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Aviation History
1999
1999 - 1741.PDF
IPARIS99 A318-1 Data source: 18,000 16,000 14,000 ^12,000 •3 ~10,000 (0 5, 8,000 TO 0. 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 00 payload range capability Airbus Industrie May 1999 FLIGHT GARETH BURGESS 99 107 passengers 2,775km MTOW 66t, PW6124, 15,522kg payload MTOW 61,5t, PW6124, 14,022kg payload MTOW 59t, PW6122, 14,022kg payload 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 Range (km) 5,000 6,000 7,000 Sabena and US Airways, where clear decisions have been taken on the future direction of their short-haul fleets - with either the Next Generation 737 or A320 families having been selected. Fleet strategy is not so clear-cut, how ever, with other carriers like Northwest Airlines, Ansett Australia and United Airlines, and they represent the battleground for the Boeing and Airbus 100-seaters. Where other versions of the 737 are already in service, the 737-600 is seen as the prime opposition. "Boeing may use the 717 as a spoil er for us in some cases," says Mann. Carriers with large DC-9 fleets may favour the 717. Airbus does not intend to ignore the smaller, but important, regional market: "We hope to dent the smaller commuter market.. .this sector is one of our targets," says Mann. Here, where the 100-seater could represent the largest air craft in the fleet, the 717 is the greater threat, along with specialised regional types being devel oped by Bombardier, Embraer and Fairchild. Boeing describes the Airbus decision to develop the A318 as a "reaction" to its 717 and 737-600 programmes. It argues that, as a "dou ble-shrink" development of the A3 2 0, the A318 carries a great deal of excess weight (some 8t more than the 717) and will not be as efficient as either Boeing offering. Airbus counters that the 737-600 is just as much of a shrink derivative as its own product, while the one-member 717 family has no com monality benefits. It also says that both Boeing aircraft are derivatives of 1960s' designs, a factor which it claims is reflected in lower efficiency and higher operating costs. Since the A318's Farnborough unveiling, the PW6000 has been the only engine offered on A319 and it remains "the engine of reference for the programme", says Airbus. Although there are no firm signs yet of the incumbent A3 20 family powerplants (the CFM International CFM56-5 or International Aero Engines V2500) being offered to provide commonality for existing operators, Airbus has left the door open to other manufacturers. Airbus says the PW6000 has been chosen by "several" A318 customers, but concedes "cer tain operators of CFM56-powered aircrafthave not announced their engine decisions and wish to study a possible CFM alternative which is being discussed with the engine manufacturer". CFMI is studying for the A318 a derated, 23,0001b-thrust (102kN), version of the -5 engine which powers the other A3 20 family members, but has yet to reach a formal agree ment with Airbus, "The PW6000 is the only deal that is on the table. CFMI will have to come to us with an offer if it wants to be on the pro gramme," says Mann. AIRBUS DEAL VITAL P&W had been determined to secure an air frame application that enabled it to launch development of the PW6000, which shares the core with the planned geared-fan PW8000. The deal with Airbus was vital to safeguard the engine's future and some observers believe it will prove a tough challenge for CFMI to match its rival's financial terms. Mann dismisses suggestions that the current lack of engine commonality with the other A320 models is a major issue to potential cus tomers. "Flightdeck and crew training provides the biggest slice of commonality cost savings to operators," says Mann. The A318 is able to sat isfy this with its A3 2 0 family cockpit. "The vast majority of cost for short-haul car riers is based on maintenance requirements, which is where the PW6000 scores," he says. "P&W has designed the PW6000 as a rugged engine, and is offering its fleet management programme, which enables airlines to choose from a huge 'shopping list' of support services." P&Ws "power-by-the-hour" engine main tenance programme "takes away a lot of the potential down-side resulting from the lack in engine commonality", says Mann. "We can get a greater improvement in overall cost by using another tack, and switching to an optimised engine [like the PW6000] can do that." For the A318, two PW6000 versions are offered, including the baseline 20,0001b PW6122 and the more powerful, 23,0001b PW6124 for the increased gross weight ver sions. P&W will begin test runs of the PW6000 in July/August, and the engine is due to make its first flight on the company-owned Boeing 72 OB testbed in April next year. The first A318 (pow ered by the PW6000) will be flown late in the third quarter of 2 001, with certification and first deliveries due about 12 months later. "Changes on the A318 have been kept to an absolute minimum" to keep costs down, says Mann. Some structural weight reduction is being undertaken, but most of the aircraft's components will be common to the other A3 20 models. "We have increased the airframe's design life goal, and moved the threshold for the fatigue inspection interval further out." The A318 is being offered with three maxi mum take-off weights, including the baseline 59t, and optional 61.5t and 66t. These provide range performance of 2,775km (l,500nm), 3,700km and 5,180km, respectively, with 107 passengers. Mann says that he envisages that the A318 will be deployed predominantly on 650- 925km missions, but adds that the 66t option was recently introduced to satisfy the needs of potential North American customers with US transcontinental requirements. The A318's 4.5-frame fuselage reduction over the A319 is achieved by removing 1.5 frames forward of the wing, and three aft. This reduces the A318's overall length to 31.45m (103ft). To compensate for the A318's shorter moment-arm, the surface area of the vertical stabiliser had to be increased. Design engineers initially favoured the insertion of a small dorsal fin extension, "but, when we began windtunnel testing, this proved to be less effective than we hoped," says Mann. The surface area increase will be achieved through extending the fin tip by about 0.8m. Airbus says this provides greater stability and control at low speeds, and enhances the A318's field length capability. Mann says that, although the A318 has good short field performance, tight runways like that at London City are not a "prime market consideration". The 34.1m-span A319 wing is unchanged, with the single slotted flaps and leading edge slats retained. The engine pylon and interfaces are identical to the existing aircraft. "We simply use an adopter plate which bolts on to the exist ing pylon for the PW6000," says Mann. The other major change is a reduction in the width of the belly cargo doors (from 1.81m to 1.28m), and the deletion of the containerised cargo system option. The smaller cargo doors ensure that the nacelle and wing trailing edge clearances are maintained during ground han dling, despite the shorter fuselage. With over 100 commitments on the books at launch, Airbus has given itself one of the best starts to a new programme. The challenge now will be to show the airlines that it genuinely understands the peculiar demands of the regional market and can fulfil its promises. • 154 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 - 15 June 1999
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