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.