Safran suspends electric jet taxiing project after Airbus ends talks
03/12/2019 21:25
SACLAY, France, Dec 3 (Reuters) - France's Safran SA
SAF.PA has shelved plans to install an electric taxiing system
on Airbus AIR.PA A320 jets after the planemaker halted
discussions on the project, it chief executive said.
The system relies on electric motors embedded in landing
gear to allow planes to push back and taxi without their jet
engines running - saving fuel, curbing emissions and ending
last-minute delays while waiting for airport tugs.
Several such projects emerged during a spike in oil prices
earlier this decade and have come to the fore again due to
pressure to reduce emissions, but development has been hindered
by weaker oil prices and shifts in jet flying patterns.
Safran acknowledges the system would be uneconomic for long
flights because those jets do not spend enough time taxiing to
justify carrying the motors, which weigh some 400 kg (882 lb).
But for planes doing six or seven short trips a day and
looking to cut extra minutes off turnaround times, the benefits
could be worth 4% in lower fuel consumption, the French company
said.
Analysts say the trend in single-aisle jets like the A320
has recently, however, been towards longer flights enabled by
design improvements.
Safran Chief Executive Philippe Petitcolin said he was
"surprised and disappointed" by the Airbus decision, which
emerged weeks after Air India became the first airline to use a
rival system called TaxiBot, developed by a unit of Israel
Aerospace Industries ISRAI.UL .
"We offered various forms of partnership (to Airbus)," he
told reporters.
An Airbus spokesman said the system did not offer enough
technical maturity and performance "in its current form."
Airbus continues to explore ways to curb emissions, he added.
Safran had previously worked with Honeywell International
Inc HON.N on a similar product for Boeing 737 jets but they
parted ways due to problems adapting it to the wheels of the
slightly smaller airplane.
Wheeltug, a unit of Borealis Exploration Ltd BOREF.PK ,
said in September it had reached agreement with an unidentified
party to support Wheeltug, a system allowing the Boeing 737 to
taxi forwards and backwards using a motor in the nosewheel.
As part of a wider technology drive, Safran is studying
longer-term autonomous systems that could take over a pilot's
job of taxiing or ease the workload so that only one pilot is
engaged, Safran researchers said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Richard Chang)
((tim.hepher@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 54 52; Reuters
Messaging: tim.hepher.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))