heavier weights. Airbus froze the design of the
A320neo in 2012.
The prototype (msn 6101), allocated the
apt test registration F-WNEO, was rolled out
at Toulouse after painting on July 1, 2014.
Powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1127Gs, rated
at 121.5kN (27,000lb st, the last two gures in
the PurePower’s designation indicating thrust),
it lifted off the runway at Toulouse on September
25 for its maiden ight with Philippe Pellerin and
Etienne Miche De Malleray at the controls.
They were accompanied by Test Flight
Engineer Jean-Paul Lambert and Flight Test
Engineers Manfred Birnfeld and Sandra Bour
Schaeffer.
Airbus planned a 2,800 ight-hour test
programme, using four A320neos (two with
each powerplant) and two A321neos and
A319neos. This would lead to certi cation of
the PW1127G-powered A320neo by late 2015
and the LEAP-1A aircraft by June 2016.
A320neo F-WNEW (msn 6419), rolled
out on April 13, 2015, was the second of its
kind and rst with the new CFM International
powerplant. Delivered to the Airbus ight test
department eight days later, it took to the air
on May 19.
The entry of F-WNEW to the ight test
campaign was fortuitous, as a problem with
the PW1127G had grounded the prototype. A
aw in the retaining snap ring, holding a seal
between the high-pressure compressor and
the rest of the engine, had been identi ed
on April 30. It required a small alteration by
Pratt & Whitney, but scuppered plans for the
A320neo to make its debut at the 2015 Paris
Air Show in June.
The prototype, F-WNEO, eventually
rejoined the ight test campaign in August,
around the same time Airbus announced thatinitial deliveries to launch customer Qatar
Airways would be delayed from October to
December 2015.
A second, short-term grounding of
the PW1127G-powered prototype in late
September followed hot weather testing at
Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates – Greg
Gernhardt, Pratt & Whitney’s Commercial
President announcing in November that the
unspeci ed issue had been resolved.
Certi cation of the PW1100G series
of engines (including the PW1127G) was
accomplished on November 23 last year.
The following day the European Aviation
Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation
Administration issued a Joint Type Certi cate
for the PW1127G-powered A320-271n (the
mark number for the A320neo).
While this cleared the way for deliveries
of the airliner, an issue still remained with the
PW1127G that would cause a late change
in the initial operator. At the time of its
approval by European and US authorities, the
PW1127G required 350 seconds’ running at
idle prior to taxiing to even out the temperature
within the powerplant to overcome rotor bow
(also known as thermal bowing), the bending
of shafts caused by asymmetrical cooling after
shutdown from the previous ight.
Rotor bow can result in the rubbing of
blade tips against the engine casing. Software
and shaft bearing changes were planned by
Pratt & Whitney to overcome the problem, but
until then A320neos will have to observe the
prolonged idle running requirement.
According to Bob Leduc, President of Pratt
& Whitney, by June 2016, “it will be down to
200 seconds for start time and by... December
[2016]... 150 seconds”.
The 350-second warm-up was unacceptableto launch customer Qatar Airways, however,
which decided to wait until the x was ready
before taking delivery of its A320neos.ENTRY INTO SERVICE
So the honour to be rst A320neo operator
fell to Lufthansa. Handover was originally
planned for December 22, but postponed for a
month, and D-AINA (msn 6801) was delivered
on January 20. It was ferried to Frankfurt two
days later, where it could receive attention from
Lufthansa Technik.
Training ights to Karlsruhe began the
following day and the aircraft formally entered
service on January 25 between Frankfurt and
Munich, after a plan to start operations the
previous day was abandoned following what
Lufthansa described as “valve problems” with
an engine.
Service introduction called for a lower
utilisation than normal as experience was
gained. Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and
Düsseldorf are now also being served – for the
time being, the type is being own to airports
where Lufthansa has technical support.
Early operations identi ed faulty cockpit
message software, Lufthansa also revealing
that passengers had noticed the prolonged
wait for the engines to warm up. The second
A320neo for the carrier (D-AINB, msn 6864)
was handed over on March 31 and used on a
Frankfurt to Düsseldorf service the next day.
The rst international service was own from
Frankfurt to Heathrow on April 12 as a trial, with
Lufthansa considering more one-off ights to
other European cities. In the meantime, it will
primarily continue using the type domestically.
IndiGo became the second operator,
receiving VT-ITC (msn 6799) on March 10; the
aircraft made the type’s public debut duringhttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 57Lufthansa took delivery of its rst A320neo,
D-AINA, on January 20 this year. Sascha Brissier56-59_a320DC.mf.indd 57 06/05/2016 14:42