Airbus Future Developments

The past year has seen Airbus pass many new milestones including receiving its 2000th order and passing the 1000th sales mark with its A320 family of single-aisle narrow-body aircraft. 1996 has also seen the introduction into service of two new Airbus aircraft: the A319 with Swissair and the high gross weight A340-300E with Singapore Airlines (refer p.48 June 96 AA). Now Airbus is preparing to expand its product line with the introduction of some very important new models into the fray.

A310 MRTT

The A310 Multi Role Tanker Transport is Airbus’ first foray into the military aircraft arena.

The MRTT concept is designed as a replacement for such aircraft as the elderly KC-135s and VC10s. The aircraft features both boom and probe/drogue refuelling methods and the ability to carry sizeable payloads due to its widebody cabin size. When used as a tanker, the MRTT can transfer a 40t load of fuel and remain on station for two hours at a 540nm (1000km) radius. Alternatively, when carrying troops, up to 270 may be carried. Germany has been one air force that has been looking carefully at the MRTT, although no firm intentions have been announced so far.

The MRTT would be well suited for any air force that required both boom and probe/drogue refuelling capability or just additional freight capacity for its services. The MRTT is even more attractive if second-hand A310s were converted to the MRTT specification.

Currently, the A310 is in military service with Canada, France, Germany, and Thailand, where they serve in the VIP/strategic transport role.

A340 Developments

A340 progress continues with the development of the A340-8000, an 8000nm (14,825km) range version of the A340-200 capable of carrying 282 passengers. The A340-8000 will be available from 1997.

There are also three versions of the A340 undergoing development studies at the moment: the A340-400, A340-500, and the A340-600. The -400 would be a basic stretch version (12 frames) of the -300 with seating for up to 340 passengers in a three-class configuration and a range of up to 6100nm (11,300km). The A340-600 is based on the A340-300 but stretched by 20 frames with seating for up to 375 passengers. The MTOW of the A340-600 compared to the A340-300 would increase by around 60t, from 271t to 330t.

The A340-600 would involve extensive redesign including increased wing area, modified landing gear, and new engines in the 50,000lb (224kN) thrust range, which is well beyond the capability of the original CFM56 engines. Airbus has signed an exclusive engine protocol with General Electric for work on these possible new engines.

The A340-500 would incorporate a slight fuselage stretch to accommodate 310 passengers, but would utilise the wing and engines of the A340-600 to give the -500 an incredible range of 8500nm (15,750km). Airbus will make the decision on these three aircraft at Farnborough, and the launch of such aircraft next year could see them in service by early next century.

If these new high-capacity long-range aircraft are successful, this could mean that the future A3XX program could possibly be delayed to allow greater sales of these aircraft.

A330-200

The A330-200 was the result of airline requests for a longer range A330. This is only the second variant of the A330 to be developed; the first, the basic A330-300, entered airline service in late 1993 with Air Inter and Aer Lingus.

The A330-200 is the smaller brother (or sister) of the A330-300, designed to carry 256 passengers a distance of 6400nm (11,860km), compared to the A330-300 which carries 295 passengers 4800nm (8895km). All of these figures are for a typical three-class arrangement.

This aircraft is being offered to airlines as a Boeing 767 replacement. The A330-200 actually offers a number of advantages over the 767, with the A330-200 carrying 40 more passengers 250nm (465km) further than the 767-300ER.

Changes to the A330-200 compared to the A330-300 include a fuselage shortened by 10 frames to reduce the total aircraft length to 59.0m. Other changes include higher thrust engines, activated centre fuel tank, extended fin and rudder, and increased total fuel capacity.

The A330-200 is available in three MTOW configurations of 205t, 217t, and 230t for varying fuel loads and is also available with the usual CF6-80E1, PW4000, or Trent 700 engines, all of which have been uprated.

The A330-200 also offers the advantage of excellent cargo capacity with its ability to hold two standard LD3 containers side by side in its underfloor cargo area. A total of 26 LD3s can be carried in the underfloor hold, or alternatively six pallets plus baggage.

The A330-200 will be available in 1998 and promises to be an extremely useful addition to the A330/340 family. The range and payload of the A330-200 make this aircraft the ideal replacement for both early and late model Boeing 767s, and maybe even ageing A300s and A310s.

The A330-200 retains a great deal of commonality with the earlier A330-300 as well as with the A340 and the A320 family. In particular, the flight control systems and cockpits on all aircraft are common, and the FBW technology allows similar flight characteristics across the different families of aircraft.

This has allowed Airbus to have a simplified training schedule whereby pilots can more easily qualify for other Airbus aircraft after one rating has been obtained. Airbus has called this Cross Crew Qualification (CCQ). Basically, this means qualifying from one Airbus type to another by doing difference training rather than the full type rating. For example, an airline pilot qualified on the A320 to be rated on the A330 would usually mean full type rating training taking 23 days; however, by the differences training course it would only take just eight days. This has meant a reduction in time taken in training, which in turn leads to a significant reduction in costs.

CCQ has also led to the introduction of Mixed Fleet Flying (MFF), which means that one pool of pilots flies different Airbus aircraft and is based essentially on the CCQ concept. Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific were the first airlines to put this training into use and have found it very worthwhile, with decreases in training costs, increased pilot satisfaction, and enhanced safety.

There has already been strong interest shown in the A330-200 when the International Lease Finance Corporation ordered 13 in February. More recently, Korean Air has ordered two A330-200s and plans to use these aircraft on a variety of routes, ranging from regional Asian services to flights to Australia and Europe.

A3XX

The A3XX is perhaps one of the most exciting developments in the aerospace industry for the past decade, and there is almost a patient standoff between the two giants, Boeing and Airbus, to see who will announce their next-generation “Jumbo Jet” first.

Airbus is still relatively tentative about going ahead with an aircraft that has the ability to make or break the company. A plan has been formulated, however, concerning the next few years and the progress to be made in this time. There is no doubt that Airbus has been nothing but serious about this project since the first time it was mentioned several years ago. (The A3XX was analysed in depth in the July 95 issue).

The setting up of the Large Aircraft Division at Airbus in March of this year has shown just how serious it is. However, Airbus has made it clear that it will not go ahead with the program unless risk-sharing partners can be found who would contribute up to 40% of the costs of development and production. The budget for the program has been suggested to be $US8bn, with Airbus not keen to exceed this target.

The plan for the A3XX is a seven-year countdown starting with a preliminary design freeze in 1997, followed by the final design freeze in 1998. A decision will then be made on whether to launch in 1998/9 (or possibly sooner) and, if all goes well, the aircraft will be in airline service by 2003.

The design of the A3XX has not yet been frozen, so there is still much room for change in the design. The base aircraft is the A3XX-100, with a capacity of 555 in a typical three-class layout and a range of around 7400nm (13,710km). The A3XX-200 is a stretched version of the 100 with seating for 656 (960 in single-class layout) at the same range.

Since the creation of the Large Aircraft Division at Airbus, major steps have been taken to ensure the design of the aircraft will be the correct one. Talks have been held with major airlines and airports all around the world to determine specifications for the aircraft. Airports have been the hardest taskmasters of all, as the aircraft must be suitable for existing airports and not the other way around. There is no doubt that an aircraft of this size will have some enormous restrictions placed on it if it fails to meet any of the design criteria, especially by the airports.

This is due to the fact that most international airports are very restricted in their size and would be unable to change their entire infrastructure, including runways and parking bays, just to accommodate one aircraft type.

The most basic of all design criteria is that the aircraft fit into the airport-specified 80m x 80m box. This is seen as one of the major limitations that the A3XX must meet. At the moment, the design does accomplish this, and even the future stretched version will fit into the box. Most airports want the A3XX to basically be not much more trouble than the 747-400 to accommodate and handle. Some things just must be accommodated by the airports, including larger airstairs and extra strengthening for some runways, especially where the runway overpasses roads.

And of course, in today’s world of increasingly sensitive hearing, noise must be kept to an absolute minimum—preferably at least 3dB lower than the Stage Three noise requirements.

One problem facing the Airbus engineers is fuselage noise. This occurs on every aircraft, but is particularly more of a problem on large aircraft where the surface area is much greater. Airbus seems relatively confident that this problem can be overcome. In fact, the area in which Airbus hopes to gain a great deal of efficiency and lower operating costs is in aerodynamics. Especially the wing design: with greater chord thicknesses being possible these days, Airbus hopes this will increase the overall efficiency of the aircraft greatly. (With the proposed 747-500, one of the major changes from the -400 would be a totally new wing.)

Engine choice is one of the big issues concerning the A3XX at the moment. For the proposed A3XX-100, the initial version with a MTOW of 527t (1,162,000lb), it is thought that engines in the thrust range of 72,000lb (313.6kN) will be needed. This means that existing engines such as those on the A330 (CF6, PW4000, and Trent 700) can be used.

However, for future growth versions of the A3XX, it is envisaged that these engines will be unsuitable for the task. The thrust specified for the A3XX-200 is in the region of 78,000lb (349.4kN). It has been decided that the engines from the Boeing 777 (PW4000, GE90, and Trent 800) are significantly too large and heavy, and they would have to be derated. This would mean a less efficient engine, as the engine would not be working at its maximum potential. Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, and Rolls-Royce have all been given the opportunity to design an engine in this thrust range.

Pratt & Whitney and General Electric have surprisingly teamed up for the task of designing a new engine specifically for this thrust range for use on the 747-500X/-600X and the A3XX. With a new engine design comes the prospect of a new level of performance and lower fuel consumption. This would mean an even more efficient aircraft.

The flight control system for the A3XX will be basically the same as is in the rest of the Airbus fly-by-wire family (A320-A340), using maybe a newer generation of FBW technology. This would allow the same flying characteristics as the others to enable pilots to use the Airbus training techniques such as Cross Crew Qualification and Mixed Fleet Flying.

Airbus is certainly very interested in the idea of building the A3XX as it knows that the long-term market for such an aircraft is there, and after seeing Boeing’s monopoly in the large aircraft market for the past three decades, realises that it needs to be in the race. There have been nearly 1200 747s sold worldwide since its introduction a quarter century ago, and Airbus believes that it could obtain one third of this figure in A3XX sales. That would amount to around 400 aircraft.

The expense involved in such a program has meant that Airbus cannot afford to go it alone. McDonnell Douglas has been bandied about as a possible partner for this program, however fiscal reality will probably determine whether such a partnership is possible.

Hopefully, by this time next year, we shall finally know if the A3XX will become reality.