Airbus (AIR.PA) is testing radical new wing technology to build a successor to its best-selling A320 series, but it must cut prices.
On Tuesday, British Industry Minister Nusrat Ghani opened a wing technology plant in southwest England to design and produce more sustainable wings that are longer, lighter, slimmer, and have foldable wingtips.
“It’s our programme to prepare technologies we are going to need for the next generation of Airbus aircraft, whatever that is,” Sue Partridge, head of the Wing of Tomorrow program, told reporters.
While researching Transonic Truss-Braced Wings, Boeing (BA.N) opens.
Both manufacturers’ wing designs, production methods, and engine advances will determine aircraft rivalry until the second half of the century.
Airbus reportedly invests “high hundreds of millions” in Wing of Tomorrow.
Officially, the research might benefit any project, but all eyes are on Airbus’s single-aisle A320 replacement, which could be introduced between 2035 and 2040.
“This is about getting technology ready for a future single-aisle product, so a high (production-)rate product,” Partridge said of demonstrator models.
“We need to develop composite technologies to get weight out of the wing, but they need to be at the right cost and production-rate capability.”
The best-selling A320/321 and competitive Boeing 737 are composed of aluminum, but designers hope composites will enable efficient wing tapering.
Composite parts cost more, making it harder to recoup on the cheaper A320 and 737 than on larger composite-made jets.
Partridge said Airbus negotiated with three vendors to save costs and weave pieces more effectively.
FOLDING WINGS
Single-aisle jets with carbon wings may need a manufacturing revolution to meet output objectives ten times greater than huge jets.
Space- and energy-consuming autoclaves cure aircraft composites.
Partridge confirmed Airbus is considering autoclave-free wings. Analysts say upgrading it to Airbus or Boeing volumes would require major effort and cost reduction.
The historic Filton location, where part of the Anglo-French Concorde was created, tests folding wingtips to suit parking gates as wings get larger.
“Physics says a longer, narrow wing is more fuel-efficient. “We must increase the wing span,” Partridge stated.
Partridge declined to say when Airbus will pick from dozens of technologies it is testing but said it would be ready for any business decision on a new program. Analysts recommend starting a 2035 model by 2027–28.
Partridge responded, “yes, theoretically,” when asked if new technologies could upgrade the A321.
Industry sources believe Airbus might use part of the study if it stretches the smaller A220.
Sources believe the plane, internally known as “A220 Stretch,” would have new wings and engines and enter service before 2030. Airbus has not revealed what it would be.
