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Aviation History
1982
1982 - 2169.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT A320 launch- chicken or egg? Sounding as if he is fed up with waiting for an engine supplier to commit itself to the 150-seater A320 pro gramme, Airbus chief Roger Beteille seems to have de cided that the General Elec tric/ Snecma combine CFM International will—initially, at least—supply its power, with a developed version of the 24,0001b-thrust CFM56-2 turbofan (see page 749). Beteille says that chicken- or-egg-decision delays have pushed the A320's service- entry date back from an ori ginal "early 1986" to "early 1987". He obviously believes that it is not simply poor airline finances which are de laying potential firm orders from very-interested carriers; but also that Airbus cannot announce go-ahead until it has the orders, that it can not sell a glider, and that the airlines will not place orders until performance is speci fied. Engine manufacturers will not commit themselves until they see the orders signed. The Rolls-Royce/ Japan/Pratt & Whitney combine which could produce a brilliant turbofan starting with the (already bench- running) RJ-500 cannot afford to continue develop ment unless their market is a near-guaranteed success. Meanwhile, the CFM56 is flying on re-engined DC-8s, and is performing reliably and economically. Beteille: "The aim [with the A320] is not to launch a programme. It is to make a profit . . . The engine, for the time being, is the major hold-up factor—rather than airline economics. Strictly for the time being." His keenness on the CFM56 be comes clear as he explains his belief that the new tech nology going into the RJ-500 will not be ready for delivery anywhere near 1987. "The launch airlines will choose the engine on total eco nomics [price and avail ability as well as tech nology]. The A320 will accept both engines. Per haps later—six or seven years later—fuel prices will make a more advanced en gine worthwhile." Flight talked to General Electric shortly after the conversation with Beteille. GE was aware of its engine's chances on the A320, but did not appear aware of what a strong backer it has in Beteille. The Airbus leader makes it clear that airframe design and manufacturing responsi bility plans for the A320 project are becoming clear, with specialisation the key. "We are strongly against people saying 'We have made a wing, now we want to make a fuselage'." The BAe ATP's cockpit is delightfully neat, with conventional electromechanical instruments at this stage. The overhead panel is simple systems-schematic, and BAe has not adopted the "dark quiet" concept (no lights on except for failure) BAe should sell 200 ATPs British Aerospace believes there is now only a "very remote possibility" that its 64-seat Advanced Turboprop airliner will not be put into production. The unveiling of the ATP mockup at Farn- borough follows what the company calls "the most intensive market study we have ever undertaken". According to BAe Man chester, about 95 per cent of the aircraft is now fully defined, and it is in a posi tion to give absolute perfor mance guarantees to pros pective customers. Component suppliers are so confident about the commer cial future for the type, says BAe, that they have been quite willing to take payment for non-recurring costs over the life of the project, rather than demanding a lump sum at the beginning, as has always been BAe's experi ence in the past. According to Chris Mollan, sales manager for the ATP, BAe surveyed 25 airlines to gauge the ATP's sales potential. Of these, only West German carrier DLT is an existing HS.748 operator. According to Mollan, "HS.748 operators have been saying to us for the last five years that the aircraft is a honey, and why didn't we build a bigger one?" BAe estimates a market for about 600 aircraft of this size, and believes that it can capture a third of this easily. A major requirement of the airlines surveyed was that the new aircraft should be capable of using jetway gates at major airports. BAe claims that no other current turboprop (including the HS.748) can do so. The manufacturer has put a passenger door in the for ward section of the revised 748 fuselage instead of the existing cargo door, to enable the ATP to use jet- ways, as the 748 is high enough but the forward door is too small. BAe has dropped the 748 designation because it believes that so much of the aircraft is new that it would be misleading to make people think it was just a new 748. A line of ATP develop ments will follow the basic aircraft, which is scheduled to fly in June 1985 and to enter service in March 1986. "That's the only basis on which the BAe Board has been willing to let the pro ject go ahead," says sales engineering manager Jeff Marsh. "We had to prove to them that it had major development potential, and was not just a way of stretch ing out the life of the 748." BAe Manchester and Pratt & Whitney Canada have worked out a develop ment path for the ATP's PW100/9 powerplant, which will become the PW124 when the ATP proposal becomes hardware. BAe expects P&W to be able to offer a 2,900 s.h.p. variant of the engine by 1988, and a version offering more than 3,000 s.h.p. by 1990. The performance guarantee department at BAe Man chester has just authorised the sales team to amend ATP fuel-burn performance data significantly downwards, after the results of wind- tunnel testing. The new fuel burn per passenger over a 150 n.m. stage is given as 16-51b. BAe claims that the competing Aerospatiale/ Aeritalia ATR 42 has a planned fuel burn of 181b per passenger over the same dis tance, and current turboprops run at about 291b per passen ger. "It's knocked all the other second - generation turboprops into a cocked hat in terms of operating costs per passenger," says Mollan. The aircraft will have the centre-section developed for the H.S. Andover military transport, keeping develop ment costs down. The ATP's wingspan will be greater than that of the HS.748-2A, but not as great as that of the HS.748-2B. But the in creased centre-section span will put the engines further outboard, and help to reduce cabin noise. FLIGHT International, 11 September 1982 741
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