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Aviation History
1983
1983 - 0339.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Airbus launches A320 sales drive Airbus Industrie is starting a major sales push for the latest version of its planned A320, the short-to-medium-haui 150-seat twinjet, reports David Learmount from Toulouse. Airbus is con vinced that a completely new aircraft of this size will be badly needed by 1988, the projected year for delivery to the airlines, and that by then carriers will be clear of the recession's effects. The Airbus sales team will start visiting prospective customers in March, and the consortium hopes to have sufficient "quality" to launch the A320 by mid-summer. The programme must be given momentum before 1983's end if the 1988 delivery date is to be met. "We realise that we have set ourselves a very difficult task," says Reinhardt Orthmann, managing director of marketing services. He acknowledges that "we are in the eye of the recession", but says that Airbus must move now to have the aeroplane ready for the sales that should • come when the European economy improves. He admits ' that the Boeing 737 and «McDonnell Douglas DC-9 Super 80 derivatives are good * products, but points out that r the A320 has developed since its conception and that plans * continue to develop. , The A320's fuel burn will be at least 20 per cent lower than *that of the derivative aircraft, .Airbus claims. The marketing team will not quote prices or 'fine detail, saying that poten tial purchasers should hear these facts first. But it points 'out that "technological 'advances have as much impact on production costs as on operating costs. Price •increases compared with current single-aisle aircraft will not be very great", t The A320 will seat 158-162 passengers in a European 'single-class layout, and about '150 with a US mixed-class cabin. Airbus makes much of the A320's wider fuselage * cross section (143in interior r cabin width compared with 139in for the 757). The wider 1 aisle reduces loading and thus turnaround times, claims FLIGHT International, 26 February 1983 Airbus, increasing aircraft utilisation. The manufacturer says it also allows for more comfortable seating and for a deeper wing box, giving it "the opportunity for an improved thickness-chord ratio Boeing would have liked with the 757". The latest A320 plans would have the aircraft incor porating a composite horizon tal tail-plane as well as a composite fin, and would have fly-by-wire primary controls for all control surfaces except the rudder. The engine would be a GE/Snecma CFM56-4, although any newer engines would be fitted as soon as they became available. All the lessons learnt from A310 development would be incorporated into the A320, including cockpit design and digital flight management systems. Modular systems design and electronic diagnos tic equipment would make the aircraft cheaper to maintain than the present generation aircraft, Airbus says. Airbus acknowledges the inherent difficulty of breaking into the US market with any of its products, but says that 50 per cent of the market for this type of aircraft is outside the USA. But, says Orthmann, the A320 will come closer to Delta Air Lines' new single-aisle speci fications than anything else on the market, and Delta is high on the list of airlines to be visited. # Airbus is currently flying a Swissair-liveried A310 through the Middle and Far East on a demonstration tour. The company's marketing department says that it believes there is a good chance that the trip may result in the first sale of the extended range A310-300, which will be on the market by 1986. Countries visited during the journey include the Yemen Arab Republic, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. • Certification of the A310 to Cat 2 landing standards by both French and German authorities is now expected on March 11. Japan to partner Boeing? TOKYO According to Japan Economic Journal, Boeing is expected to sign with Japan at the end of March on "a joint devel opment of the next- generation civil airliner", the 150-seat YXX series. The three Japanese aircraft companies involved, accord ing to the report, would be Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, and Fuji. The Japanese would bear 25 per cent of the cost, Boeing 70 per cent, and some prospective West European partner 5 per cent. The aircraft would be developed, produced and sold on a complete full-partner basis. Aeritalia and "a newer engine of the Japanese-British XJB type" are associated with the reports. FLIGHT wrrewMnwMi NEXT WEEK In a period when new military helicopter orders are hard to find, we look at manufacturer's approaches to the market. Following the Helicopter Association Interna tional's convention, the latest civil helicopter de velopments are surveyed. Italian share in A320? PARIS France and Italy hope to extend their ATR42 co operation to the future Airbus A320 jet airliner. After talks with French President Francois Mitter rand in Paris, Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani said that Italy was keen on joining the A320 project. Talks between the three main aircraft manufacturers- Aerospatiale, British Aero space and Messerschmitt- Bolkow-Blohm—on final definition of the new aircraft and work-sharing are nearing completion. French Transport Minister Charles Fiterman has said Aeritalia of Italy, de Havilland of Canada, and Fokker of Holland could join the A320 programme with a total industrial participation of as much as 20 per cent. Mr Fanfani said Italy was also studying the possibility of buying more A300s. An order for five from Alitalia is quite probable, he said. Alitalia already has eight. The first Embraer Brasilia wing is seen under the fuselage ready for joining. Maiden flight of the prototype is scheduled for July 507
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