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Airbus Announces Major Performance Improvement To A220 Aircraft
The Airbus A220 aircraft has undergone major improvement, with its range increased by up to 450 nautical miles - thereby opening new route possibilities for airlines around the world, announced Christian Scherer, chief commercial officer, Airbus. He was speaking to mediapersons at the Airbus Innovation Days at Toulouse in France on Tuesday.
The A220 family aircraft, the newest addition to its single-aisle portfolio, will have maximum take-off weight (MTOW) increased by 2,268 kg (2.3 metric tonnes), he said.
"In true Airbus tradition we improve our products constantly," said Scherer adding, "This new MTOW will allow operators to reach markets which today cannot be served by other small single-aisle aircraft types."
Since its entry-into-service close to three years ago, the A220 aircraft has already proven that it is meeting or beating its initial performance targets, bringing more flexibility and revenue potential to customers, said Rob Dewar, Head of Engineering & Customer Support for the A220. "Today, Airbus is reinforcing its confidence in the A220 platform and further enhancing its capabilities to meet upcoming market requirements," he stated.
This performance increase is achieved by taking credit of existing structural and systems margins as well as existing fuel volume capacity. This will allow airlines to tap into new routes that were not possible before, connecting key cities in Western Europe with the Middle East or from Southeast Asia to Australia.
The A220 has been purpose built for efficiency. It brings together state-of-the-art aerodynamics, advanced materials and Pratt & Whitney's latest-generation PW1500G geared turbofan engines to offer at least 20% lower fuel burn per seat compared to previous generation aircraft.
With an order book of over 530 aircraft to date, the A220 has all the credentials to win the lion's share of the 100- to 150-seat aircraft market, estimated to represent 7,000 aircraft over the next 20 years. Said an Airbus official : "The current basic MTOW is at 60.8 t for the A220-100 and 67.6 t for the A220-300. With the new MTOW increase of 2.3 t, the respective aircraft's MTOW will be brought up at 63.1 t for the A220-100 and 69.9 for the A220-300."
Source: The Times Of India
Image Source: Airbus
