LONG BEACH — Browsing through the new 2010 Airbus Family Figures guide, I noticed that the A320 family aircraft featured renderings with Sharklets. While I was unsurprised to see them on the A319, A320 and A321, Airbus has added them to the smallest member of the family, the A318. At the time they were first announced in November 2009, Airbus had not yet decided if it would offer Sharklets on its 100-seater narrowbody. Is this an artistic representation or a sign of things to come? Would a 32-seat Sharletted A318 from London City to New York-JFK still require that Shannon fuel stop? Is this a move to blunt Bombardier’s CS100? An interesting development indeed.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.