Jetrader - March/April 2012 - 21

The ﬁrst Airbus A320 ﬁtted with fuel-saving “Sharklets” takes off for its successful ﬁrst ﬂight from Toulouse, France (30 November 2011).

Originally, the A320 Family had a service goal of 48,000 ﬂight cycles/60,000 ﬂight hours. The ESG will increase this to 60,000 ﬂight cycles/120,000 ﬂight hours, ensuring the eldest aircraft can stay in operation for longer. These developments are always made to improve fuel efﬁciency, operational ﬂexibility and comfort on board, and also to reduce maintenance costs. All in all, these improvements make the aircraft more attractive and keep the A320 Family ahead of the competition. Furthermore by offering most of these options as a retroﬁt ensures all operators beneﬁt, including those ﬂying older A320s.

A320neo—The ‘New Engine Option’
The “new engine option” (neo) will bring further fuel and emissions savings for A320 Family customers. In short, A320neo is a package which combines the new engines, the Pratt and Whitney PurePower PW1100G or the CFM Leap-X, with Sharklets. Beneﬁts include a 15 percent lower fuel burn over today’s aircraft, with a corresponding 15 percent reduction in CO2 emissions. Moreover, the fuel burn reduction translates into an eight percent reduction in cash operating cost, while revenue potential will also improve with at least 15 percent more range or payload. The A320neo, which already has more than 1,450 orders and commitments from 26 customers, comes with premium pricing. This price delta not only reﬂects the added value the A320neo Family brings to investors and operators alike, but it also sustains the investment worthiness of today’s “standard” A320. In keeping with the “minimum-change, maximum beneﬁt” approach, the A320neo’s airframe will only require some local wing reinforcements and a new pylon, ensuring the A320neo will be easily integrated into an existing A320 Family ﬂeet. In fact, with 95 percent airframe commonality and only two hours of computerbased training for pilots transitioning from an A320 to an A320neo, the near seamless ﬂeet commonality will have a strong inﬂuence on retaining current A320 residual values. In summary, the A320neo is building on the strong foundation of A320 Family values, which have already proved highly successful in the market.

Wing-tip ‘Sharklets’— Reducing Fuel Burn, Enhancing Performance
Non-stop innovation continues with Sharklets, the next step in Airbus’ welldeﬁned strategy to reduce fuel burn and mitigate operators from the increasing fuel prices. Our ﬂight test A320 MSN-0001 was recently ﬂying with the Sharklets and is leading the certiﬁcation program, which will see enter service in late 2012. The Sharklets will bring up to 3.5 percent fuel burn beneﬁt on longer sectors, along with a corresponding reduction in CO2 emissions. They will also enable the aircraft to offer up to 120nm more range capability or 450kg more payload. Take-off performance is improved, allowing either higher payloads out of challenging airports, or improving engine de-rate (which will reduce engine maintenance costs by up to two percent). Airbus is also pursuing a Sharklet retroﬁt option, which would deliver similar fuel savings to aircraft already delivered. Airbus is targeting the majority of the in-service single-aisle ﬂeet and is currently deﬁning the sub-ﬂeet of aircraft to which this retroﬁt solution would most efﬁciently apply.

much better investment than a mid-1990s 737 “classic”—whose design differs signiﬁcantly from the subsequent 737NG. Likewise, looking to the future, today’s A320 Family is set to remain as the best used-aircraft investment in 10 or 20 years time compared with today’s similarly aged 737NGs. Notably, the 737NG’s values will likely be adversely impacted as this ﬂeet will have much lower commonality with Boeing’s planned successor: the “737 Max.” This is a sharp contrast to today’s A320 ﬂeet, which will beneﬁt from high design and operational commonality with the A320neo. Furthermore, the future of any program also lies in its backlog, and with a strong presence in the rapidly expanding markets such as Asia, the A320 Family demonstrates its bright future. Lessors, a key barometer for the market, have also shown signiﬁcant commitment, owning more than half the A320 Family in-service ﬂeet. Leasing companies are vital distribution channels and make the A320 Family accessible to new operators. Airbus has always been driven to provide more value to its operators by continuously delivering the most advanced technology available. Every year, Airbus invests more than 250 million euros to fund these program developments. The A320 Family platform has proved to be ﬂexible and capable over the years and will continue to be so for many years to come without the need for major redesign. The A320neo once again demonstrates this by offering maximum beneﬁt for minimum change, thus assuring both operator and investor appeal far into the future. Frank Vermeire is Head of A320 Family Marketing, Airbus.

Protecting the A320’s Future Investment Potential
In addition, there is little doubt that a mid-1990s A320 has proved to be a Jetrader 21

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Jetrader - March/April 2012

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