As A321neo planes start rolling off the Hamburg assembly line, Jetstar hopes they’ll offer a way to expand the route network and improve the passenger journey.
| In a hangar the size of a city block in Hamburg, northern Germany, factory workers are putting the finishing touches on newly minted aircraft.
Then, once that order is complete, it will move on to a fleet of 20 extra-long-range A321neo planes that are on order from 2024.Bringing the A321neos online gives Jetstar a chance to rethink how it serves the region. Passengers may also be able to hear the soundtrack of those films a little better: the new plane is supposedly 50 per cent less noisy.Hosting Australian and Japanese journalists alongside a group of Jetstar engineers and comms people, Airbus was keen to talk up the planes on its customer Jetstar’s behalf.
All up, fuel burn will be reduced 15 per cent – at a time when the cost of jet fuel is one of the drivers of the just-announced Qantas-Jetstar schedule shrinkage. During an 18-day assembly process, the front, back, wings and tail are eventually fitted together like giant pieces of Lego. The planes are then wheeled into another hangar to be painted and fitted out.
Airbus is weighing up a range of possibilities, involving hydrogen combustion engines with turbines, and hydrogen fuel cells powering electric motors. Some prototypes look like normal planes, others have a slightly Star Wars edge.