Spirit Airlines To Operate Airbus A320neo

Spirit Airlines became the first US carrier to operate the Airbus A320neo when it took delivery of N901NK (c/n 6833) on October 7. Spirit has 55 A320neo Family aircraft on order, five leased from AerCap and 50 ordered directly from the manufacturer. All of the airline’s neos will be powered by Pratt & Whitney Pure Power PW1100-JM engines.

Twelve days later Denver-based Frontier Airlines received its first Airbus A320neo, N301FR (c/n 7141). The jet, powered by CFM International LEAP-1A engines, is the first of 80 examples due to join the carrier. “We’re excited to receive our first A320neo,” said Barry Biffle, President and CEO – Frontier Airlines. “The efficiency of the A320neo will help us lower costs even more and pass those savings along to our customers.”

GERMANY: Lufthansa Takes Ceremonial Delivery Of First Airbus A320neo

From left to right: Fabrice Brégier (Airbus), Carsten Spohr (Lufthansa) and Robert Leduc (PW) in the handover ceremony.

Lufthansa, together with Airbus and Pratt & Whitney, celebrated Friday the delayed official ceremonial delivery of the world’s first A320neo. Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Brégier and the President of Pratt & Whitney Robert Leduc invited 700 guests and media staff to the official delivery at Hamburg-Finkenwerder.

Following the handover, the first two aircraft were presented to the attendees. The first A320neo, registered D-AINA (MSN 6801) has already flown scheduled service since January. The second neo is expected to join the fleet soon. According to Spohr, the initial experiences with the A320neo have been positive, confirming that the 15 percent lower fuel consumption mark was not only achieved but also slightly exceeded, despite of existing technical glitches. “We are very grateful to Airbus and PW, and will be even more so once teething problems are fixed!” Spohr joked.

The CEO of Lufthansa was not the only one to talk about the PW 1000G issues. Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and CEO, announced that the company will ramp up the deliveries once the problem is solved.

At the present time, the permanent solution proposed by PW implies a hardware fix that has already been implemented. However, a required software update will be completed in April. The technical issue is known to cause engines to run in idle during three minutes before taxi. Last December, Qatar Airways, which was supposed to be the launch operator, declined to take delivery of the aircraft under such technical constraints.

Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo would now become the second operator to receive the A320neo. Last December, the carrier was notified of delays in the delivery due to “industrial reasons.” According to Brégier, the delivery is subject to “customer confirmation.”

“We are opening a new chapter in commercial aviation, and I am confident that the A320neo will support Lufthansa’s objective to raise its environmental performance. The A320neo not only cuts emissions at every operational stage but also halves its noise footprint compared to previous generation aircraft,” The CEO also announced that the 15% mark achieved to date will be taken to 20% by 2020 as the program matures.

This week, the first CFM-powered A321neo flew for the first time. Brégier announced that the PW variant is due to fly in March.

After the presentation, the A320neo took off from Hamburg- Finkenwerder in a special flight with flight number LH9917 with guests and media staff bound to Frankfurt, with a short stopover at Hamburg’s Fuhlsbüttel. The aircraft was adorned with a special logo. “First to fly A320neo – Less noise. Less fuel. Less CO2” placed at the rear fuselage.

Currently, Lufthansa has ordered a total of 116 A320neo family aircraft to be delivered in the next years. The airline is also getting ready to take delivery of its first A350 at the end of this year. According to Spohr, the German carrier is expected to receive 52 new aircrafts during 2016.

INDIA: IndiGo Signs Off Airbus Record Order

Indian budget carrier IndiGo has confirmed a previous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in October 2014 for 250 Airbus A320neo aircraft, with an estimated value of $27 billion based on list prices.

Airbus informed in an e-mailed statement today that the order, the biggest ever by number of aircraft, has catapulted its backlog to over 4,100 single-aisle Airbus family jetliners.

In 2005, the New Delhi-based airline placed an initial order for 100 A320s, which have all now been delivered. Currently, the carrier has an all-Airbus fleet, comprised by 95 aircraft.

“It fills us with pride that IndiGo, India’s largest airline and one of the early launch customers for the A320neo, is coming back for more of our benchmark aircraft. This order confirms the A320 Family as the airliner of choice in the most dynamic aviation growth markets.” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers.

The announcement of the Indian carrier confirms the expansion plans, intended to keep its leading role in the local market with now almost 40 percent share. Aditya Ghosh, President of IndiGo said, “This new order reaffirms IndiGo’s commitment to the long-term development of affordable air transportation in India and overseas,” aligned with the regional trend of other budget carriers in the region, which are expanding rapidly to serve a burgeoning middle class in a fast-growing environment.

IndiGo growth in India has been challenged by the entry of Air Asia India and Vistara Airlines -a joint venture of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines-, new players in a market in which profits are elusive. This year, Jet Airways and Spicejet have reported losses, while Kingfisher Airlines has remained in ground since 2012 with $1.4 billion in debts.

INDIA: India’s IndiGo Takes Delivery Of First Airbus A320neo

IndiGo became today the world’s second Airbus A320neo operator after German carrier Lufthansa. The delivery comes after a delay which according to Airbus was due to “industrial reasons.”

The Indian low-cost carrier, established in 2006, is an all-Airbus operator with 102 Airbus A320ceo in service, and it happens to be the A320neo’s biggest customer with 430 aircraft from two orders placed in 2011 (180 A320neo) and 2015 (250 A320neo).

According to Aditya Ghosh, President of IndiGo, the A320neo “will be part of a new phase of our growth and will enable us to offer more regional and international destinations at the best price.”

India ranks among the fastest growing air travel markets in the world. IATA estimates that the market will average an annual growth of 6.4% during the next two decades, and by 2034 it is expected to hit the 256 million passenger/year mark. Despite the current infrastructure constraints, the size and potential of the market has drawn a myriad of new players, including IndiGo.

“It fills us with pride that IndiGo, India’s largest airline and the biggest customer for our A320neo, has taken delivery of its first aircraft. On top of best in class operational efficiencies and environmental benefits, the A320neo will offer IndiGo’s passengers unmatched comfort,” said Dr. Kiran Rao, Airbus EVP Strategy and Marketing.

To date, Airbus has received over 4,500 orders from nearly 80 operators since the launch of the program in 2010. According to the company, the A320neo family aircraft currently holds some 60 percent share of the single aisle market in the range of 140 – 240 seats. Plans are to ramp up the production to 60 aircraft a month before the end of a decade, in a move supported by record numbers in firm orders amid a strong global demand for the type.

According to Aditya Ghosh, President of IndiGo, the A320neo “will be part of a new phase of our growth and will enable us to offer more regional and international destinations at the best price.”

India ranks among the fastest growing air travel markets in the world. IATA estimates that the market will average an annual growth of 6.4% during the next two decades, and by 2034 it is expected to hit the 256 million passenger/year mark. Despite the current infrastructure constraints, the size and potential of the market has drawn a myriad of new players, including IndiGo.

“It fills us with pride that IndiGo, India’s largest airline and the biggest customer for our A320neo, has taken delivery of its first aircraft. On top of best in class operational efficiencies and environmental benefits, the A320neo will offer IndiGo’s passengers unmatched comfort,” said Dr. Kiran Rao, Airbus EVP Strategy and Marketing.

To date, Airbus has received over 4,500 orders from nearly 80 operators since the launch of the program in 2010. According to the company, the A320neo family aircraft currently holds some 60 percent share of the single aisle market in the range of 140 – 240 seats. Plans are to ramp up the production to 60 aircraft a month before the end of a decade, in a move supported by record numbers in firm orders amid a strong global demand for the type.

Airbus To Delay A320neo Deliveries

Airbus is renegotiating delivery schedules for its A320neo aircraft and has told some airlines the airliner will be delayed by around two months,

Airbus missed a 2015 target for delivering the first aircraft, an upgraded fuel-saving version of its best-selling medium-haul jet, due to what it described as issues with documentation for its new Pratt & Whitney engines.

Airbus and Pratt & Whitney confirmed they are in talks with airlines over deliveries, but declined further comment.

Industry sources have also pointed to delays in deliveries of the newly developed Geared Turbofan engine from its US manufacturer, a subsidiary of United Technologies.

An Airbus spokesperson said:

“We are in talks with our customers on deliveries and once these talks will have concluded, then we’ll finalise the aircraft and deliver to our customers as agreed.”

Airbus A320neo is designed to save 15% in fuel consumption. Airbus has delivered one aircraft to Germany’s Lufthansa so far.

A320neo launch customer was originally supposed to be Qatar Airways but it rejected the aircraft due to a longer than expected process for warming up the engines before taxiing, which needed extra fuel.

Speculation about last-minute fine-tuning resurfaced after the first aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa after an unusually extensive series of 11 pre-delivery test flights, according to data from aviation website Hamburg Finkenwerder News.

Pratt & Whitney said its engine was “meeting or exceeding” its specifications on fuel consumption, noise and emissions.

The A320neo is sold with a choice of engines from either Pratt & Whitney or CFM International, owned by France’s Safran and General Electric. CFM also powers the competing Boeing 737 family, including the revamped 737 MAX.

Airbus has said deliveries of the A320neo will be tilted towards the second half of the year.

Although the delays are minimal compared with some all-new programmes, the A320 and Boeing’s competing 737 drive a large chunk of aerospace industry profits and are closely watched.

USA: Pratt & Whitney Engine Fix By February

United Technologies expects to solve by February an ongoing issue with its Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines that can cause excessive friction under some circumstances, chief executive Gregory Hayes said.

The problem occurs when the engine is shut down for 1.5 to 2 hours because "the top of the engine actually cools more slowly" than the rest of the engine, Hayes said in his first public explanation of the problem.

Uneven cooling creates bending in the engine shaft, requiring operators to "windmill" air through the engine for three minutes to even out the temperature before starting the engine, he said.

"You don't want to start that jet engine up with a shaft that's bent, even if we're talking about 5/10,000 of an inch," Hayes said. "You do three minutes of windmilling operation to cool the entire hot section of the aircraft down to the same temperature."

The issue this week prompted Qatar Airways to suggest it may not take delivery of the first Airbus A320neo, which is powered by the Pratt PW1100G engine, by the end of 2015 as planned. Instead, Lufthansa said it will take the first delivery.

If the engine has been idle for less than an hour or for three hours the temperature gradient is not a problem, he said. But within 1.5 to 2 hours, shaft "bowing" can cause rubbing in the engine compressor, Hayes said.

Pratt & Whitney has developed software to solve the problem through windmilling. It also has a hardware fix that will be incorporated in February, he added.

The engine already has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency and US Federal Aviation Administration.

Engines that already have been produced can be retrofitted, the company said.

INDONESIA: Citilink Orders 25 Airbus A320neo

Citilink, the low cost subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia has placed a firm order with Airbus for 25 A320neo. The contract, signed in December 2012, represents the first direct purchase by Citilink from Airbus. It follows an order placed in 2011 by Garuda Indonesia for 15 A320ceo and 10 A320neo aircraft for operation by Citilink.

Citilink already operates a fleet of 12 leased A320s on its fast growing domestic network.

“The A320 has played a key role in the recent success of Citilink” said Mr. Arif Wibowo, Chief Executive Officer of Citilink. “The low operating costs, fast turnaround times and strong passenger appeal of the A320 make it perfect for our operation and we are looking forward to the even greater efficiencies that will come with the NEO”

"We are pleased to welcome Citilink as a new customer of Airbus,” said John Leahy, Chief Operating Officer, Customers, Airbus. “The order underscores the A320 Family’s position as the preferred choice for full service and low cost carriers worldwide, both with the current and new engine options.”

Incorporating new engines and large "Sharklet" wing tip devices, the A320neo Family will deliver fuel savings of 15 percent. The reduction in fuel burn is equivalent to 1.4 million litres of fuel - the consumption of 1,000 mid size cars, saving 3,600 tonnes of C02 per aircraft per year. In addition, the A320neo Family will provide a double-digit reduction in NOx emissions and reduced engine noise.

With close to 8,900 aircraft ordered and over 5,300 aircraft delivered to over 380 customers and operators worldwide, the A320 Family is the world's best-selling single-aisle aircraft family.