By Deirdre Robert
Posted on Feb. 2, 2011. Listed in:
Air New Zealand’s new A320 Airbus made its official arrival yesterday afternoon when it touched down in Auckland after a three day journey from the home base of manufacturer Airbus in Toulouse (France), via Gander (Canada), Denver, Los Angeles and Samoa. And while it ticked the aesthetics box with its jet black livery, silver fern motif and Koru on the tail, there’s another design feature which edges the airline a little closer to ticking the environmental box. It’s a little something Airbus320 makers like to call a “Sharklet” because of its resemblance to a shark’s fin.
In an announcement made at the 2009 Dubai Airshow, Airbus chief operating officer for customers John Leahy discussed the benefits of Sharklets on the new A320’s. The large wingtip devices are designed specifically to lower fuel burn, lower emissions, enhance the payload-range performance and create a better take off performance. Leahy said the current A320’s already feature devices called winglets, which are wing tip fences that, Leahy said, improve fuel economy by about 1 percent.
At that same announcement in Dubai, Air New Zealand was named as the launch customer of the new A320. Air New Zealand’s chief executive Rob Fyfe made an appearance by video as part of the announcement, saying Sharklets will add an estimated 3.5 percent improvement in fuel efficiency.
“This was a key driver of our decision to move to the A320,” said Fyfe, adding that Air New Zealand is always looks to improve its environmental impact by way of its aircrafts and how they operate across its network.
The 3.5 percent reduction in fuel consumption is expected to save fuel costs of about $281,500 annually per plane, with CO2 emissions to reduce by about 700 tonnes per year.
The Sharklets have a height of 2.4 metres and weigh 200 kg when installed. All of this is offset by weight savings being introduced throughout the A320 Family airframe.
The new A320’s will gradually replace Air New Zealand’s existing fleet of Boeing 737-300’s.
You seem to be confused by the spelling of these fuel saving devices: Sharklets, Sharkelts or Sharlkets are all used!!!
Written in February 2011