First Airbus A320neo completed

[Ockie]

but can it fly (without crashing or going missing) ?

 

[Ockie]

Air New Zealand selects Pratt & Whitney geared PurePower engines for A320NEO fleet

Air New Zealand has chosen the Pratt & Whitney PurePower PW1100G-JM engine for its order of 13 Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft due for delivery from 2017.

The geared turbofan engines will be maintained at the Christchurch Engine Centre, a joint-venture between Air NZ and Pratt & Whitney that was established 15 years ago and currently employs 300 staff.

Air NZ chief operations officer Bruce Parton said the Christchurch Engine Cenre would be one of the first facilities in the world to offer maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for the new generation engines.

“The centre has successfully established world class services to overhaul the current V2500 engines on our A320 fleet,” Parton said in a statement on Friday.

“Today’s announcement will secure the centre’s long-term future which is wonderful news for staff and for Christchurch.”

Christchurch Engine Centre general manager Graham Jack said Friday’s announcement “provides confidence in a long term future and growth prospect for the Christchurch Engine Centre”.

Pratt & Whitney Aftermarket president Matthew Bromberg said Air NZ’s engine choice built on the company’s existing commitment with the airline on its current A320 fleet.

“The Christchurch Engine Centre also gains the opportunity to develop further capability to support this world leading geared turbine technology engine,” Bromberg said.

“With the Christchurch Engine Center’s stellar customer service track record, we know our geared turbofan engine customers will be well served.”

http://australianaviation.com.au/20...ed-turbofan-engines-for-a320neoa321neo-fleet/

 

[Ockie]

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.

The incident comes as test-hours of the PW1100G-powered A320neo begin to ramp-up significantly, following the addition of a second Pratt aircraft into the certification program at the end of March. Speaking earlier in April about progress on the test effort to date, Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines President Greg Gernhardt said, “we have normal issues but the nice thing about flight test is we do have field reps there, and so we are treating the flight-test program as if it was in service.” Component replacement is therefore mostly processed using the standard support system of repair manuals and spare-parts distribution.


Overall, Gernhardt says “the neo program is going well. We have two aircraft flying and the first two production engines in assembly and on, and maybe a bit ahead of, schedule. So we are comfortable in terms of maintaining schedule. We don’t provide engines for the third aircraft, which is an A321neo, until later in the year—but that is still to the schedule that they (Airbus) need them.”

The first ship set of production-standard engines, numbers 114 and 115, are due to be delivered to Airbus in Toulouse, France around midyear. In addition, Pratt has a further set of compliance engines being used for service ready and endurance (SRE) tests. “We have taken a number of production engines out of the system,” Gerhnardt says. “The beauty of the ramp up is there are so many parts in the system that water-falling is easy. We’ve pulled two engines out and we are using them for SRE, including one at the full propulsion-system level in partnership with Airbus.

A second engine will be tested at “an undisclosed” hot and high evaluation location. This engine will incorporate a “rainbow wheel” of alternate cooling systems, and coating on the turbine. “We are taking a third of the bill of material and we are putting different cooling patterns and coatings in the combustor and turbine section to see which ones perform the best. We are already focusing on maturity at entry-into-service,” he adds.

http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/bird-strike-will-not-affect-a320neo-timeline-says-airbus

 

[Grant]

look a flying citroen with the design flair of a lada

 

[Grant]

captain of an air france Airbus A320neo lands at or tambo airport.
there are a couple of hours before departure, so he explores the airport looking for a plastic cup holder without success.

he spots a service station across the road and walks over.
he walks up and down, up and down, inspecting the items on every shelf.
"sacrebleu" he exclaims while walking over to the service station owner.

"i would like a plasteec cup holdehr for my airburs" he says to the service station owner" he says pointing to the shiny plane on across the road.
service station owner goes outside to get a better look at the plane.
he then goes inside the shop and emerges holding a plastic cup holder and hands it to the captain saying "seems like a fair enough swap, although i have no idea what it could be used it for"

 

[Drifter]

Beautiful !!!!

 

[Ockie]

look a flying citroen with the design flair of a lada

Time for new material.

 

[Grant]

Time for new material.

wot ?

are you trying to tell me you have heard it before - thought this airbus had just been completed.
hell , word spreads fast

 

[Ockie]

wot ?

are you trying to tell me you have heard it before - thought this airbus had just been completed.
hell , word spreads fast

Anything Airbus related that I post it gets the "oh it looks like a flying citroen" reply from you.

 

[Ockie]

Airbus A320neo stages first flight with CFM engine

PARIS May 19 Europe's Airbus said on Tuesday the latest version of its popular A320 had flown for the first time with engines supplied by CFM International.

The revamped A320neo jet is a fuel-saving version of the company's best-selling narrow-body model and has generated thousands of orders.

CFM's LEAP-1A engine is sold as an alternative power source for the jet in competition with the Geared Turbofan supplied by Pratt & Whitney, which staged its maiden flight on the A320neo in September.

The first A320neo equipped with the LEAP engine flew for more than four hours on Tuesday, Airbus said in a statement.

CFM is a joint venture between General Electric of the United States and France's Safran.

CFM already competes with a consortium including Pratt & Whitney on the existing generation of A320 jets and is the sole engine supplier for Boeing's 737 family, including the new 737 MAX version that is going up against the A320neo.

The A320neo is due to enter service with Pratt & Whitney engines in late 2015, followed by CFM's LEAP engine in 2016. The LEAP-powered Boeing 737 MAX is due out in 2017.

The two sets of aircraft are crucial to future revenues of both planemakers as well as their engine suppliers.

Airbus says it has sold over 4,600 A320neo-family jets and CFM says it has won 55 percent of the orders from airlines for those aircraft for which engines have already been selected.

Boeing says it has sold over 2,700 of its 737 MAX jets.

Analysts say one of the key tests facing the industry in the coming 12 to 24 months is how smoothly engine makers can ramp up production to support plane delivery targets, while meeting their promises of roughly 15 percent lower fuel consumption.

Safran last month dismissed speculation of fuel-efficiency problems on the version of LEAP being developed for Boeing, and said it was on track to meet its targets for the new engine.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/19/airbus-cfm-idUSL5N0YA54720150519

 

[Grant]

nose cone revealed:

 

[Ockie]

Lufthansa's maiden A320neo due before year-end

Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l) will take delivery of its maiden A320neo ahead of schedule an airline spokeswoman, Anja Lindenstein, has confirmed.

According to aero.de, D-AINA (cn 6801) will arrive at the German carrier towards the end of the year and not in early 2016 as previously anticipated. A further six of the type are due to arrive before the end of 2016.

Lufthansa has a total of sixty-one A320neo and forty A321neo on order from Airbus Industrie (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac).

http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/39732-lufthansas-maiden-a320neo-due-before-year-end

 

[Ockie]

Airbus Gains Regulatory Approval for New A320neo Plane

LONDON--Airbus Group SE (AIR.FR) on Tuesday said it had received European and U.S. regulatory approval for its A320neo single-aisle jet clearing the way for first customer deliveries of the plane.

Both the European Aviation Safety Agency and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted the so-called type certification for the A320neo powered by PW1100G engines from Pratt & Whitney, the engine unit of United Technologies Corp.

The plane is an upgrade of Airbus's popular single-aisle family. The Toulouse-based aircraft maker is introducing new engines and other enhancements to improve fuel efficiency of the plane. The company said the A320neo, for new engine option, should be 15% more efficient than planes it replaces.

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/airbu...ew-a320neo-plane-20151124-00647#ixzz3sQdyS9VC

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/airbus-gains-regulatory-approval-for-new-a320neo-plane-20151124-00647

 

[ponder]

I am 1.96 meters tall about, so I should be able to relatively comfortably stand up straight inside the Pratt & Whitney.

Not while operational

 

[Ockie]

Not while operational

"Dear ladies and gentleman. We had some idiot that thought it would be cool to climb into the engine while we were spooling up to taxi to the runway. We are just waiting for a firetruck to come and spray the blades and nacelle clean and then we will be on our way. Terribly sorry for the inconvenience and delay"

 

[Ockie]

Lufthansa to take delivery of first Airbus A320neo jet

GENEVA: Germany’s Lufthansa is set to become the first airline to fly Airbus’s revamped single-aisle A320neo jet, the airline said on Thursday, replacing Qatar Airways which has expressed concerns over the technical performance of its engines.
The A320neo, seen as a key profit driver for both the European planemaker and its engine suppliers in coming years, is being readied for delivery after winning US and European safety certification in late November.
Until now, Qatar Airways has been named as the launch customer for the fuel-efficient jet, with Airbus targeting first delivery to the Gulf airline by the end of December.
But the CEO of Qatar Airways raised the possibility of a delay in the delivery of its first airplane at a news conference on Wednesday, saying any delay would be the fault of engine maker Pratt & Whitney, not Airbus.
Confirming a news report, Lufthansa said it now expected to take delivery of the first A320neo this month.

“We expect to get our first A320neo in December and that would technically make us the launch operator,” a spokesman said.
Aviation Week, which first reported the switch, said Qatar Airways had refused to take the jet as planned because of potentially costly operational restrictions on the Pratt & Whitney engines.
Airbus said it would to stick to its schedule of making the first A320neo delivery this year, but declined to say which airline would receive it. As recently as Nov. 24, it had said Qatar Airways was on course to receive the first jet.
The A320neo offers 15-percent lower fuel consumption thanks mainly to a choice of next-generation engines from Pratt & Whitney or CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and France’s Safran.
Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbofan engine, which is the first to come to market, marks a break with recent jet engine architecture but had some teething problems during testing.
“Along with Airbus, we are continuing to work with early customers on the first delivery of the aircraft. The team is on track to deliver the first A320neo this year,” a spokeswoman for Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, said on Wednesday.

http://www.arabnews.com/economy/news/848646

 

[Ockie]

Airbus Delivers Its New Plane. Almost No One Notices

New airplanes, among the sexiest beasts in the sky, generally make their debut with the type of glitzy ceremony befitting a Hollywood blockbuster.

Not this time. Airbus delivered its new version of the world’s bestselling airplane Wednesday to Lufthansa, quietly dropping off the fuel-efficient jet in Hamburg. There was a press release, several photos of executives in suits, and a notice on Twitter. But no horde of Airbus employees, music, or overstuffed buffet were to be seen—almost de rigueur for such events as these and certainly in evidence when Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing staged elaborate deliveries for the first of the new Airbus A350 and A380 superjumbo and the 787 Dreamliner.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-delivers-its-new-plane-almost-no-one-notices

NOTE: The picture is of the new Lufthansa A320Neo. For unknown reasons Lufthansa did not put the "Neo" on the livery.