The Airbus A321XLR programme completed an international flight-test campaign this week, known as ‘Functional and Reliability Testing’ (FnR), also known as ‘Route Proving’, this is part of Airbus’ certification activity contributing to EASA Type Certification expected in 2024.
The aircraft F-WWAB Airbus A321-253NY msn 11080 in Airbus QR code Livery touched down in Dublin on Monday 18 September from the Airbus factory in Toulouse at 1357 using callsign ‘AIB08B’. The aircraft overnighted at Dublin before departing to Miami at 1109 local as ‘AIB09B’. The aircraft continued on proving flights to Madrid (Iberia Airlines) and Ponta Delgada (SATA Airlines), before returning to Miami. The aircraft returned to Dublin on Friday 22 September as ‘AIB14AB’ arriving 0921 departing 1216 to Toulouse.
The main objective of the FnR is to demonstrate the A321XLR’s systems maturity well before entry into service, with a target of approximately 100 hours flying time over 10 days with no systems power-down. Specific sectors, comprising around 15 flights in total, are intentionally typical of what airlines might fly when the aircraft enters service. These have been defined to represent a mix of operator profiles, climatic conditions, flight durations and airport turnaround times.
For the first time since the A321XLR first flew in June 2022, there will be real airline cabin and flight crews gaining hands-on experience, alongside the Airbus test pilots and flight engineers as well as a representative group of around 30 passengers made up of volunteer Airbus and airline employees.
Airbus marketing specialist Ludek Jando said “The A321XLR sits side by side with widebodies in an airline’s fleet. It introduces the flexibility to add capacity, to open new routes, or even to continue operating existing ones when demand is variable. All while burning 30% less fuel per seat than previous generation competitor aircraft, at roughly half the trip cost of modern widebodies.”
Airbus has received more than 550 orders to date for A321XL from over 25 customers.
Image Credit: Elevationair
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 23 June 2023 All Rights Reserved
