If Airbus keeps to its preliminary schedule for A320neo transition then, from the second quarter of 2017, it will start producing more of the re-engined twinjet than the baseline A320.
The crossover point will come only 18 months after the A320neo enters service, and Airbus expects to achieve a monthly production rate of 42 aircraft from the beginning of 2018. A320neo chief engineer Pierre-Henri Brousse says that the transition between the two types is "secured and top priority" for the airframer.
Airbus is developing eight flight-test aircraft - four A320neos, two A321neos and two A319neos - in order to certificate each of the three variants with both powerplant options, the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G and the CFM International Leap-1A.
However, the manufacturer is also going to build eight pre-series aircraft from the beginning of 2015, according to the Airbus transition schedule.
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Source: Flight International
