Airbus would be able to make a full production transition to the A320neo by 2018 given sufficient customer demand for the twinjet.
The A320neo's production schedule has been advanced to enable entry into service in October 2015.
Speaking during a briefing in Toulouse, executive vice-president for programmes Tom Williams said the full production ramp-up for A320neo could be achieved in less than 30 months.
He says the airframer expects to have a "significant number of aircraft" in production next year which are capable of taking the sharklet wingtip modification, marking an initial shift away from the baseline model and moving towards the wing required for the A320neo.
Chief operating officer for customers John Leahy said he felt the airframer would sell its last regular A320 around 2020-22.
But he adds that Airbus could, if necessary, complete the transition earlier if the market "wants to go faster".
"By 2018 it could be all [A320neo family aircraft] if that's what customers want," says Leahy.
Williams says Airbus is aware that the A320 family is the "cash cow of the company" and that it needs to "de-risk" the switch to the A320neo.
Airbus has highlighted the airframes' commonality, with only the pylon for the new engines significantly different, but Williams admits: "If we're not careful it could become an all-new aircraft very quickly."
He also asks: "What happens if you have a major blow-up in an engine [during development]? Does the whole single-aisle production collapse?"
Williams says the ramp-up risk will be managed by taking advantage of a "mature and mainly-unchanged supplier landscape", adding: "It's exactly the same supply chain. We're not about to go and find a whole bunch of new risk-share partners."
He adds that that Airbus will adapt its current wing jigs to accommodate the A320neo, and invest in some duplicate tooling, giving the manufacturer flexibility to revert easily to regular A320 production if the ramp-up hits a problem.
Airbus has not only brought forward production of the A320neo but also accelerated introduction of the A319neo, the re-engined version of the airframer's second most-popular aircraft, by switching its development place with that of the A321neo.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
