Airbus/AVIC AE31X

Type (Muster)
Short/medium-range airliner (Kurz- und Mittelstrecken-Verkehrsflugzeug)

Country (Land)
China, France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy

Manufacturer (Hersteller)
Airbus Industrie Asia
1, Rond Pont Maurice Bellonte
F-31707 Blagnac
France
Phone: 0033-5/61933333
Fax: 0033-5/61933792

AVIC (Aviation Industries of China)
PO Box 33
Beijing 100712
China
Phone: 86-10/401-9360
Fax: 86-10/401-3648

Airbus partners are Aérospatiale, British Aerospace, CASA and Dasa. Also, Alenia was involved in this programme.

General (Allgemeine Angaben)
Crew (Besatzung): 2
Passengers (Passagiere):
- AE316: 95 in two-class arrangement, 105 maximum
- AE317: 115 in two-class arrangement, 125 maximum

Power plant (Antrieb): 2 x turbofans. Bids were expected from BMW Rolls-Royce (BR715), CFM International (CFM56-9) and Pratt & Whitney (PW6000)
Thrust (Schub): 77,8 to 84,6 kN for AE 316, up to 91,2 kN for AE317

Dimensions (Abmessungen)
Length (Länge): 31,3 m or 34,5 m (A317)
Height (Höhe): 10,4 m
Span (Spannweite): 31,0 m

Cabin width (Kabinenbreite): 3,09 m
Cabin height (Kabinenhöhe): 2,11 m

Weights (Massen)
Operating weight empty (Leermasse). 29800 kg (AE316), 29870 kg(AE316HGW), 31450 kg (AE317), 31520 kg (AE317HGW)
Payload (Nutzlast): 10550 kg or 11450 kg for the A317
Mac. fuel (max. Kraftstoffkapazität): 22000 l
Max. zero fuel weight (Max. Masse ohne Kraftstoff): 42750 kg (AE316), 42820 kg (AE316HGW), 47260 kg (AE317), 47330 (AE317HGW)
Max. take-off weight (Max. Startmasse): 49900 kg (AE316), 53300 kg
(AE316HGW), 54200 kg (AE317) and 5800 kg (AE317HGW)
Max. landing weight (max. Landemasse): 46400 kg (AE316) or 50400 kg
(AE317)

Performance (Flugleistungen)
Take-off distance (Startstrecke): 1525 to 1775 m, depending on weight
Landing distance (Landestrecke): 1220 m to 1400 m
Range (Reichweite): 3700 km (AE316/AE317) or 5200 km in AE316HGW-version and maximum 5800 km in AE317HGW

Customers (Kunden)
None. A launch decision was expected for early 1999. Projected market in this class is 3000 airplanes over a 20 year period.

Costs (Kosten)
Development costs were expected to be 1,7 to 2 billion US-Dollars. Airbus claimed a 10 per cent seat-cost advantage over the Boeing 737-600. Sticker price should have been below 20 million US-Dollars, to satisfy strong airline pressure.

Competition (Konkurrenz)
Boeing 717-200 (previously known as McDonnell Douglas MD-95)

Remarks (Bemerkungen)
On May 15, 1997, Airbus Industrie Asia, AVIC and Singapore Technologies signed a framework agreement for the development of a new 100 seat airliner family, variously known as the AE100 or AE31X. Preliminary design should have started early in 1998, with full scale development following in 1999. A first flight was predicted for mid-2002 and entry into service in mid-2003. Final assembly was planned in China (at Xian Aircraft), managed by a new joint-venture company to be set up, with AVIC holding 46 per cent, Airbus Industrie Asia 39 per cent (Alenia gets 38 per cent of AIA), and Singapore 15 per cent.
Since that agreement, negotiations between the parties involved have dragged on without concrete results, and by early July 1998 it was widely reported that the whole programme will be abandoned as recent reviews failed to show a sufficiently convincing business case. Also, problems regarding the level of technology transfer and specifications were apparently never fully resolved. Singapore had already pulled out at the beginning of the year.
On September 3, 1998, the programme was finally officially abandoned. An Airbus press release stated that "the four partners have made an in-depth viability assessment of such a new aircraft and have jointly concluded that no solid common basis was found for further developing this new aircraft. The experience gained by AVIC and Airbus Industrie in working together on various projects has permitted the definition of the criteria for successful future industrial cooperation. AVIC and Airbus Industrie have therefore agreed to develop their cooperation discussing a new project."
Airbus, meanwhile, took the opportunity of the Farnborough Air Show a few days later to announce that it is now offering the A318 (previously studied under the A319M5 label) for this market segment. This is a short-body version of the A320 family of airliners, with a switch to PW6000 powerplants.

Last updated 11 September 1998

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