Folding wings and open fan engine: Airbus reveals 'radical' design for A320 successor

The National

27-03-2025

Airbus has revealed the initial design concepts behind its next-generation single-aisle aircraft, as it develops a successor for its best-selling A320 Neo family of jets and focuses on decarbonisation. Over the two-day Airbus Summit in Toulouse this week, the world's biggest plane maker highlighted proposals on key technology for the new aircraft, including propulsion systems, wing design, advanced composition materials, electrification, automation and connectivity. This is part of aviation's "fourth revolution" to make flying more sustainable, Airbus executives said. 'We cannot do it with incremental optimisation, this will come with disruption, this will come through clean sheet design,' Bruno Fichefeux, head of future programmes at Airbus, told the innovation summit. The new aircraft, which will be able to fly entirely on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), will target a 20 per cent to 30 per cent fuel-burn reduction compared with the models flying today, thanks to developments in wing design, engines and systems. 'It's a research and technology phase, where we mature many technologies, and when we combine them together we need to look at what are the best trade-offs – which paths do we open, which do we close? We are not there yet," Mr Fichefeux said. Lighter but stronger advanced composite materials will be used to build lighter aircraft, allowing for a 'substantial' reduction in mass. That will lead to an increase in fuel efficiency. Longer, thinner and narrower wings will be another feature of the new narrow-body. To ensure the aircraft fits into existing airport gates, it will also feature folded wing-tips. The design draws on principles of 'biomimicry', where engineers study and imitate the flight of birds. Mimicking the flight of the albatross, the aircraft will have a longer wingspan in flight, increasing lift and reducing drag. For the engines, Airbus is exploring several options, but the main contender is the open fan engine concept, in which fan blades that generate thrust are larger and not contained by a nacelle, the cowling that contains the fan in current-generation engines. This allows air to move efficiently through the engine, reducing fuel consumption, Airbus said. Engine maker CFM, a joint venture between France's Safran and GE Aerospace, is working on the Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) open fan engine demonstrator, which aims to show how this technology could reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 20 per cent compared with current single-aisle aircraft. Airbus is planning to perform flight tests of the open fan engine on a modified A380 flying test bed by the end of the decade, it said. The open fan engine is "much more rewarding, much more challenging and much more revolutionary" than the "evolutionary" ducted fan engines, Frank Haselbach, senior vice president of propulsion angineering at Airbus, told the summit. At an aircraft engine's bypass ratio of 15 or 16, the benefits of a large fan are wiped out by the additional drag created by a very big duct, Mohamed Ali, senior vice president and chief technology and operations officer at GE Aerospace, told the summit. The current bypass ratio on jet engines is at 11 to 12, so that point is not too far. An open fan design can take the bypass ratio up to 60. "That is the fuel burn opportunity that we are thrilled and excited about," he added. A bypass ratio is a key measure of the efficiency and performance of jet engines, referring to the ratio of air bypassing the engine core versus air passing through it. During the summit, Airbus showcased the concept of a tube-and-wing aircraft that could have either wing-mounted or rear-mounted open fan engines. Electrification, automation and hybrid-electric propulsion, which supplements the use of conventional jet fuel or SAF with electricity from batteries or fuel cells, are some of the areas Airbus is working on. "Imagine for one second that we have an aircraft that could onboard during its life-cycle all the technologies that will improve step by step ... it will be a game-changer, radically different," said Karim Mokaddem, head of aircraft of tomorrow research and technology at Airbus. But he acknowledged that "what is in front of us is a huge mountain of challenges, of unknowns". 'If I had to sell this aircraft to a passenger, I would simply say that it is an aircraft that is radically different in terms of fuel-consumption and therefore it is a sustainable aircraft,' Mr Mokaddem told The National on the sidelines of the summit. The passenger experience on the aircraft will be much improved, with better connectivity onboard. 'If we reach this level of hyper-connectivity, it's an aircraft on which you will be able not only to work, but also connect and talk to your family, to see your movies," he added. "The passenger experience will be different.' One of the most important selling points Airbus is emphasising for airlines is the economic benefits that result from 20 per cent to 30 per cent fuel efficiency. 'We are doing all this because we already know that the added price of SAF will be huge," he said. "And therefore, if you want to maintain the ambition of connecting people today and even more people tomorrow, we need to propose to the airline something that is reducing the cost of operation, which is likely to increase because of the SAF price. And that's why we are focusing on the performance of the aircraft."