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Airbus Reveals A320 NEO

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First A320neo successfully completes first flight

 

25 SEPTEMBER 2014 PRESS RELEASE

The first A320neo to fly has landed back at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport France at 02:22 pm local time after successfully completing its first flight which lasted around two and a half hours. The aircraft – carrying the registration F-WNEO – was flown by Airbus Experimental Test Pilots Philippe Pellerin and Etienne Miche de Malleray. Accompanying them in the cockpit was Test-Flight Engineer Jean-Paul Lambert. Monitoring the progress of the flight profile were the Flight-Test Engineers Manfred Birnfeld and Sandra Bour-Schaeffer.

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LEAP-1C-Flying-Testbed-October-2014-2_la

CFM's LEAP engine takes to the skies

 

WEST CHESTER, Ohio — 9 October 2014 — CFM International's LEAP engine took the skies for the first time on 6 October on a modified 747 flying testbed at GE Aviation Flight Test Operations in Victorville, California, launching the next phase of testing for the advanced engine program.

The engine behaved well and completed multiple aeromechnical test points at various altitudes during the nearly three-hour first flight. Over the next several weeks, the engine will complete a comprehensive test schedule that will gauge engine operability, stall margin, performance, and acoustics. The LEAP-1A/-1C variants are on track for engine certification in 2015.
"The LEAP engine behaved like a real veteran as we took it through its aerodynamic clearance points," said chief test pilot Steven Crane. "The durability and reliability one expects from a CFM product is clearly there. The flight test data also showed the benefits this engine has gained from leveraging GEnx core technology. I think this flight was a very positive foreshadowing of great things to come for the LEAP engine family."
CFM is currently executing the most extensive ground and flight test certification program in its history. The total program, which encompasses all three LEAP engine variants, includes 28 ground and CFM flight test engines, along with a total of 32 flight test engines for Airbus, Boeing, and COMAC.
Although all three LEAP engine variants will fly on the modified testbed, the configuration currently being tested is a fully integrated propulsion system (IPS). This IPS is an industry first and unique to the LEAP-1C. CFM provides the engine as well as the nacelle and thrust reverser developed by Nexcelle*. These elements, including the pylon provided by COMAC, were designed in conjunction with each other, resulting in a total system that provides improved aerodynamics, lower weight, and easier maintenance.
The foundation of the LEAP engine is heavily rooted in advanced aerodynamics, environmental, and materials technology development programs. It will provide double-digit improvements in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions compared to today’s best CFM engine, along with dramatic reductions in engine noise and emissions. All this technology brings with it CFM’s legendary reliability and low maintenance costs.
About CFM International
CFM International, a 50/50 joint company between Snecma (Safran) and GE, is the world's leading supplier of commercial aircraft engines, has delivered more than 26,500 CFM56 engines to date. The LEAP engine has experienced the fastest order ramp up in commercial aviation history, with 7,700 firm orders and commitments on the books as of September 30, 2014. For more information, visit us at www.cfmaeroengines.com or follow us on Twitter @CFM_engines.
* Nexcelle is a joint venture between Aircelle (Safran) and GE Aviation’s Middle River Aircraft Systems (MRAS).

 

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Airbus launches “A321neoLR” long range to replace 757-200W

 

The airplane is a higher gross weight aircraft, at 97 tonnes, and will have three auxiliary fuel tanks. With most long-range 757 configurations around 169 seats (United Airlines), the A321neoLR will have 164 seats, a slight loss, with 20 lie-flat business seats and the remainder in coach configuration.

 

More here: http://leehamnews.com/2014/10/21/exclusive-airbus-launches-a321neolr-long-range-to-replace-757-200w/

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First A320neo delivery in November 2015: Bregier

 

Airbus expects to start delivering the re-engined A320neo in November 2015.
Chief executive Fabrice Bregier, speaking at an investor forum in London, said the aircraft was “on track” for certification and handover in “a little bit less than one year’s time”.
Bregier says the first A320neo will “probably” be delivered in November next year.
He says the aircraft’s flight-test campaign has been “remarkable” with close to 200h accumulated by a single airframe.

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Airbus launches A321neo with true transatlantic capability

 

ALC first to commit to Airbus’ increased range option

13 JANUARY 2015 PRESS RELEASE
Airbus has officially launched the A321neo with 97 tonnes Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) having secured the first commitment from Air Lease Corporation (ALC). The Los Angeles based lessor signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 30 more A321neo, upsizing its commitments at the 2014 Farnborough Airshow from 60 to 90 and becoming the launch customer for Airbus’ increased range option.
The A321neo 97t will have, with 4,000nm, the longest range of any single aisle airliner available today and tomorrow, making it ideally suited to transatlantic routes and will allow airlines to tap into new long haul markets which were not previously accessible with current single aisle aircraft.
“We are excited to be the first to sign for the new longer range version of the A321neo,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Air Lease Corporation’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “ALC wants a footprint in every promising market segment, including ones that can be opened by this new version of the A321neo. We pride ourselves in being able to provide our customers with the very latest, most innovative products and solutions.”
“We are delighted to officially launch the A321neo 97t option with ALC,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. “ALC is a forward-looking company who has once again demonstrated its confidence in Airbus' latest products and innovations just six months after being a launch customer for the A330neo.” He added: “The longer haul single aisle market is a lucrative one that the A321neo will now dominate, thanks to the aircraft’s superior comfort, economics and range. This new version of the A321neo is a high revenue generating aircraft which will open up many new opportunities for our customers.”
Under the assumption that ALC’s MoUs for 30 A321neo aircraft plus 25 A330neo Family become firm orders, ALC’s total orders for Airbus aircraft would stand at 258 (53 A320ceo Family, 140 A320neo Family, 15 A330 Family, 25 A350 XWB Family and 25 A330neo Family).
The A321 97t variant is building on the continued innovations brought to the A320 Family with Airbus Cabin-Flex (ACF), which offers passengers the highest standards of comfort while providing great flexibility and profit optimisation to airlines. Thanks to an additional fuel tank in the forward underfloor hold of the aircraft, as well as minor improvements on the wing and fuselage, the A321neo 97t will be able to fly 206 passengers on longer routes of up to 4,000 nm in a comfortable two-class layout. First deliveries will have started by 2019.
The newest member of the best-selling A320 Family, the A320neo, incorporates new generation engines and Sharklets which together will deliver 20 percent in fuel savings by 2020. At the end of December 2014, firm orders for the NEO reached over 3,600 aircraft from 70 customers.

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Airbus formally launches A321LR; we look behind the “LR” to see what’s there

 

15 Jan 2015: Airbus officially launched what to date has been called A321neoLR as the A321LR at their annual press conference Tuesday. The former A321neoLR name was formed by Leeham News on 21 Ocober 2014 when we could reveal the existence of a A321neo variant which Airbus had started to present to airlines at the time. The final name kept the LR attribute used in the article to distinguish the longer range variant from the standard A321neo.
The A319 has used the LR designation but its use has been limited. The suffix is more commonly identified with Boeing, used as it is with the 777-200LR. Boeing has also commonly used the ER for extended range like 777-200ER, 737-900ER and 777-300ER.
Airbus has traditionally not given more capable versions a special suffix, the aircraft has been named A330-300 in their 3000nm version as well as 6000nm. Sometimes one has seen an unofficial HGW for Higher Gross Weight or A340-300E for Enhanced but not ER or typically LR. The A321LR is a 97t version intended to brand an aircraft variant that takes on the Boeing 757.
What is in the LR?

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Airbus to take A320 rate to 50 but cut A330 output

 

Airbus is to hike the monthly production rate for its A320 family to 50 from the first quarter of 2017.

 

Airbus has been examining a possible rate increase on the A320 as the backlog for the A320neo has surged.
It has already committed to raising the rate to 46 in 2016.
But the airframer had disclosed, at the beginning of this year, that it was nearing a decision on a possible further rise.
The A320neo – a re-engined version of the current A320 – is due to enter service in the fourth quarter of this year.

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Airbus’ A320neo (new engine option) test fleet expanded in April 2015 with the rollout of the third developmental aircraft, which was the no. 1 A320neo powered by CFM International LEAP-1A engines

 

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800x600_1428941077_A320neo_CFM_engine_ro

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Airbus Unveils First CFM Leap-1A-Powered A320neo

 

Airbus has rolled out the first CFM Leap-1A powered A320neo at its Toulouse facility in France, and is expected to begin ground tests this week in advance of flight tests which are targeted to begin before the Paris Air Show in June 2015.
The aircraft is the third A320neo in the test fleet, and joins the first pair of test aircraft which are powered by the competing Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan. In all, eight A320neo-family aircraft will be involved in the certification effort, which will include one additional Leap-1A-powered A320. The remainder will be made up of two A319neos and two A321neos, with one of each powered by the new engines.

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Hope the CFM LEAP-1A lives up to expectation. LEAP-1B for B737MAX is rumored to be missing fuel burn performance big time...

We will know once flight testing begins - but I do think that a big reason for LEAP-1B's fuel burn miss is that it cannot have a big fan (and higher bypass ratio) due to the limited ground clearance. If CFM cannot fix the issue, Boeing will have an interesting decision to make - whether to redesign the landing gear or go for a clean sheet design to replace the B737 Max.

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Bird Strike Will Not Affect A320neo Timeline, Says Airbus

 

LOS ANGELES - An apparent bird strike on Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-powered A320neo MSN6101 will not impact the timing of the overall certification program, nor delay the entry-into-service set for year-end, Airbus says.
A spectacular image of the event, which occurred on April 30, shows fire emitting from the core exhaust of the right-hand engine. Although details of the incident have not yet been issued, the position of the aircraft’s flaps and transitioning main gear covers appear to indicate the A320neo was climbing out when the bird strike occurred. An Airbus spokesman says, “this type of occurrence (i.e. flames) sometimes does happen during testing at high-power levels.” Given preliminary information, the event “will not have any effect on the program,” he adds.

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A320neo with LEAP- 1A engines takes to the sky for the first time

 

csm_A320neo_CFM_engine_first_flight_Take

 

19 MAY 2015 PRESS RELEASE
Marking the start of testing for second engine choice
The first A320neo equipped with CFM International LEAP-1A engines completed its maiden flight today in Toulouse, France. The aircraft, registration F-WNEW, was flown by Experimental Test Pilots Philippe Perrin and Malcolm Ridley. Accompanying them in the cockpit was Test-Flight Engineer Jean-Michel Pin and monitoring the progress of the flight profile were the Flight-Test Engineers Tuan Do and Philippe Pupin. The flight lasted 4 hours and 25 minutes during which tests were performed to validate the aircraft’s flight envelope up to the maximum altitude (39,000ft) and test the engine speed variation (low/high) in addition to checking systems behaviour.
“Today marks yet another important step forward in the development of the A320neo and I would like to warmly thank all the teams who made this first flight happen,” said Klaus Roewe, Head of the A320 Programme. “With the second NEO engine now taking to the skies, we are progressing well towards fulfilling our objective to offer our customers an engine choice for a product at the cutting edge of competitiveness.”
The newest member of the A320 Family, the A320neo, incorporates many innovations including latest generation engines, Sharklet wing tip devices and cabin improvements, which together will deliver up to 20 percent in fuel savings by 2020.The flight test campaign of the A320neo has accumulated more than 400 flight hours in around 130 flights since first flight on 25th September 2014.

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PW-powered A320neo to resume flights in 'coming weeks'

 

Airbus believes it will still be able to start delivering the A320neo before the end of this year, despite not having a specific timeframe for resuming test flights with the Pratt & Whitney-powered variant.
Flight-testing with the two PW1100G-equipped aircraft – F-WNEO and D-AVVA – has been “paused” since early May, says Airbus, after discovery of a component manufacturing flaw.
Airbus has not indicated when the aircraft might restart their flight campaign, stating only that it is “confident” of returning them to testing “in the coming weeks”.
“We remain on track to begin aircraft deliveries in 2015,” the airframer adds.
Airbus has previously stated that it would start delivering the PW1100G-powered A320neos from October.

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UTC expects A320neo to enter service in December

 

United Technologies expects entry into service of the Airbus A320neo to take place in December, following the technical delay affecting Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engine testing.
Flights with the two PW1100G-powered A320neo test aircraft have been suspended for several weeks while a component manufacturing fault was corrected.
UTC president Greg Hayes, speaking during a second-quarter financial update on 21 July, said he expected the aircraft to resume flying “early next week”.

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Airbus Readies Short-field Mod for A320neo

 

A team at Airbus’s plant in Filton, UK, has designed, built and tested a package of aerodynamic improvements for the A320neo meant to increase wing lift at low speeds, the company recently revealed. The option, dubbed “SHARP” (SHort AiRfield Package), enhances takeoff and landing performance for operations on short runways.
A key component of the package—a Kevlar composite panel modification to the wing’s ‘Root Fillet Fairing’—allows for the improved landing performance. Airbus said the impetus for the modification arose from a desire to allow A320neo operations into Rio de Janeiro’s Santos Dumont airport, whose runway extends only some 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) in length. Along with the short runway, a mountain to one side and a long bridge on the other add to the landing challenge. Airbus said it has identified several operators that would like to fly A320neos into the airport.

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