Airbus looks at a Mega twin.

[straitman]

An interesting article looking ahead to the future.

Does Commercial Aviation Need A Mega-Twin?

By Rupa Haria [email protected]
Source: AWIN First

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January 31, 2014
Credit: Institute of Aerospace Systems

Our report last week on a study funded by Airbus for a New Long Range (NLR) project raised eyebrows among our readers. The 470-seat Airbus NLR twinjet project, a response to Boeing’s recently launched 777X, could fly at a cruise speed of Mach 0.85 with a large high-aspect-ratio wingspan of 80 meters – larger than the 747-8 and smaller than the A380.

The study is particularly remarkable considering Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier has firmly stated that he does not want to launch a new aircraft within the next ten years. “We need to focus on incremental improvement of our products,” rather than going for all-new concepts.

We can hear Bregier’s edict echoed by his airline customers, who at the same time seem to be open to the NLR idea. Emirates president Tim Clark told Aviation Week he wants to see a reengined A380, and rumblings about an A330neo continue to put pressure on the airframer to make a decision on the future of the most successful widebody it has ever built. Then there’s the question of a proposed further stretch of the yet-to-be-built A350-1000.

 

[samh004]

I can see the cost blowing out for that and many delays, but think it's a smart area to be looking in. Twin engine that carries as many as a 747-8, with derivatives that are shorter, not longer. If only they were already working on this...

 

[maninblack]

Designers look at concepts all the time. Remember Boeing designed an 'A380' concept before Airbus even existed.

 

[TomVexille]

So this would potentially kill off the lower end of the A388 market like the 77W killed any potential the 748 could have had.

 

[harvyk]

So this would potentially kill off the lower end of the A388 market like the 77W killed any potential the 748 could have had.

Pretty much... Although technically one could argue that the relaxing of ETOPS rules is the real reason why the 748 and A380 are not exactly doing well. Until ETOPS was relaxed to fly any great distance required a quad (or a tri, thus the reasons things like the DC10 and L1011 where built), but these days you can cover virtually the entire world on a twin, with exception to a bit of airspace over Antartica / very southern pacific / very southern Indian oceans