Securing customers with Airbus A350 orders for its new NZG radial tyres is one of Michelin's main goals at the 2013 Paris air show, after the tyres were recently certified for use on the aircraft.

However, Mathias Kratzsch, the French tyremaker's vice-president of marketing and sales for its aircraft product line, believes Michelin's near zero growth (NZG) technology will benefit any aircraft operator.

"A normal tyre will inflate more because of centrifugal forces," he says, which means Michelin's NZG radials will provide a greater number of landings than other tyres. He says this performance is 30% greater than that of a standard radial tyre and double the performance of a bias tyre.

The improvement comes from a better footprint for the tyre on the ground "as you don't have a smaller area with more pressure on it". As a result, Kratzsch says, NZG radials experience less damage from foreign objects.

In addition to the tyres' increased life span, Kratzsch says that with 22% less material than a standard bias tyre, less fuel is consumed by aircraft fitted with them.

He says Michelin has calculated that if every aircraft at every airline were fitted with Michelin's NZG radials, the industry would save itself $36 million on its annual fuel bill.

Check out the latest news and views from this year's Paris air show, including:

Finally, our new-look iFDN editions will contain exclusive footage from Paris 2013. Find out more

Source: Flight Daily News

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