Airbus 2015 Annual Report Download - page 63

AIRBUS GROUP REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2015 l 31 l
Informationon GroupActivities
Registration Document 2015
1.
1.1 Presentation of the Group
Products and Services
The Family Concept — Commonality across theFleet
Airbus’ aircraft families promote fleet commonality. This
philosophy takes a central aircraft and tailors it to create
derivatives to meet the needs of specific market segments,
meaning that all new-generation Airbus aircraft share the same
cockpit design, fly-by-wire controls and handling characteristics.
Pilots can transfer among any aircraft within the Airbus family
with minimal additional training. Cross-crew qualification across
families of aircraft provides airlines with significant operational
flexibility. In addition, the emphasis on fleet commonality permits
aircraft operators to realise significant cost savings in crew
training, spare parts, maintenance and aircraft scheduling.
The extent of cockpit commonality within and across families
of aircraft is a unique feature of Airbus that, in management’s
opinion, constitutes a sustainable competitive advantage.
In addition, technological innovation has been at the core
of Airbus’ strategy since its creation. Each product in the
Airbus family is intended to set new standards in areas crucial
to airlines’ success, such as cabin comfort, cargo capacity
performance, economic performance, environmental impact
and operational commonality. Airbus innovations often provide
distinct competitive advantages, with many becoming standard
in the aircraft industry.
A320 Family. With more than 12,400aircraft sold and more than
6,800delivered, Airbus’ family of single-aisle aircraft, based on
the A320, includes the A319 and A321 derivatives, as well as the
corporate jets family (ACJ318, ACJ319, ACJ320 and ACJ321).
Each aircraft in the A320 Family shares the same systems,
cockpit, operating procedures and cross-section.
At 3.95metres diameter, the A320 Family has the widest
fuselage cross-section of any competing single-aisle aircraft.
This provides a roomy passenger cabin, a high comfort level
and a spacious under floor cargo volume. The A320 Family
incorporates digital fly-by-wire controls, an ergonomic cockpit
and a lightweight carbon fibre composite horizontal stabiliser.
The use of composite material has also been extended to
the vertical stabiliser. The A320 family’s competitor is the
Boeing737 series.
To ensure this market leader keeps its competitive edge, Airbus
continues to invest in improvements across the product line,
including development of the A320neo (new engine option)
Family. The A320neo incorporates many innovations including
latest generation engines, Sharklet wing-tip devices and cabin
improvements, which together will deliver up to 20% in fuel
savings by 2020. The A320neo received joint Type Certification
from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in November2015. The
A320neo with Pratt & Whitney engines was the first variant in
the Neo Family to receive Type Certification. The A320neo with
CFM engines wil be certified later followed by the A321neo and
A319neo in both engine variants.
This new engine option will be available for the A321, A320 and
A319aircraft models, with an entry-into-service of the A320neo
first, to be followed by the A321neo and the A319neo. With
4,508 firm orders received from 79 customers since its launch
in December2010, the A320neo Family has captured 60% of
the market.
The first A320neo has been delivered in January2016 to launch
customer Lufthansa.
In October2015, Airbus announced the decision to further
increase the production rate of the Single Aisle Family to
60aircraft a month in mid-2019, following thorough studies
on production ramp-up readiness in the supply chain and in
Airbus’ facilities.
To enable the ramp-up, an additional production line is being
built in Hamburg, which is being financed by equity, and will
be operational in 2017. In parallel Airbus will integrate cabin
furnishing activities for A320aircraft produced in Toulouse into
the final assembly line in Toulouse, and thereby harmonizing
the production process across all A320 Family production sites
worldwide.
In 2015, Airbus received 1,015gross orders for the A320 Family
of aircraft (945net), and delivered 491aircraft.
A320 FAMILY TECHNICAL FEATURES (CURRENT VERSION)
Model Entry-into-service ty(1) Passenger capaci Range (km) Length (metres) Wingspan (metres)
A318 2003 107 5,750 31.4 34.1
A319 1996 124 6,850(2) 33.8 35.8
A320 1988 150 6,100(2) 37.6 35.8(3)
A321 1994 185 5,950(2) 44.5 35.8(3)
(1) Two-class layout.
(2) Range with sharklets.
(3) Wingspan with sharklets.
Financial Statements 2015
11 22 33 44 55
QRegistration Document 2015
Annual Report 2015 Financial Statements 2015
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