Boeing’s 737 MAX completes first flight

“The flight was a success,” Wilson said in a statement. “The 737 MAX just felt right in flight, giving us complete confidence that this airplane will meet our customers’ expectations.”

As well as its new generation CFM LEAP-1B engines, key to delivering a 14 per cent reduction in fuel burn compared to current 737 NG aircraft (and more than 20 per cent compared to early-build 737 NGs), the 737 MAX also introduces a new flightdeck, fly-by-wire spoilers and new technology winglets. To accommodate the LEAP-1B’s 176cm fan diameter, compared with the CFM56’s 155cm diameter fan on the 737 NG, the 737 MAX also features a taller nosewheel landing gear leg, while the engine nacelles’ trailing edges feature noise-reducing chevron shaping, as on the 787.

Boeing so far holds 3,072 firm orders for the 737 MAX in its four variants – 737 MAX 7, MAX 8, MAX 200 and MAX 9 – from 62 customers, including Virgin Australia, which has 40 737-8s on order for delivery from 2018. First customer delivery, to Southwest Airlines, is “on track” for the third quarter of 2017, Boeing said.

Neo chapter for A320 with first A320neo delivery to Lufthansa and A321neo first flight

Lufthansa has taken delivery of the first customer Airbus A320neo during a low-key ceremony in Hamburg on January 20, quietly placing the aircraft into service just days later on January 25.

That first revenue flight, from Frankfurt to Hamburg, also saw the commercial debut of Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100G geared turbofan, one of two engine options available for the neo (or New Engine Option), alongside the CFM LEAP 1A, which should be certified on the A320neo later this year.

Qatar Airways had been scheduled to be the first airline to take delivery of the neo, with a handover due before the end of 2015, but it declined to accept the aircraft while Pratt & Whitney developed a fix for the PW1100G, which currently has to idle for three minutes after start-up before the aircraft can taxi under its own power.

Separately, the maiden flight of the A321neo, the largest member of the neo family, took place from Finkenwerder Airport near Hamburg on February 9.

The flight lasted five hours and 29 minutes, with test pilots Martin Scheuermann and Bernardo Saez Benito Hernandez, as well as testflight engineer Gérard Leskerpit, on the flightdeck of D-AVXB. Flight-test engineers Sandra Bour Schaeffer and Emiliano Requena Esteban were also on board.

“Tests were performed on the engine speed variation (low/high), systems behaviour and to validate the aircraft’s flight envelope,” Airbus said in a statement. “The A321neo will join the neo flight test fleet and perform a partial flight test program to validate the impact on handling qualities, performance and systems.

“The first A321neo will be delivered at the end of 2016.”

Both the PW1100G and LEAP 1A engine options should allow the A320neo Family to deliver an initial 15 per cent improvement in fuel burn over current A320s, with 20 per cent promised by 2020. It is that promise of efficiency that has seen airlines order the A320neo Family (which also includes the shorter A319neo) in its thousands. To date the neo order book stands at almost 4,500 aircraft, with Airbus planning to build 60 a month by mid-2019.

Locally Air New Zealand has 13 PW1100G-powered A320neo and A321neo aircraft on order due for delivery from 2017, while the Qantas Group has 99 (expected to comprise both the A320neo and A321neo) on order for Jetstar.