After months of speculation, last week Airbus launched the A330neo at the Farnborough International Airshow – in a bid to revitalise its 20 year old and very popular A330 (it has so far achieved over 1000 deliveries). This “re-engining” trend from aircraft manufacturers, has been developing over the last few years with the introduction of the A320neo and 737Max, as well as discussions on whether Emirates will encourage Airbus to introduced an A380neo.
An article on ATW this week discusses this trend, and includes the assertion from Rolls-Royce that this will continue before any new, large investment and major platforms are introduced. But whilst some have lamented this trend as the end to any big, new, ‘game changing’ aircraft projects, the desire to reflect customer need and cut down costs by revitalising popular airframes could actually help to maintain the strong momentum and performance of the aerospace industry over the next 10 years.
Firstly, innovation. As airlines seek to cut both costs and its emissions, it is propulsion where the greatest leaps in technology can be gleaned. The P & W geared turbo-fan for the A320 and 737Max is a real revolutionary engine, and asking Rolls-Royce to get 11% more efficiency from a larger and heavier engine on the new A330neo is highly impressive engineering. If such a trend continues and engine manufacturers increase their already fierce competition to become sole suppliers on new ‘neo’ options – expect the game changing new engines which some crave to eventually come to fruition from these incremental developments.
Secondly, the continuity of similar airframe maintenance procedures for airlines and efficient assembly & production processes for such aircraft as the MAX and A320neo, will help to ensure costs for both airlines and manufacturers are reduced. In the long run, this will mean aircraft can be sold at a more affordable price to airlines who need tried and tested aircraft to increase their capacity levels, and will allow manufacturers to save costs on ‘moonshoot’ projects and invest over a longer period for new, next generation aircraft. The issues both Airbus and Boeing have had in recent large scale developments of new aircraft mean that they are less likely to take risks over the next few years.
Lastly, new developments on tried, tested and popular aircraft platforms provides the supply chain with the stability it craves. Manufacturers will be able to deliver components, parts and technologies for aircraft that have consistently filled their order books over the last ten years – allowing them to ensure their production levels remain stable. For a small company, with trouble accessing finance for innovation and with ever increasing competition for new overseas business, this will be vital.
These advantages could mean that the aerospace industry is able to ‘settle in’ to its production levels across the major platforms – increasingly these levels incremently in order to meet demand, and fulfil the record backlog it faces. By that time, it will be time for the introduction of the next generation aircraft projects.
