Airbus has achieved assembly of the engine pylon for the first A320neo to fly. The pylon, which has just been completed at the dedicated pylon facility in St Eloi in Toulouse, is the first major airframe component assembly to take place for the NEO program.
In parallel with this pylon construction, other major NEO components and subassemblies will shortly be taking shape in factories across various countries. For example, in Hamburg the center wing-box will soon arrive from the UK to be integrated in the fuselage, and also the rear fuselage will begin assembly there. In St. Nazaire, the forward fuselage will start assembly in January 2014.
Overall progress on the first A320neo is well on track for aircraft final assembly to start in spring 2014, followed by the aircraft making its first flight next autumn.
Source: Airbus
Latest from Aerospace Manufacturing and Design
- DARPA awards BAE Systems $4 million for tactical autonomy program
- Severance Tool’s countersinks
- 3D Systems' EXT Titan pellet 3D printers
- Airbus to deliver more than 200 Sparkwing solar arrays to MDA Space
- 168 Manufacturing's FullShop Gen 3 for affordable coolant automation
- US Air Force awards Reliable Robotics aircraft automation contract
- KYOCERA SGS Precision Tools' Z-Carb XPR high performance end mill
- Negative-stiffness vibration isolator enables space laser communications
