Airbus A321neo Completes First Flight

Airbus completed the first flight of the A321neo on Tuesday, making the trip using engines supplied by CFM International after a last-minute switch from turbines supplied by Pratt & Whitney.

The A321neo took off from Hamburg and landed five and a half hours later, Airbus said.

The switch to CFM LEAP-1A engines comes after a problem emerged with the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engine that required extra time for cooling before restarting under some circumstances.

Airbus declined to comment on the reason for switching to CFM engines for the initial A321neo flight, but industry experts considered the move unusual because the Pratt-engined version of the A321neo is due to enter service before the CFM version.

Airbus said there's no change in plans for delivery, with the Pratt-equipped A321neo still expected to reach customers at the end of 2016, and the CFM-equipped version in early 2017.

Pratt& Whitney noted that its Geared Turbofan is already carrying passengers on the smaller Airbus A320neo aircraft, the first of which was delivered to Lufthansa last month. The engine has met all of its performance targets, Pratt said.