Say Hello to the A220NEO

the Airbus a220 has been carrying passengers for a little more than six years now it's proven to be a revelation passengers love its roomy cabin gigantic windows and quiet interior and the airlines love it just as much its unique blend of compact size long range and exceptional efficiency allow carriers to fly existing routes more profitably while also launching completely new routes that were never before possible considering the plane's growing status as a disrupter what I'm about to say might surprise you the a220 already needs new engines and in fact some reports indicate that Airbus could add a new engine option by 2025 but if the plane is already so new and so capable why is it necessary to build an a220 Neo let me explain foreign into it I'm sure it comes as no surprise when I say I do a lot of research when making these videos and while I strive to use reliable sources it can be hard to spot bias in the media these days that's why I use ground news today's sponsor they let you see how breaking news is being covered across the world and political Spectrum so you can easily tell how a story is being covered by all sides right now I'm researching a video about JetBlue's blocked purchase of Spirit Airlines which is a politically sensitive topic now when I go to ground news and search for stories about JetBlue it shows me more than 200 sources that are covering that subject in a matter of seconds I can access all those articles and quickly understand how it's being covered of course I only want to use highly factual sources in my videos and ground news helps me to filter by articles that meet that criteria it'll even show me who owns each publication so I know exactly where the information is coming from news has a mission to bring accountability back to the media if you want to do the same simply go to ground.news Kobe you can either sign up for free or we get 30 off their unlimited subscription if you subscribe before March 30th so be sure to check it out and thanks to ground news for supporting today's video first let's talk about how the a220 is powered today right now just a single engine type is available the pw1500g this engine is a member of Pratt and Whitney's pw1000 family and it's a remarkable piece of engineering its biggest Innovation is that it uses a geared turbofan architecture which adds a gearbox behind the primary fan this allows the fan to spin at one third the speed of the low pressure compressor and turbine which greatly optimizes airflow through the engine this can dramatically improve both efficiency and noise now the reason the a220 has just a single engine option stems from its humble beginnings you see the plane didn't start its life under airbus's care rather it was designed by Bombardier the Canadian jet maker Bombardier is a much smaller company with fewer resources and selecting just one engine would help to reduce the plane's complexity doing so limited development costs streamlined flight testing and simple provide the supply chain and luckily for Bombardier they ended up picking the right engine for the job lehem news reported that at the time of the engine's introduction it was performing about a half percent better than expected on top of that it was outperforming competing engines by up to two and a half percent so if the a220 already employs the most efficient turbofan on the market why would airbus look to re-engine the thing well it all boils down to becoming a more compelling competitor to the 737 Max you see Airbus hopes the a220 will replace the max as the king of short haul travel and adding a second engine option greatly improves its chances of doing just that now the a220 already has one major advantage over the max it's a clean cheat jet whereas the max is based off a 60 year old design as a result the a220 is simply more efficient this is a big reason why the A2 2300 has outsold the competing Max 7 by a count of three to one an Airbus plans to build off this initial success they aim to create a bigger a220 variant to compete head-on with the 737 Max 8. Boeing's best-selling jet today ostensibly called the a22500 this new variant is projected to be up to 13 more efficient than the Boeing now don't get me wrong these efficiency figures Bode extremely well for the future of the program but if the a220 truly wants to supplant the max it'll need to do more than just beat it on fuel burn you see one of the biggest reasons the 737 has stuck around for so long is that Boeing has perfected its production it's pretty cheap and easy for Boeing to build which is a huge competitive Advantage it allows Boeing to offer deep discounts on the Jet and still turn a profit so while the max might be less efficient the total cost of ownership remains on par with or even lower than the a220 so how can Airbus combat this well first things first they have to make a 220 production cheaper and more efficient and while they've thrown a lot of money at the problem they still have a very long ways to go even once production is fully optimized the plane might still be more expensive to build after all it widely employs composite materials across its airframe in comparison the max is almost built entirely from cheap aluminum so the a220s bill of materials could remain higher for an indefinite period compromising airbus's ability to offer deep discounts like Boeing so Airbus needs to find other creative ways to cut cost and adding a new engine option could be a Savvy way to do so that's because when Airlines go to buy a plane they have to buy their engine separate and today a220 customers have just one choice a vendor Pratt and Whitney this means Airlines don't really have a lot of negotiating power and are forced to pay the price that Pratt and Whitney sets but adding a second engine helps to create competition now engine makers will have to fight against each other to win the business of a220 customers which could drive down upfront purchasing costs now if Airbus is smart which they are they'll bring the CFM leap engine into the fold doing so would benefit the a220 in a couple of key ways first off the engine is a well-known commodity it already flies on the A320 Neo 737 Max and c919 as such it wouldn't require major modifications or extensive flight testing and could be ready to enter service fairly cheaply and fairly quickly but there's a second more tactical benefit of using this engine as it stands today the leap is the sole engine available on the competing 737 Max hypothetically if an airline had the Max on order and wanted to switch to the a220 they'd have to pay a cancellation fee to both Boeing and CFM but if the leap engine becomes available on the a220 such an airline could simply reallocate its CFM order that means they'd only have to pay a breakup fee to Boeing and this could make it easier for Boeing customers to switch to the a220 so it's clear that creating an a220 Neo would serve to make the plane more competitive against the max but equally as important it would also serve as an insurance policy for the program remember Bombardier originally selected just one engine partner because it simplified the supply chain but it also created a single point of failure if Pratt and Whitney faces any production challenges it would have a direct impact on the health of the a220 program we've actually seen this play out in recent months the global supply chain crunch has made it harder for Airbus to churn out Jets and adding a new engine option could help make the program more resilient to these sorts of conditions now just to be clear adding a second engine option isn't a prerequisite to program success after all the 737 has thrived for decades and it stuck to a single engine for each successive iteration but regardless this could be a smart way to help insulate the a220 from supply chain issues it'll also help protect the program in the event of a product recall the 787 serves as a cautionary Tale in this regard back in 2016 it was discovered that its Trent 1000 engines were breaking down they were experiencing fatigue cracking in the turbines an issue that posed a significant threat to safety dozens of 787s were grounded by Airlines across the globe and it took nearly five years and billions of dollars to triage and fix the affected engines but miraculously the 787 program continued to thrive during this trying time it was still racking up orders and deliveries continued at a strong clip you see the trail 1000 is just one of two engines that powered the 787 the other being the Gen X that engine has proven to be quite reliable and its operators were completely shielded from Trent 1000 woes had the Trent been the only option it could have been a different story permanently stunting the 787 program suffice it to say this would have been a tremendous blow to Boeing now if the a220 continues on its trajectory it might become just as important to Airbus as the 787 is to Boeing and there are serious concerns about the longevity of its current engines the pw1000's gear turbofan design is quite novel sure the gearbox makes it more efficient but it also adds tremendous complexity since the global Fleet is still quite young we don't have a good sense of how well it'll stand the test of time meanwhile the competing leap engine uses a far more conventional architecture this conservative design means it's not quite as Prof performant as the pw1000 but Airlines might be okay with this trade-off if it improves durability and reduces long-term maintenance costs even if the gearbox does hold up the pw1000 has been unreliable in other ways it suffered all sorts of teething issues from asymmetrical cooling to engine vibration to excessive corrosion and these issues have had real-world consequences in 2018 Indigo India's biggest Airline announced it had already replaced 69 pw-1000 engines on its Fleet of A320 NEOS around the same time Airbus halted deliveries of Pratt and Whitney powered a320s due to a series of in-flight shutdowns now Pratt Whitney says that the pw-1000 has gotten better over time and its teething issues are largely behind them but I found at least three instances of in-flight shutdowns involving the engine in 2022 now early prognosis says that these shutdowns appear to be caused more by software glitches rather than issues with the engine itself but either way it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence and when you're competing against a formidable foe like the 737 it's the little details like this that can make or break a competitive deal at the end of the day adding a new engine option to the a220 serves a dual purpose for one it develops a direct attack on Boeing allowing the a220 to better compete with its Workhorse 737 what's more it helps Safeguard the program from unexpected issues both with the supply chain and the engine itself and the cherry on top is that all of this could be done for Fairly cheap will Airbus actually build an a220 Neo only time will tell but I'm confident that Airbus is at least discussing this idea internally and knowing just how Savvy the company is I wouldn't be shocked if the a220 gets new engines sooner rather than later so what do you guys think do you agree that Airbus should build an a220 Neo let me know your thoughts in the comment section below thank you so much to my patrons for helping to make this video possible if you like what I do and want to help the channel grow go ahead and check out this link right here and as always if you learned something new today leave a like And subscribe to keep learning and until I see you again don't forget to look up

Channel: Coby Explanes

Views: 326,579

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Id: qfpzcrhqH9M

Length: 12min 49sec (769 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2023