Sir - I refer to the article "AVIC/Airbus sign AE31X agreement" (Flight International, 21-27 May, P7).
The new regional AE31X family, planned to Ìt in below the niche of the Airbus A319, should not have a smaller, five-abreast, fuselage cross-section.
This would mean abandoning the Airbus family's advantages, both up and down from the already-proven A320, and the customers (both the airlines and passengers) simply will not understand this decision.
Since the aircraft is still a "paper bird", may one express the hope that there will be a change of heart by AVIC (Aviation Industries of China) and Airbus Industrie Asia?
A narrower aircraft will not be any more than an underwing version of the Fokker 70 and 100. To abandon the widebody look would also deny future customers the advantages of identical cabin cross-section.
Maybe Russia's Tupolev, with its Tu-334 sporting comfortable, six-abreast, seating, will have the last laugh.
Professor Johannes Zopp
Vienna, Austria
Source: Flight International
