European Aircraft Industry: Airbus sharklets certified on time with better fuel figures

A320 with Sharklets

Airbus said overnight that it had achieved better fuel savings from the A320  ‘sharklet’ wing tips in their initial certification program than it had set as its goal, which was the result it had to get to keep its customers satisfied.

In fact the 4% reduction in fuel burn it says the devices have achieved is around double the benefit first mentioned to the aviation industry some years ago when Airbus broke the news that it was thinking of refining its A320 family for one last hurrah rather than moving to an all new 150-250 passenger series of jets to replace the current line-up.

It was at the time, a decision that was resisted by Boeing, which stuck to its view that what was required was an immediate shift to an all new concept, until Airbus began selling so many of what it called its NEO or new engine option A320s that it had to come out with its 737 MAX series, which is due for first deliveries late in 2017, two years behind the first of the revised and refined A320s.

Read more: Airbus sharklets certified on time with better fuel figures | Plane Talking