Airbus has moved forward by six months its target to introduce the A320neo, in effect pre-empting any word from Boeing about its choice of whether to re-engine the 737 or introduce a new “clean-sheet” design. John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers, said he thinks the U.S. company will “launch” a narrowbody replacement, then defer its plans once it recognizes the timing doesn’t work and ultimately opt to re-engine the 737.
Last year, Leahy predicted that Boeing, if Airbus launched the A320neo, would reveal a new design for introduction in 2020. Airbus’s announcement last week of a six-month advance in entry-into-service target for the A320neo (powered by the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G) to October 2015, would serve to increase the A320neo’s timing advantage over a new Boeing. Simultaneously, Airbus said it expects significant engine improvements–using open-rotor technologies–will not become available for next-generation narrowbodies before 2030, thus questioning potential performance claims for a new aircraft entering service 10 years earlier.
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