Hexcel congratulates Airbus on the A320neo maiden flight

Hexcel Corporation congratulates Airbus on the successful maiden flight of the A320neo today. The A320neo, which stands for new engine option, took off from Toulouse at 12:00 noon local time and landed back at the Blagnac airport over two hours later.

The A320neo makes extensive use of weight-saving composites supplied by Hexcel. In addition to the HexPly® carbon fiber prepregs and HexWeb® honeycombs that Hexcel has been supplying to Airbus since the A320 was launched, the A320neo benefits from wing tip devices called Sharklets made from Hexcel's HexPly® M21E/IMA – the same prepreg that Airbus is using to manufacture all of the composite primary structures on the A350 XWB.

The PW1100G-JM PurePower engines from Pratt & Whitney that powered the maiden flight benefit from Hexcel's HexWeb® engineered core assemblies. Hexcel also supplies engineered core and HexPly® 8552 prepreg using HexTow® carbon fiber for the nacelles.