Airbus SAS is in final negotiations with suppliers about a reworked version of its bestselling A320 and is poised to unveil a more fuel-efficient version as early as next month, Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier said.
New engines on the A320 would cost 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to 1.5 billion euros, a fraction of the $10 billion a brand new model could reach in development, Bregier said. Airbus has forged preliminary agreements with two engine makers and is talking to suppliers of nacelles that house the engines, landing gear, and other equipment that would need changing, he said.
“If we re-engine, we give the plane another 10 years to live,” Bregier said in an interview in Toulouse, France, where Airbus is based. “We’d sell another 3,000, 4,000 more planes, so it’s worthwhile for us to look seriously at how we can have equipment evolve or change.”
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