Lufthansa Expects Lower Unit Costs With Airbus A320neo

Lufthansa Expects Lower Unit Costs With Airbus A320neo

Lufthansa believes it can operate the Airbus A320neo at 23% lower unit costs than the current A320s.

On the sidelines of the EU Aviation Summit in Amsterdam, airline CEO Carsten Spohr told Aviation Daily that Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100Gengines will deliver more than the 15% fuel-cost savings that are contractually guaranteed. Spohr expects the engines to achieve around 16-17% lower fuel burn per seat based on identical aircraft capacity.

On top of that, Lufthansa is installing 180 seats on its A320neos—twelve more than on the A320 conventional engine option aircraft. The addition of two more rows is made possible by the changed layout of the rear galley as part of Airbus’s Spaceflex concept. The concept saves space by using a smaller galley, and by moving the lavatory into a space immediately in front of the rear pressure bulkhead.

The airline has taken delivery of its first A320neo on Jan. 20. It will enter revenue service on Jan 24 on the Frankfurt-Hamburg and Frankfurt-Munich routes.

Spohr said the initial Lufthansa operations play a role in Pratt & Whitney’s efforts to develop new software that will make initial operating restrictions unnecessary. Because of temperature issues under certain conditions that lead to slight shaft bending, engines have to run at idle for around 3 min. after startup. Spohr expects the time at idle to be reduced as more data becomes available. Lufthansa’s first two aircraft will be involved in collecting the data needed for the engine upgrades. The changes developed include software and hardware.

Spohr points out that the Bombardier C Series will not have the same engine issues because the core is smaller. Lufthansa’s affiliate Swiss is planned to take delivery of its first CS100 before the end of the second quarter.

Source ~ Aviation Daily News