratt and Whitney Pure Power, one using CFM Leap 1A)
- Two A319neo (one using Pratt and Whitney Pure Power, one using CFM Leap 1A)
Why is this important? Fuel efficiency. With airline fuel still a major cost and forming a lot of the bill to fly a plane around, anything to reduce costs would be welcome to airlines to keep fares low, or to increase profits.
The A320neo is a very anticipated aircraft, with orders of 3257 aircraft from 60 customers. The launch customer of the Airbus A320neo will be Qatar Airways (also the launch customer of the Airbus A350) towards the end of 2015.
It may not be a totally new innovation in terms of aircraft design, but as the market moves towards incremental updates – updated designs that save airlines money can only be good news for those of us who pay for tickets out of our own pockets.
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