Airbus is stepping up the testing of novel wing technology as it lays the foundation for a future successor to its best-selling A 320 series, but it has to contend with a price battle to bring down costs.
British industry Minister Nusrat Ghani inaugurated a wing technology plant in southwest England on Tuesday to assist in the design and development of wings that are longer, lighter, more slender and feature folding wings to fly more sustainably.
It's our programme to prepare technologies we are going to need for the next generation of Airbus aircraft, which is Sue Partridge, head of the company's Wing of Tomorrow programme, said in a statement.
The expansion comes as Boeing BA.N researches an elongated, ultra-light concept called Transonic Truss-Braced Wings.
The choice of wing design and production methods by either manufacturer, along with engine advancements, will shape aircraft competition well into the next half of the century.
Airbus's Wing of Tomorrow, which is slated to be launched in the near future, has been spending billions in dollars, according to industry sources.
In official terms, research could benefit any project, but all eyes are on a successor to the single-aisle A 320 that Airbus has said 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, said Partridge of a set 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 the right production-rate capabilities. Currently, the best-selling aircraft 320 321 and competing Boeing 737 are made of aluminium, but designers believe composites will allow future wings to be tapered in efficient new ways.
The main hurdle is that composite parts cost more to produce, a gap that is harder to recoup on the highly priced A 320 and 737 than on larger jets already made of composites.
Partridge said Airbus is in talks with at least three suppliers to lower costs and weave parts more efficiently.
Introducing carbon wings to single-aisle jets may necessitate a manufacturing revolution to keep up with production targets that are currently 10 times higher than for big jets.
Aircraft composites, currently, are cured in pressurised ovens known as autoclaves, which consume space and energy.
Partridge said Airbus is in the process of determining whether to build wings without autoclaves.
So far, only a new Russian jet has fully used that method for wings, but adapting it to Airbus or Boeing volumes would require substantial investment and progress on costs, analysts say.
As wings get longer, tests at the historic Filton site, where parts of the Anglo-French Concorde were developed, include folding wingtips to fit parking gates, echoing Boeing's 777 X.
To achieve a more fuel-efficient wing, the physics recommends that it be longer and more slender. This means we need to increase the span of the wing, he said.
Partridge declined to say when Airbus would choose among dozens of technologies it is testing but said it was ready for any business decision on a new programme. Analysts say work on a 2035 model must be launched by 2027-28.
Asked if new technology could be used to upgrade existing models like the A 321, Partridge said yes, theoretically Industry sources say Airbus could tap part of the research if it moves ahead with a potential stretch of the smaller A 220.
Airbus has not said what the plane will be, but sources say they suggest that a scenario calls for new wings and engines for entry to service not before 2030.