![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/A321Wing-of-Tomorrow.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAirbus will begin flight testing of the Wing of Tomorrow in three years. Credit: Airbus.<\/p>\n
\u201cAirbus is launching a new flight-test campaign to evaluate the performance of high-span wings for next-generation single-aisle aircraft, marking the next phase of one of its largest research and technology programs, Wing of Tomorrow,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
There will be a three-year development period before the folding wings are installed on an A321neo for flight testing. Boeing\u2019s 777X has folding tips on the 777X. The Wing of Tomorrow will have 4.5 meters of folding wing. The test flight wings will be fixed but will have the same shape.<\/p>\n
The futuristic wing will be crucial to improving operating efficiency in the next generation single-aisle airplane. Boeing is designing a similar wing.<\/p>\n
However, the timing of Airbus\u2019 move could pose a threat to Boeing. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
Boeing\u2019s recovery depends on the status quo<\/p>\n
Boeing is in the process of recovering from a series of crises since the March 2019 grounding of the 737 MAX, which extended for 21 months. Financial damage from the
Covid-19, the MAX grounding and a 20-month suspension of deliveries of the 787 due to a production flaw cost the company billions of dollars in revenues and cash.<\/p>\n
The long-delayed certifications of the 737-7, 737-10 and 777-9 also have taken their toll. So did a 53-day 2024 strike by the touch-labor union, the IAM 751.<\/p>\n
Boeing flirted with bankruptcy during the strike. It had to raise billions of dollars in debt at the start of the pandemic and another $24bn in equity and debt during the strike. Its long-term debt on Dec. 31, 2018, the last year of normal operations, was $10.8bn. Today, Boeing has about $50bn in long term debt that must be retired.<\/p>\n
Boeing needs uninterrupted cash flow and profits from the 737, 777 and 787 production lines to retire this debt and fund new airplane programs. Analysis by LNA concluded that it will take at least 10 years to repair the balance sheet. Once a new airplane program is announced, sales of the incumbent airplane begin to fade and financial margins shrink. The 737 is Boeing\u2019s cash cow.<\/p>\n
Internally, Boeing doesn\u2019t want a 737 replacement to enter service until 2040. This means a program launch around 2033.<\/p>\n
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury is on record saying that he wants to launch a new program in 2030 with entry into service around 2038. Launching a replacement for the A321neo three years ahead of Boeing\u2019s desire would put pressure on the 737 program, delaying Boeing\u2019s full financial recovery.<\/p>\n
Raising money rather than generating money<\/p>\n
This means Boeing might have to return to the equity and\/or debt markets to fund a replacement program. The latter adds interest expense that must be serviced.<\/p>\n
In the chess game between Airbus and Boeing, there is always a debate of who is the first one to move. The first mover can gain the early sales advantage. This happened with the 787 program.<\/p>\n
However, it could give the second mover the ability to design a slightly better aircraft that out-performs the first mover. While Airbus muffed its 787 response with its answer, an extreme makeover of the A330 to become the first iteration of the A350, there is another key factor in the timing for the replacement of the A320 and 737 families. That\u2019s the engine.<\/p>\n
CFM is placing its bet on the Open Fan RISE engine to power the next generation airplanes. Pratt & Whitney is placing its bet on the Gen 2 GTF engine. Rolls-Royce is betting on its UltraFan30, also a geared turbofan engine.<\/p>\n
GE Aerospace, a 50-50 partner in CFM, claims the RISE will have up to 20% lower fuel consumption than today\u2019s PW GTF and CFM\u2019s LEAP. PW and Rolls acknowledge that the Gen 2 and UltraFan\u2019s fuel consumption improvements will be in the 8%-10% range.<\/p>\n
Choosing the right engine<\/p>\n
Skepticism of the Open Fan on technical and safety reasons remain. CFM claims these concerns have been overcome, but the engine so far is still a computer and floor-testing engine. Flight tests won\u2019t begin until 2029.<\/p>\n
If CFM is right and PW and RR are wrong, the airframer risk choosing the wrong engine if they stick with the geared turbofan. Airbus has been known to favor the Open Fan, but the chief advocate, Christian Scherer, retired this year.<\/p>\n
Boeing is known to be skeptical of the Open Fan but hasn\u2019t ruled it out<\/a>.<\/p>\nIf Airbus moves first with the Open Fan but for whatever reason, the market rejects it, Boeing\u2019s second mover with a geared turbofan engine might prove the better choice. On the other hand, if Boeing decides to stick with the GTF and the Open Fan proves to be a success, then Boeing\u2019s airplane will be at a severe operating cost disadvantage.<\/p>\n
Regardless of these important considerations, if Airbus moves first against a weaker Boeing, the latter\u2019s recovery timeline will be threatened.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open to All Readers For daily Farnborough Air Show coverage, see our media partner AIN here. By Scott…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13021],"tags":[22326,35063,19067,4616,13127],"class_list":["post-54961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-airbus","tag-737-max","tag-a320-737-replacements","tag-a321neo","tag-airbus","tag-wing-of-tomorrow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}