Airbus has no clean-sheet aircraft design under way but is busy with several “incremental” developments or derivatives–the A350-1000 XWB, the A320neo, the A330neo, new A330ceo versions and the Beluga XL. The business case for an A380neo does not appear compelling yet.
Subcomponent assembly of the first A350-1000 XWB widebody has begun. Final assembly is scheduled to begin early next year, with a first flight planned for the middle of 2016. Type certification and entry into service are seen as occurring in mid-2107.
Those subcomponents that are undergoing assembly include the center wing box, lateral junction panels, pylons, surrounds made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) for passenger doors and a fixed trailing edge for the wing.
The Trent XWB turbofan is to be flight-tested on an A380. “Some certification tests will thus be done in advance,” said Bruno Hernandez, senior v-p and head of A350 program developments. The plan calls for 120 flight hours, starting in October.
The A350-1000 is a significant evolution, in systems and structures, from the in-service A350-900, partly due to its greater size. Eleven frames are added to the fuselage, six in the forward section and five in the aft section. The larger Trent XWB-97 provides more thrust, at 97,000 pounds.
The main landing gear features six-wheel bogies and its bay is one frame longer. It is supplied by UTC Aerospace Systems, while the -900’s main landing gear is produced by Messier-Bugatti-Dowty.
The -1000 also has some specific design features, such as the aforementioned CFRP door-surround structure. A greater proportion of the fuselage frames–half of them–are now CFRP. The bilge has a new arrangement. An electric opening system has been designed for landing gear doors, for maintenance purposes. A new aft galley arrangement also is available as an option.. Finally, fitting the underfloor electric network has been simplified.
“The -1000 benefits from the -900 experience–for example, we have improved some system installation,” Hernandez said. He has set a target of finding room for another 20 seats in the -1000, by 2020. The program’s engineers are thus working on shrinking the footprint of the cabin-crew rest compartment, the lavatories and the galley.
Three A350-900 XWBs are in service today. As of May 28, they had logged 485 flight cycles and 2,100 flight hours. “Qatar handles the aircraft in full autonomy,” said Didier Evrard, Airbus executive v-p and head of programs. Daily utilization is said to be greater than 11 flight hours. Fifteen deliveries will be made to three additional operators in 2015–Vietnam Airlines, Finnair and Latam.
“Twenty-one A350s are in final assembly in Toulouse and we are on the way to rate 10,” Evrard went on. He emphasized the supply chain has improved a lot, especially for A350-1000 aerostructures. “We need to reduce lead times, we have buffers and we will progressively remove them,” Evrard added.
A320neo and A330neo Progress
On the single-aisle A320neo, 130 flights and more than 420 hours had been performed by May 28 with the two Pratt & Whitney-powered aircraft. However, flight-testing was on hold due to a maturity issue on the PW1100G-JM engine, according to Evrard. “A snap ring retaining a seal has to be replaced; it is a matter of days,” he said. He expressed confidence that certification will take place by year-end. The lead-time between certification and entry into service is hoped to be shorter than it was for the A350 because the A320neo is not a brand-new product.
Already validated are high-speed and low-speed performance, approach and takeoff noise, aircraft handling in “normal” and “degraded” control laws, flutter and engine development testing. The next steps are autopilot certification, handling-qualities certification flights and functional and reliability testing. Hot-weather and high-altitude campaigns are planned, too.
The A320neo powered by the other engine option, the CFM Leap-1A, first flew on May 19 and had performed six flights as of May 28.
The A330 program is preparing for neo transition, too. The latest version of the A330ceo, at 242 metric tons mtow, was delivered on May 28 to Delta Airlines. It features shortened flap-track fairings and a reshaping of slat one. Fuel burn is reduced by one percent, according to Airbus.
Another version may be produced before the neo–the shorter-range A330 Regional. Although no order has been received yet, CEO Fabrice Brégier was adamant that it is the right product for some markets. “Growth in Asia, especially in China, cannot be accommodated with only single-aisle; so there is a good case for an A330 Regional,” he said.
The A330-900neo is planned to be certified in 2017 and enter into service the same year, about a year before the A330-800neo. They will seat, respectively, 310 and 252 passengers. Airbus is targeting the same type rating as that of the A330ceo (but the airframer makes it clear it will be subject to regulatory approval) and common type rating with the A350 XWB.
Will Airbus offer an A380neo? Emirates has been pushing for it but Airbus has made no decision yet. “Our biggest customer wants a long-term commitment; this is good news,” Brégier said. However, as COO customer John Leahy noted, “it would be a hard sale to our board to do something for one customer, even though a big one.”
While the A380neo’s business case is still under study, continuous improvement is going on with the current version. In development is a combined crew rest space for cabin and flight crews, with separate entrances but in a single compartment. This will free up room for a handful of additional seats.
New Beluga
Sometimes manufacturers develop aircraft they don’t offer to customers. For Airbus, this is the case with the aging A300-based Beluga, to be replaced with the in-the-works Beluga XL. The latter will be a derivative of the A330 and will be 3.3 feet wider. “It will be able to transport two A350 wings,” Evrard said. Its payload will be 12 percent greater than that of the Beluga.
Flight testing is slated to start in 2017. Starting in 2019, five Beluga XLs will progressively replace today’s five Belugas. For this development, Airbus engineers are testing new methods that may one day be reused on commercial programs.
Trying to think out of the box, Airbus has created “bizlabs,” one use of which is to provide a framework for small companies to come and offer innovative products. One of these enterprises is in the process of being brought in to supply an ultra-narrowband system that remotely seals doors, inspection panels and hatches. As many as 32 doors and such can be found on an Airbus and are usually checked physically, Brégier said. Without the bizlab scheme, that small, innovative company may well have been received a polite, “No, thanks,” he acknowledged.
