Airbus, famille A320, avec "winglets"

Admin a écrit:Bonjour à tous

Première cellule A320 aux normes sharklets

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-(Airbus)/Airbus-A320-214/2093049/M/


Mais pour le moment encore avec les wingtip fence

Airbus has produced the first new-build A320 with Sharklets. Depicted here at its roll-out in Toulouse, MSN 5098 will be one of several A320 Family aircraft in the certification flight-test campaign starting in May this year and lasting around 600 flight hours. These Sharklet tests follow the successful ‘early flight-test’ campaign with Airbus’ A320 MSN 001 test aircraft.
In total, seven new-build A320 Family aircraft fitted with both CFM56 and V2500 engine types will test the production-standard Sharklets. The results of the tests will lead up to the certification of these fuel-saving devices on each combination of aircraft model and engine selection. The first member of the family to enter service with Sharklets will be the CFM56-powered A320, from the fourth quarter of 2012.

However, Aspire Aviation‘s multiple sources at European aircraft manufacturer Airbus confirm that the sharklets currently undergoing flight tests have exceeded the 3.5% block fuel burn reduction performance guarantee by another 1%-1.5%, depending on stage length as the effect of fuel burn saving is more prominent on longer sectors.

The 3.5% block fuel burn reduction performance guarantee by Airbus is on top of the 1% block fuel burn reduction delivered by the wing-fences on today’s A320 and a 1%-1.5% better-than-expected fuel burn reduction means the sharklets will be 5.5%-6% more fuel efficient than an A320 without any winglet devices. Therefore the net result should be the same or 0.5% better than Boeing’s Advanced Technology winglet, depending on stage length.

The same sources at Airbus say while the sharklet has a shorter height at 2.4m, versus the blended winglet’s 2.49m height, the sharklet has a “very different 3D aerodynamic profile” than the blended winglet and “is much more aerodynamically efficient”. They also reveal that Airbus did study numerous dual-feather and downward-facing winglet designs before eventually settling on the sharklet, while adding the sharklet design, unlike the Advanced Technology winglet on the 737 MAX, will not increase the risk of ramp-rash nor affect the aircraft’s lateral control characteristics.

Moreover, on the contrary to rumours that Airbus is struggling on reinforcing the outer wing box and the centre wing box, these Airbus sources dismiss such claims as “baseless” and that the additional weight brought by the reinforcements in Rib 27 and those ribs outboard of Rib 8, along with the installed weight of the winglet, are going to be “neutralised” by 440lbs (200kgs) of weight reductions in the A320neo airframe.

With an order from TAM Airlines, Airbus has officially launched the Space-Flex PRM (Persons with Reduced Mobility) lavatory as an option for operators of the A320 Family. TAM will become the first Airbus customer to benefit from Space-Flex, a new option now available for the A320 Family which creates more passenger comfort.
The TAM order is for Airbus to line-fit equip 39 new aircraft to be delivered from the 4th quarter of 2013. By making more efficient use of the volume at the rear of the cabin, two lavatories plus a galley can now be efficiently accommodated in this space, generating the following advantages for TAM:
• Freeing-up space for more passenger comfort, as with this new arrangement the revenue space of the cabin is maximized;
• Offering two lavatories each of comparable size to existing A320s i.e. larger than competitor lavatories;
• Providing a full PRM lavatory for the first time in a single-aisle aircraft. The ‘PRM-friendly’ lavatory is facilitated via a simple conversion process: two single Space-Flex lavatories are convertible into one PRM enclosure in a similar manner to those delivered on Airbus wide-body aircraft.
“Space-Flex maximizes the cabin revenue space and therefore gives us more flexibility in our new Airbus A320 Family aircraft,” said José Maluf, Supplies and Contracts Vice-President at TAM Airlines. “In the future we could easily adapt to market demand and improve seat-mile costs by adding six seats without any compromise in comfort.”
Prior to this launch selection by TAM, the Space-Flex concept had been reviewed and tested with numerous airlines, and the mock-up was displayed at recent trade shows, including Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.
TAM, which recently merged with LAN to form LATAM Airlines Group, is the biggest Airbus customer in the Southern Hemisphere with more than 200 orders and an outstanding backlog of more than 100 Airbus aircraft.
With around 8,400 A320 Family aircraft ordered, and over 5,100 aircraft delivered to over 360 customers and operators worldwide, the A318, A319, A320 and A321 make up the world's best-selling single-aisle aircraft family and are the preferred choice with traditional airlines and passengers, as well as with the fast-growing low-cost carrier market for which it is now the reference. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS company.