A milestone first flight for Airbus Sharklets

Airbus' "Sharklet" wing-tip devices took to the sky for the first time on 30 November 2011 with a successful maiden flight using an A320 development aircraft. This nearly five-hour flight from Toulouse, France kicked off a multi-month test campaign to validate the Sharklets' performance, confirm their aerodynamic behaviour and gather data for certification. Sharklets are expected to reduce fuel burn over long sectors by at least 3.5 per cent, representing an annual CO2 reduction of approximately 700 tonnes per aircraft.

[@capt_alavi__2401]

This is shame boeing fans if you see Boeing copied Airbus fly by wire system In there boeing 777 So don't say that Airbus copied boeing winglet and there is lot of difference between sharklet and winglet SO GET YOUR FACT RIGHT BOEING

[@ryan1111111555555555]

Airbus A340 manufactured in 1993, flown over 13 MILLION hours, and not ONE SINGLE fatality, all incidents have been attributed to pilot error, and even then the design of the aircraft allowed passengers to get out before it was engulfed in flames, such an amazing plane.

[@DanTheCaptain]

OMG! Airbus.......... wow! this means a new A320 variant to the A320 family! Congrats!

[@andrewanane9715]

Sharklets make the a320 family beautiful, good job to Airbus!😉

[@radhit8633]

Normal one looks better for me....oh hi

[@andrewanane9715]

Rad hit lol why do we meet everywhere. Hi!

[@andrewanane9715]

+Rad hit But I love the normal one with the little fences too.

[@TheFS2004pilot1]

the a320 neo family, i just luv it!

[@7wild3child7]

This is by far the sexiest version of the a320. Kudos Airbus!

[@acjflyer]

Just when I thought you couldn't make the A320 family any sexier you come out with the sharklets! I'm proud to be an Airbus man in the USA!!

[@MrAviation2013]

I love how airbus acts like this is some huge amazing invention when Boeing has had them on 767 and 737 aircraft for a decade

[@RounakKushwaha]

😂

[@brunosoares.6077]

Please shut the fuck up.. you know nothing about aviation..

[@gasviation9077]

ohhh totally different. Airbus could go either way, they tested loads of different sharklets before taking one into service. they concluded that the '737, 757, 767' sharklet works best. Also the sharklet itself is much different from boeing's.

[@Palestine787]

@stewardlie The "sharklet" wing design saves i think about 4% of fuel burn, Which is a HUGE improvement just for a winglet. Must say it is a pretty good addition, even though i choose Boeing over Airbus

[@NonstopDan]

So freakin cool!!

[@Szarko32c]

huge winglets, cool painting, just like Warhawk and Phantom II.

[@EnigmaticG83]

Airbus is the best airline manufacturer in the world. Safety, comfort and satisfaction from customers from around the world are the main priorities to Airbus. Their achievements are far much better than their competitors. Congratulations Airbus on every milestone you achieve. Cheers and God Bless!!! Airbus Fan 4ever. :-) :-D

[@MichaelStergides]

Such a gorgeous bird! It's planes like this, real workhorses that bring flying to everyone, and thats what matters most. Toulouse-Blanac, someday...

[@ztunelover]

Once I have flown in one I will make my mind up in that, because in some prelimanary calculations I was shocked to discover that the big 340s have a lower fuel burn than their comparable 777 rivals. the 350 will come out quite a few years after the 787, and the 787 is comparable to the 767. The smallest 350 is essentially the rival to the biggest 787. the midrange I suppose will replace the venerable a330, and the biggest will become a 777 rival at least by seat counts that is.

[@blablubb12345]

Actually, this is MSN0001, the first ever flown A320. Any new system used on production A320s was first installed on this plane, not just wingtips.

[@NihselV]

Thats what the A320neo will look like. looks very nice!! :)

[@a.v.s99]

Airbus makes a big deal about this because these Sharklets are more modern, stylish, exquisite, and beautiful.

[@janselkennethtolentino8269]

Agree. The sharklets look awesome.

[@MrSuburu11]

I didn't think the a320 could look hotter but WOW!!!

[@Imrooot]

How does this wing-tips affects fuel efficiency? What do they do for it?

Great video of the Airbus A320 with Sharklets. cool video!!!

[@wand3rlu5t]

My favourite plane just got better. Can't wait for the NEO!

[@CJRomanes]

a320 looks so handsome with those sharklets!

[@ASAviation]

I think the sharklets look awesome on the Airbus. Considering that I also like sharks.

[@FrancescoVenturelli]

I was wandering the exact same question.... they look pretty identical!

[@Glacifly]

Who would have known that this "so-called" A320-200 is actually an A320-100 prototype... You may change wingtips as much as you want, Airbus, but it is still an A320-100.

[@janselkennethtolentino8269]

Airbus is the best (for my opinion)

[@FlyingDutchMan225]

Apparentely the Airbus A320 doesn't need a lot of more lift to fly slow for take-off and landing, because apparentely it has very good designed wings, great for such a small plane. ;)

[@elyasf]

@Fassja This is just the normal A320 with afterfitted with sharklets. The A320neo is (New Engine Operations) fitted with new engines.

[@tcy10e]

A visionary of the greatest magnitude, a true aviation giant ! :)

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

Airbus did not introduce fly by wire, they only introduced the worlds first fully automated commercial jetliner, the A320. :) The 767 and even Concorde had fly by wire systems.

[@blablubb12345]

It's more ironic that this very plane is the first build A320 which made the maiden flight in 1987. However, it will be retired after the sharklet test program.

[@blablubb12345]

@WindowsGamingXP They are called wingtip fences and yes, a wingtip fence is a winglet, not just the blended ones on the 737.

[@TheFlightFreak]

It looks a lot better with the Sharklets!

[@TrainPlaneHub]

Why are they called "Sharklet" and not just "Winglets" like on other aircraft?

[@VALRPlanespotting]

love Airbus more and more...

[@legojoe12345]

sharklets are nothing new but I am glad airbus is taking an advantage of them.

[@CGKdispatch_amar]

@AviatorNyx boeing may not own winglet design, but the idea and the tech did come from boeing, the usage of winglets for boeing start from the 747-400, while the airbus only starting to use it now... ;)

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

Almost, the 747-8 is in the 500 seat market, the A380 is the only plane in the 800 seat market, even though a 747-8 can hold up to about 730pax, typically, it is configured between 400-500 people.

[@N737G]

Agree with coldshot the sharklets are pretty much identical to the winglets Boeing have been using on 737s for quite a long time now

[@Cobras7111]

They should use that livery with airlines until the sharklets become standard instead of their current "up-down" winglet design.

[@PepperBijux]

Deu outra vida ao Airbus!

[@MrLagonBleu]

So beautifull and Wonderfull Airbus planes ..congrats ..

[@PrateekK]

@F35Ajetfighter01 wing-tips reduce the induced drag created by the aircraft's wings and cause less development of wingtip vortices. Less drag means a better "lift-to-drag" performance, thus, resulting in less fuel consumption.

[@ryan1111111555555555]

I agree, if someone twisted my arm and made me choose, I would pick Airbus simply because of the advanced avionics, and as for the AF crash, the pilots did lose their spacial awareness, but if I remember correctly the FO was pitching the plane up by 10 degrees at over 30k feet, if the flight sticks moved in sync like Yokes, the Captain would've realized immediately what was happening, but it was only in the last 10 - 15 seconds they realized why the plane was stalling, and congratulations btw :)

[@ryan1111111555555555]

I agree, I hope Airbus will at least consider 'syncing' the Flight-sticks to make them move in tandem, maybe the AF crash could've been avoided if this was standard in Airbus planes.

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

If flown on short haul routes for Japan airlines, then 730 pax is easy for the -8 to acommodate. The A380 airframe, flaps, landing gear etc is not designed to cope with high-cycles. The 747 is easy to adapt for that, there is that market in Japan, and parts of China.

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

The reason I made another account was in order to publish new videos. I still use both accounts, and had no intentions to "swap accounts and start the whole process over again under a new pen name, hoping people won't remember the last one."

[@italianluvah83]

good for you airbus congrats! although, i really love the fenced winglets, this is going to take to time to used to seeing.

[@blablubb12345]

@indo83gmail The idea of using winglets is way older and as written in the last posts, Aibus was using winglets on every plane they build since 1985.

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

*AC as in Air China, not Air Canada. I am aware of the A380 orders, but they are yet to be finalised. It's likely they will be though.

[@NielsC68]

@Aero1000able On the A380 the aspect ratio of the wings make the wingtip fences are more than adequate. That's why you don't "even" see winglets on A380. I don't recall seeing any serious discussion re sharklets on A330/A340 in any near future.

[@jetblueilikeful]

I LOVE YOU AIRBUS

[@BOACMach2]

It doesn't make it any different from the Boeings perse, but what it does do is increase fuel efficiency of the aircraft by about 3% on a 1500mile trip.

[@737FSPilot]

@VirtualAirlineNews Yes they do! Boeing has had similar winglets on the 737NG for years now.

[@Canonbyair]

Looks very very nice!!

[@BOACMach2]

I suggest you read the following article from Bloomberg Businessweek, written last year on the problem Boeing now have with this model: "Boeing's 747-400, a Faded Queen of the Skies". The article was written by Kyunghee Park and Andrea Rothman on June 21, 2012

[@atmatthew9699]

what is the different of a320sharklet and a320neo

[@JustinJaiC.]

One has a vagina, the other one doesn't. I hope that helped.

[@blablubb12345]

@kzwski The A310 and later A300s already had wingtip fences before the A320-200 got them. The A320-100 didn't have them but only 50 or so were build.

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

Lest we forget that passenger preference is a HUGE factor for an airline, CEOs want people to fly their airline right? The 748 actually has about 100 (+/-) seats more than the 777-300, passengers are the things that make the money even though there are 4 engines compared to 2, they are much newer and far better for fuel burn. Maintenance cost is lower when comparing them, adding 4 engines instead of 2 isn't quite as significant as you think. As previously stated, certain airlines need the power.

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

The third 748 left alone by Atlas has already been delivered to BA world cargo.

[@carlvincent12]

a darn good lookin' jet

[@ChainChomp2]

THANK YOU.

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

Because it could take many years and they needed to replace the old -400 right away, as it simply isn't very efficient anymore. The -8 is likely the last variant of the 747, and a replacement will be next instead of another update for the 747-8. I would suggest to Boeing to add the Trent 1000s, with 40,000lb more of thrust, it could mean a quick -9 update is available with higher MTOW and greater capacity, more efficiency etc, to fill the gap, but who knows.

[@germ321]

ah okay after you mentioned about the slats, i actually peered closer and noticed a bit of flap settings as well because of the drooping fairing cones at the back of the wing there :) as far as I know, airbus doesn't allow the pilots to extend the slats without activating any flaps. we both learned something today :)

[@blueb0g]

Nice catch up move you have there

[@ryan1111111555555555]

No you can have just slats trust me, but I don't know if the aircraft will let you use just slats for a take off configuration, I think it only accepts a slats and flaps setting for take off

[@CYKind900]

@V81BJC That's what airliners wants to hear, simple pilot training or transition and more automation.

[@placefulFly]

I like all the aircraft :)

[@MiroBG359]

so what are they doing? Bragging about 70's technology NASA developed because of high fuel costs then?

[@spidergirl182001]

kl

[@spidergirl182001]

n

[@Pangandaran]

Airbus did the 'winglets' thing with wingtip fence since the launch of A320, when Boeing produced 737 Jurassic and Classic without winglets. then Boeing add it on their NG later in 2000, so, who's the first? :)

[@blablubb12345]

@WindowsGamingXP 2011 and 1992? Airbus introduced winglets in 1985 on the A310-300 and A300B4-600. Boeing's first plane with winglets is the 747-400, first flown in 1988. The 737 didn't have winglets until the late 90s.

[@cptm7mad]

Really i love the A320 landing

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

You are correct, you could squeeze many more all economy seats onto an A380 if you wanted to remove all of the amenities and galleys, crew rest areas etc, but no airline would do that on an A380. The only reason it is done for the 747SR models is because 747s are used for short haul routes, because they are able to cope with the more frequent stresses of flight cycles compared to the A380, which is only designed for long-haul. Stop comparing the 747 to the A380, they're not in the same class...

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

Cathay Pacific are so impressed with the 747-8 freighters, they have ordered 3 more. Air China have also purchased more. See the Boeing website.

[@ryan1111111555555555]

Yes of course Boeing have made some seriously good aircraft, the 737, 747 and 777 probably being their best so far, and the 787 looks to be phenomenal, I think the next 10 years will prove outright who the 'best' is, depending on A380, A350 and A320 sales vs 747-8, 787 and 737MAX sales, whoever leads in these 3 categories will be the 'winner' so to speak.

[@AusAviation149]

Very nice, the A320 looks much more in proportion with those sharklets But where have i seen em before? hmmm

[@MrCars]

Aircraft has few passengers and is very light. Also long runway used at Toulouse, so now reverse necessary. Just brakes.

[@leftwingersareweak]

Look who can't do a composite barrel fuselage yet. Love, Boeing

[@FordMustangfan4life]

A320 is a brilliant plane

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

Yes, (added sarcasm) and the Comet wasn't a flop and the 707 wasn't the first successful, longer range, fast jetliner. Then the 747 that came after didn't completely revolutionise airtravel and open up the world to people, it definateley isn't also the benchmark for the way we judge large airliners... and the A380 would definiteley be here today without it.

[@tauseef7061]

747s and 777s have been and are legends of the sky. a320 is a better aircraft than the 737. However 737 was the backbone of aviation for quite sometime, cant ignore that fact. I still think that a control column responds better than a stick when it comes to cross wind landing. U can clearly see it in videos, a Boeing vs Airbus crosswind landing. Airbus and Boeing are both awesome companies and hope to get safer aircrafts from them both

[@lolarun4328]

A380 range/operating speed = 8500 nautical miles/945 km/h B747-8i range = 8000 nautical miles/917 km/h Passengers: A380 = 853 max B747-8i = 605 max both have 4 engine, which one do you think airline prefer?

[@arrtistik]

but Boeing has been using this design for how long???...what makes this different from the winglets on a 737-800 or 767-300 ??

[@Fassja]

Isy this the A320neo or the normal A320?

[@JungleCat28]

@Legoflightwars24 By that standard Boeings admission of Airbus desighn effeciency would be the endorsement of the widebody twin-engined desighn configuration (767, 777, 787), something that had began with the Airbus a300.

[@Helicopterpilot16]

I like the original winglets but this looks nice! But the NEO is gonna such because the engines are sooo much quieter.

[@CYKind900]

@Ulti737fs I do admit that 737 has more agile and responsive control surface but due to airlines cash-strapped and competitive situation, they prefer simple and easy training for narrowbody to heavy jets certification. That's what I just said.

[@Airshowlover100]

Amazing, just simply amazing!!

[@hawkboy000]

They didn't copy the 787. It pisses me off wen people say that Airbus copied Boeing or vice-versa. The A350-1000 can hold up 350 while's the 787-9 can hold up to 290. A350-1000 overall length is 73.88 while's the 787-10 is 62.8. Now tell, do these statistics look the same?! NO! So no one is copying anybody. You're also forgetting that Airbus also made very successful planes like the A321, A320, A319, and the A330.

[@ryan1111111555555555]

i think its just slats, since it will be empty aircraft with hardly any fuel, if you look on the leading edge the slats are definitely deployed, but I don't think there is any flap setting.

[@lolarun4328]

well it's from Boeing website, so if you want to disagree with that, contact boeing not me

[@TheBadameco]

beautiful plane! LOVE AIRBUS

[@MustraOrdo]

more then a year later: wait a go airbus crew, but i will still like the sharklets on the boeing 757. Maybe if u guys could reach to be as long as the 757, then i'd be really impressed. but overall is great looking. danki (thanks)

[@MaxiAir]

They look exactly as those from Boeing, those Airbus had on the F-WWBA in April 2006 looked much more airbus-typical ! As those from the A330/A340 !

[@concorde232]

Those sharklets make it look like a 737!

[@gasviation9077]

Just observed. The a320 sharklets are much smoother curving up than the 737 but the 737 ones are much sharper looking idk

[@BoeingvsAirbus1578]

No, just one. You can clearly see he is just a child who is enjoying his time learning about aviation, leave him be, you were like him once, for sure. No need to pick on younger teenagers/children (however old he is) just because they aren't quite experts yet, he's just enjoying his hobbies.

[@bbundridge]

Does anyone know the name of this song?? Freaking AWESOME.

[@BOACMach2]

yes, its interesting that where the Air China order is concerned, Bloomberg Business have referred to the 747-8 as a "beleaguered" aircraft. The Seattle Times have commented that Cathay's purchase of the additional 3 freighters, though welcome, merely offsets 3 cancellations prior to Christmas.

[@MrCars]

They didn't steal anything. Boeing did not invent the winglet. A320 is very efficient already and this just makes it an even better aircraft than it already is.

[@brocanova]

@Fassja It's c/n 001 - the very first a320