20 AIRLINER WORLD JUNE 2018
News Review • International
Airbus A321LR Proves its Credentials
AIRBUS HAS provided an update on the
A321LR flight development programme
including details of the type’s
impressive long-haul capabilities. The
prototype, D-AVZO (c/n 7877), has
successfully completed what Airbus
claims is the longest flight by any
single-aisle jet airliner with a record-
breaking journey from Mahé in theSeychelles non-stop to Toulouse,
France – a distance of 4,750nm
(8,797km). The trip was part of the
A321LR’s 100-hour flight test and
certification programme. To make the
trial as realistic as possible while
evaluating the cabin systems, the
aircraft carried 163 human heat-
replicating dummy passengers, in addi-tion to its 16-member test crew.
Jim Fawcett, Airbus Flight Test Engineer,
remarked: “The A321LR has now com-
pleted 15 test flights and it is an excel-
lent aircraft that keeps its promises in
terms of flight behaviour, passenger
comfort and fuel consumption.”
Airbus said the A321LR is on track to
enter service later this year and willfeature a new door configuration that
enables the jet to accomodate up to
240 passengers. The record-break-
ing flight followed hot weather testing
that was undertaken at Sharjah in the
United Arab Emirates. (Photo Airbus)Airbus A330neo
Testing Continues
AIRBUS HAS reported that its two
A330-900neo test aircraft, F-WTTE
(c/n 1813) and F-WTTN (c/n 1795), have
logged more than 700 hours flying
time during 200-plus flights as they
head towards type certification. The
aircraft have covered the world
during the test campaign, including
flying to Kazakhstan where coldweather trials were held in temper-
atures down to -27°C, natural icing
testing in the US, crosswind land-
ing evaluations in Ireland, a Bolivia-
based altitude campaign at heights of
up to 8,000ft (2,438m) elevation and
the recently completed hot weather
trials in Mexico where temperatures
reached 37°C.First BBJ MAX 8
Handed Over
BOEING BUSINESS Jets has celebrated
the handover of the first BBJ MAX 8.
The aircraft, N329BJ (c/n 61329),
has been flown to an undisclosed
completion centre where it will be fitted
with an auxiliary fuel tank that will allow
its new owner to fly up to 6,640nm
(12,297km) in a standard configuration.
While at the centre it will have a
bespoke cabin installed.
Greg Laxton, head of Boeing Business
Jets commented: “We are excited to
see the first BBJ MAX come to life and
fly through its development milestones.
In the past few weeks the aeroplane
has achieved factory roll-out, its
maiden flight on March 15, achieved all
the necessary certifications and now
embarks on its final completion before
being handed over to its new owner.”
Customers from around the world have
so far placed orders for nearly 20 BBJ
examples across all three models: the
BBJ MAX 7, BBJ MAX 8 and BBJ MAX- The first delivery is set for later this
year. (Photo Boeing)
Airbus Deliveries
The second Airbus A321-253 CS-TSG (c/n 8051) for Azores Airlines slows down on arrival on
Runway 21 at Lisbon. SOFIA FIRMINO
Airbus delivered the following aircraft in March:A320ceo 16Air France, AWAS (Air Guilin), AWAS (flyadeal), AWAS (Vanilla Air), Chengdu Airlines, easyJet
(2), Global Aircraft Trading (Aeroflot), International Airfinance Corporation (Saudia) (2),
International Aviation Investments Trading (Aeroflot) (2), Vueling, Wizz Air Hungary (3)
A320neo 11 AirAsia (2), Avianca, BOC Aviation (Avianca Brazil) (2), BOC Aviation (Vistara), easyJet, Frontier Airlines (2), GECAS (Avianca Brazil), Pegasus AirlinesA321ceo 15Bank of Communications Leasing (Hong Kong Express Airways), Cebu Pacific Air, Delta Air
Lines (4), Global Aircraft Trading (Aeroflot), JetBlue Airways (2), Spirit Airlines (3), VietJet Air,
Wizz Air Hungary (2)
A321neo 3 Air Lease Corporation (Azores Airlines), Aviation Capital Group (Interjet), GECAS (Virgin America)
A330-200 2 Iberia, Tibet Airlines
A330-300 3 China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines (2)
A350-900 5 AerCap (French Bee), ALAFCO (Thai Airways International), China Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Vietnam Airlines
A380 1 Emirates
Total 56