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A321 NEO cert to 7400 km by EASA and FAA

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A321 NEO cert to 7400 km by EASA and FAA

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Old 7th Oct 2018, 08:34
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30 years of ETOPS

Originally Posted by Flap40
I always preferred 'Eventually There's Only a Plopping Sound"
Thankfully in 30 years of ETOPS across the pond that has never happened - which shows the reliability of the operations, aircraft and engines.

I think Monarch were the first UK operator to get approval in 1988 for the Orlando's (via Bangor) with the 757. (223 pax)
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 08:41
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Originally Posted by krismiler
Utilisation can be maximised as short haul routes are generally daytime and leave the A320s parked at night where as the A321LR can do an overnight long haul and be back to do the milk runs next morning.
Sure, the Jack of all trades of the air. The Germans call it the "egg-laying, milk-bearing woolly pig".
Every airline manager not buying this marvel should be called an amateur, the same "Sir" Tim Clark of EK called all those who did not fall for the A380.
How long is a long haul that you can squeeze it in a night-park-cycle? Typically such parking occurs between 10pm and 6am, meaning 8 hours. Take away two to prepare out and inbound LH flight, that leaves 6 hours and two whooping 3 hour legs. Then back to the daily 6 to 8 milk run legs.

Dream on.

Such a product will have to be tailored to the desired 6 to 8 hour flights, catering and interior equipment etc. It will then not be well suited to do the 25 minutes turn-arounds of LC ops. Meaning that it must deliver on this LH segment only, which has been tried before and most failed. Even on LOCO-LH you need support for any small event and it will not be a handy 25 minutes away. Only operators that can count on a big sister (like Edelweiss with Lufthansa) will be able to guarantee this. A small strike, a unspectacular in-flight engine shut down on ETOPS, a medical diversion can quickly ruin the whole operation. Quod erat demonstrandum ad nauseam.

There is certainly a market for such an aircraft, although a small one. Didn't we hear that before somewhere?

Last edited by glofish; 7th Oct 2018 at 09:00.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 09:18
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This rather neatly crimps Boeing's options for the MMA. Airbus have the market segment nicely covered between the A321LR and the A330neo and this is a small niche market so a clean sheet design from Boeing is going to be prohibitively expensive. The 737 cannot take another stretch so Boeing's only sensible option will be a re-engined 767.
In the longer term the long rumoured 737 replacement would probably have some answers.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 10:22
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Originally Posted by rog747
Thankfully in 30 years of ETOPS across the pond that has never happened - which shows the reliability of the operations, aircraft and engines.

)
Mind you, Transat got pretty close to a 'plop'. Although not due to engine failures.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 11:51
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Originally Posted by macdo
Mind you, Transat got pretty close to a 'plop'. Although not due to engine failures.

Yes, Forgot that,
I agree the Air Transat incident was likely the most scariest and close-call event in 30 years of Twin Engine over water Ops.

They glided for over 20 minutes from 33000'
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 12:05
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Mind you, Transat got pretty close to a 'plop'. Although not due to engine failures
.

Both engines did fail. They failed because there was no fuel left! The issue with the certification standard is that it looks at an engine failure as an issue with the individual engine and an isolated event. However, this incident shows that not all engine failures are in isolation. There may be a common fault. In this case, it was a system common to both engines and an associated procedure issue. It could equally be a design or an engineering problem common to both engines.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 12:12
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Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
Steven Udvar-Hazy (who knows a thing or two about the commercial aircraft market) is quoted in last week's Flight as saying that he expects Boeing to reach a decision on the MMA by mid-2019.
pardon my appalling ignorance, but I naively thought the Boeing MMA was the Multimission Maritime Aircraft, the P-8; could someone please correct me?
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 12:30
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Middle Market Aircraft.
A proposed replacement for the 757 and 767.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 12:38
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Originally Posted by Dan Winterland
.

Both engines did fail. They failed because there was no fuel left! The issue with the certification standard is that it looks at an engine failure as an issue with the individual engine and an isolated event. However, this incident shows that not all engine failures are in isolation. There may be a common fault. In this case, it was a system common to both engines and an associated procedure issue. It could equally be a design or an engineering problem common to both engines.
Would it be different on a 4 or a 10 engine aircraft?
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 13:44
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Originally Posted by cooperplace
pardon my appalling ignorance, but I naively thought the Boeing MMA was the Multimission Maritime Aircraft, the P-8; could someone please correct me?
From 2003:

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Old 7th Oct 2018, 14:43
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How long is a long haul that you can squeeze it in a night-park-cycle? Typically such parking occurs between 10pm and 6am, meaning 8 hours. Take away two to prepare out and inbound LH flight, that leaves 6 hours and two whooping 3 hour legs. Then back to the daily 6 to 8 milk run legs.
The timing doesn't necessarily have to fall exactly between these hours, the long haul could start earlier or arrive back later or be flown at the weekend. It gives an airline the potential for greater utilisation. Some airlines operate long haul aircraft on short haul routes to get greater use out of them instead of having them parked all day between a morning arrival and an evening departure. Others offer really low fares for flights at ungodly hours of the night when the aircraft would normally be parked, because of the unattractive timings business men and regular full fare passengers will still cough up the normal fare to leave at 8:00 am, leaving the 3:00 am flights to those who wouldn't travel unless they got a dirt cheap ticket.

In flight entertainment can easily be provided via video streaming to a passengers iPad instead of seat back units, saving on cost and weight. Lower density seating might be needed to allow for increased fuel loads so a premium cabin class could be offered to offset this.

I'm sure airline planning departments have an idea of which routes they could make it work on. Replacing an old A321 which is due for retirement with an new LR version instead of a new standard version isn't like trying to make a new fleet of A380s work.

Boeing need to come out with a single isle, 190 seat version of the B787 for short to medium haul. The B737 is essentially the same 1950s technology as the B707 but tarted up, like a granny in a mini skirt and high heals.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 14:45
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Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
Payload
Range
Space (for pax & baggage)
Dave, we need to inject a few more facts it seems: You were wrong about the ability of the A321 to load all bags, and you're wrong here too.

B757-200 cabin dimensions: 353 x 3607 (cm) = 127,32 sqm
A321 cabin dimensions: 370 x 3440 (cm) = 127,28 sqm

B757-200 range, ISA, 113T MTOW, PW engines, 200 pax: 3915NM
A321NLR range, ISA, 97T MTOW, 200 pax: 4000NM

You're right on the payload, which effectively means the A321 can't carry the 5 tons of cargo a 757 could on the same 7-hour sector. The price for that, however, as a fuel burn roughly 20% higher. In other words, you're better off financially leaving the cargo behind, as the lost revenue is more than made up for by the reduced fuel burn.

So unless you're runway limited, the A321N LR is indeed the perfect 757 replacement, including the relatively small niche that's 3000NM+ missions. Thing is, it might just be profitable launching new 3000NM+ services on the A321, where it wouldn't make sense on the 757 - purely because of the vastly reduced operational costs.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 15:50
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Originally Posted by SMT Member
There are 10 positions on an A321. With 3 occupied by ACTs, the remaining 7 will need to hold approx 30 bags each for a total of 210 pax. Standard load for an AKH is around 30-35 bags. And you still got the bulk compartment for overspill, strollers, wheelchairs and the odd mailbag. Bulk load all compartments, and you've got even more room to spare.
One source reckons that nine LD3-45s would be required for 206 (longhaul) pax worth of baggage and that the only alternative with 3 ACTs would be to dispense with AKHs entirely and bulk-load everything, which of course would be operationally impractical.

Airbus formally launches A321LR; we look behind the “LR” to see what’s there
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 16:12
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Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
One source reckons that nine LD3-45s would be required for 206 (longhaul) pax worth of baggage and that the only alternative with 3 ACTs would be to dispense with AKHs entirely and bulk-load everything, which of course would be operationally impractical.

Airbus formally launches A321LR; we look behind the “LR” to see what’s there
AKE: 4,3 cum, industry standard 45 bags. 0,095 cum for each bag.
AKH: 3,7 cum, industry standard 35 bags. 0,095 cum for each bag. 35 x 7 = 245 bags. Even at 30 bags each, you'll be covered in a 206 seat 'low cost' configuration. It's mainly academic, however, as the vast majority of operators elect to go with loose loaded compartments.

Leeham news is mainly in the business of attempting to make Boeing look good, and Airbus look bad.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 17:23
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Originally Posted by SMT Member
Leeham news is mainly in the business of attempting to make Boeing look good, and Airbus look bad.
I was waiting for that.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 18:05
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Originally Posted by arketip
Would it be different on a 4 or a 10 engine aircraft?
Since it was a single engine fuel leak that caused the initial problem, the more engines, the more likely the scenario.
Something that is conveniently overlooked by the ETOPS critics.
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Old 7th Oct 2018, 20:10
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Originally Posted by SMT Member
Dave, we need to inject a few more facts it seems: You were wrong about the ability of the A321 to load all bags, and you're wrong here too.

B757-200 cabin dimensions: 353 x 3607 (cm) = 127,32 sqm
A321 cabin dimensions: 370 x 3440 (cm) = 127,28 sqm

B757-200 range, ISA, 113T MTOW, PW engines, 200 pax: 3915NM
A321NLR range, ISA, 97T MTOW, 200 pax: 4000NM

You're right on the payload, which effectively means the A321 can't carry the 5 tons of cargo a 757 could on the same 7-hour sector. The price for that, however, as a fuel burn roughly 20% higher. In other words, you're better off financially leaving the cargo behind, as the lost revenue is more than made up for by the reduced fuel burn.

So unless you're runway limited, the A321N LR is indeed the perfect 757 replacement, including the relatively small niche that's 3000NM+ missions. Thing is, it might just be profitable launching new 3000NM+ services on the A321, where it wouldn't make sense on the 757 - purely because of the vastly reduced operational costs.
The 757 stats appear to be for aircraft without winglets. Even with the quoted 4100 mile range with winglets the 757 struggles in the winter over the pond.
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Old 8th Oct 2018, 01:31
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Originally Posted by krismiler
Utilisation can be maximised as short haul routes are generally daytime and leave the A320s parked at night where as the A321LR can do an overnight long haul and be back to do the milk runs next morning.

This is a common fallacy, but the LCCs have moved on from 0800 departures and back early evening, they now do substantial fleet departures right after 0600 (look at the Stansted departure board), with final returns close to midnight. Delays often are coming in after that time.

With the aircraft on minimal turnrounds during the day, the remaining overnight hours are taken up with daily maintenance tasks, and the contingency necessary to ensure you start the next day on time. Those who recall the delays of the 1970s-80s UK IT operators who put three summer Mediterranean rotations in with no contingency departing at 0700, 1500 and 2300 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, ending up not infrequently 12 hours down and stories in the press, will know what not to do. There isn't even scope to slot in an extra Palma in this, let alone long haul.

For the more mainstream operators, they need a more optimised cabin fit even for medium haul. Short haul has pretty much done away with mainstream galley provision nowadays, and stuck in seats there instead, and likewise the premium/economy seating balance required is different.

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Old 8th Oct 2018, 06:05
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MMA

Originally Posted by cooperplace
pardon my appalling ignorance, but I naively thought the Boeing MMA was the Multimission Maritime Aircraft, the P-8; could someone please correct me?
So did !

Sorry i'm out of the loop with the new spin on MMA....I Googled MMA again but came with up Conor's big scrap in Vegas...
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Old 8th Oct 2018, 06:52
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Unlike the A380 which was built for the specific purpose of moving large numbers of passengers between major hub airports, cost a fortune to develop and only works for certain airlines on certain routes, the A321LR simply expands the capabilities of an existing and well proven type whose development costs have already been recouped.

The airlines know their markets and can specify their aircraft configuration accordingly. A 7400km radius from London takes in half of India, much of central Africa and a large chunk of China. The B787 concept of bypassing hubs in favour of point to point routing has proven successful, in some ways the A321LR is a poor mans B787 offering a fair amount of the Boeing’s performance at a fraction of its price. Whilst obviously not a direct competitor it could enable a smaller airline to offer longish haul services without breaking the bank.

The B747SP was a specialised niche aircraft designed for long routes with low pax loads and wasn’t good for much else as it was too big to use in place of a B737 and too small to replace a normal Jumbo.

A mixed fleet of A320 single class and A321LR dual class could easily be operated by a small country’s national airline.

I see the A321LR as offering increased utilisation and opening new city pairs. If it is a flop then at least there isn’t that much money involved.
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