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| Picture: Courtsey of Joe Heeney |
Lufthansa’s first Airbus A320 equipped with Sharklets D-AIZP A320-214(WL) c/n 5457 was delivered Hamburg Finkenwerder to Frankfurt on 1st March, becoming the first European carrier to benefit from the fuel saving wing-tip devices and is due to receive a further 21 Airbus A320 Family aircraft equipped with Sharklets by 2015.
The aircraft paid it’s first visit to Dublin on Monday 11th March operating DLH982 from Frankfurt and departed several hours later than schedule on Tuesday 12th March operating DLH983 at 0845 due to adverse weather conditions in Frankfurt. Lufthansa plans to use the aircraft on longer European routes so they should become a familiar sight in Dublin Airport.
Sharklets are made from light-weight composites and are 2.4 meters tall. They are an option on new-build A320 Family aircraft and standard on all members of the new A320neo family. They offer operators up to 4% fuel-burn reduction on longer range sectors and provide the flexibility of either adding an additional 100 nautical miles range or increased payload capability of up to 450 kilograms.
Airbus has delivered A320 Sharklets to Air Arabia, Air Asia, Avianca, Cebu Pacific, GoAir, Jetstar Japan and JetBlue Airways signed a contract to refit its fleet with Sharklets.
Things with Wings Commercial Aviation Blog quoted Airbus COO John Leahy plans to deliver all new Airbus A320s from 2014-15 will be fitted with Sharklets as standard.
In Summer 2013 Lufthansa will operate 27 weekly flights from Ireland: Dublin to Dusseldorf service twice a week on a Saturday and Sunday and Frankfurt 21 times weekly and Munich three times weekly on Wednesday, Saturdays and Sundays and Ireland West Airport to Dusseldorf weekly on Saturdays.
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 13th March 2013 All Rights Reserved.
