It’s been quite a while that Airbus is thinking and talking about upgrading its A320 family. The A320 family – which includes A318, 319, 320 and 321 – is now 20 years old – the plane flew for the first time in 1987 and is operated by airlines since 1988. Even if it has been upgraded in the past, it has n’t been deeply modified – as the Boeing’s 737 has been with the 737NG (New Generation). Airbus is now seriously thinking about a new A320 NEO (New Engine Option), a new A320 version which will keep the same design – as the 737NG – but will have new engines and sharklets (winglets), and because of that new landing gears, …. (take a look at the Flightglobal’s schema) Airbus doesn’t want to build a brand new aircraft – neither does Boeing – but new competitors are frightening Airbus’ and Boeing’s huge market shares in the small to medium aircraft area. Ejets from Embraer (Brasil) or even Cseries from Bombardier could hurt Boeing and Airbus. Airbus wants to refresh its A320 family – even if apparently the firm would drop the A318 – to compete. New engines and winglets, more modern equipments and a lighter aircrafts would save the A320 family for at least 1 or 2 decades. Even if the performances enhancements that this upgraded family would bring are still not clear yet, Boeing’s 737NG would surely suffer from that initiative. Boeing is now even thinking about launching a brand new aircraft to replace the 737 by around 2020.

That kind of aircraft is crucial to Airbus and Boeing, they’ve both sold a load of them:  4000 + A320s and 6000 + B737s. With new markets emerging – mostly China and India – Boeing and Airbus have to react.

According to Bloomberg, Airbus will take a decision in October 2010.