A320neo and A320ceo Differences

The A320ceo and the A320neo are the two engine generations of the Airbus A320 family. "ceo" stands for current engine option and "neo" for new engine option, and the EASA type certificate data sheet (TCDS) EASA.A.064 marks both as commercial designations only: the regulators know each aircraft by its model number. The neo replaces the ceo's CFM56 or IAE V2500 with the CFM LEAP-1A or the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM, and Airbus reworked the parts of the airframe that carry, feed and control the new engines. The sources record no change to the flight deck layout, and the fly-by-wire protections and the type rating carry over.

For a pilot, the change is therefore a matter of differences training, not a new type rating. The FAA Flight Standardization Board (FSB) lists the A319neo, A320neo and A321neo with their ceo counterparts under the single A-320 rating, and the TCDS treats every model, ceo and neo, as the A320 or a variant of it. This article compares the two from the TCDS and its explanatory notes and the draft Revision 7 of the FSB report, with the A319 and A321 where their figures differ. The family as a whole is in A320 family: A318, A319, A320 and A321, the engines in A320 engines and FADEC.

From ceo to neo

EASA certified the first neo, the PW1100G-JM-powered A320-271N, on 24 November 2015, and the first LEAP-1A model, the A320-251N, on 31 May 2016. Every neo model carries an N suffix: A320-251N to -253N and -271N to -273N, with the A319neo and A321neo following the same pattern. The certification basis of the A320neo is that of the A320-200 with modification 160500, the sharklet, amended for the new engines. On the FAA side, the FSB evaluated differences training for the A320 with "neo engines" in October 2015 and assessed the A321neo by analysis in 2017.

EASA's explanatory note (Annex II) lists the areas reopened for the A319neo, A320neo and A321neo:

None of these documents records a change to the cockpit layout. What a ceo pilot meets is new engine indications and limits, new flap angles on some models, higher weights and a handful of certification items.

Engine options: CFM LEAP-1A and PW1100G

The model number fixes the engine:

Across the family's engine lists the middle digit identifies the engine family: 1 for the CFM56, 2 for the A318's PW6000, 3 for the V2500, 5 for the LEAP-1A and 7 for the PW1100G-JM. The TCDS never states this as a rule, but its lists follow it, so an A320-272N is a Pratt & Whitney neo and an A319-151N a LEAP-1A neo. Only the PW1100G-JM is a geared turbofan; the TCDS files it under the IAE heading. Optional ratings rename the engine: alternate climb turns the A320-271N's PW1127G-JM into the PW1127GA-JM and later the PW1127G1C-JM, and an extended corner point turns the A320-251N's LEAP-1A26 into the LEAP-1A26E1. The performance data must match the engine actually fitted.

Engine limits do not carry across. The airframe TCDS refers each neo engine to its own data sheet, EASA.E.110 for the LEAP-1A and EASA.IM.E.093 for the PW1100G-JM. The CFM56-5B values in a ceo FCOM (N1 104 %, N2 105 %, EGT red line 950 °C, oil temperature caution above 140 °C for 15 minutes or 155 °C at once) belong to that engine alone. The FSB requires differences training for different engine makes and models, and that applies between a LEAP-1A and a PW1100G-JM neo too.

Some logic is unchanged. EASA's finding on the neo oil temperature indication describes green digits in the normal range, pulsing green above the steady limit for less than the permitted time, and steady amber beyond that time or above the transient limit, with an amber MASTER CAUTION and a single chime, inhibited in critical phases such as takeoff. The ECAM procedure asks the crew to reduce thrust and to shut the engine down if the temperature cannot be kept below the limit. EASA records that this is the ceo's existing logic; only the values change.

Three installation points matter to crews:

• Fire zones. The LEAP-1A has two designated fire zones, the fan area and the core. On the PW1100G-JM only the core is one: its fan compartment has no fire detection or extinguishing, which EASA accepted because its design and environment protect against a fire starting or spreading.
• Fan cowls. EASA recorded many fan cowl losses on CFM56 and V2500 ceos, usually after latches were left unfastened in maintenance and missed at the walkaround. Its special condition E-45, applied to the A320neo, requires a cowl to stay closed with any single latch improperly fastened and a reliable means of confirming it is secured before each takeoff.
• Fuels. JET B, JP 4, F44, F34 and AVTAG/FSII are on the approved lists for the CFM56 and V2500 but not for the LEAP-1A or PW1100G-JM.

Sharklets and aerodynamics

A sharklet is Airbus's large upswept wingtip device, replacing the small wing-tip fence of the original wing. On the A320ceo it is a modification, MOD 160500 or MOD 160080 for retrofit, available only on the A320-214, -215, -216, -232 and -233; the A319 uses the same numbers and the A321 MOD 160023. A CFM56-5B ceo cannot take the retrofit without the Tech Insertion engine standard (modification 37147 or 38770). A ceo fleet can therefore mix both wingtips.

The TCDS lists no sharklet modification for the neo; instead its certification basis is the sharklet-equipped A320, and the FCOM gives every A320neo the 35.80 m span. Length (37.57 m for the A320) and height are unchanged, so the only dimensional difference is at the wingtips: stands and taxi routes planned for 34.10 m need checking.

Annex II lists what the sharklet modification changed: the center wing box, the outer wing boxes reinforced outboard of rib 12, a new rib 27, the device itself, and strobe and navigation lights installed in the sharklet. EASA certified it under special conditions on static directional and lateral stability, stalling and scheduled operating speeds, static longitudinal stability and low-energy awareness, and design dive speed, with an equivalent safety finding for flight in icing. For the crosswind landing, the FCTM recommends a partial de-crab, keeping a residual crab of up to about 5° in strong crosswinds, precisely to avoid a wingtip, sharklet or nacelle strike from excessive bank. The aerodynamics are in induced drag and wingtip vortices.

System differences

The flight control laws keep their shape. EASA's neo special conditions note that, like the ceo, the neo has high- and low-speed, angle of attack and bank angle protections, and keep load factor limits of +2.5 g to -1 g clean and +2.0 g to 0 g with high lift extended. What changed is the ELAC and autoflight software and the flap deflection. Normal law protections therefore transfer from ceo experience; the A321XLR is the exception, with its own law reconfigurations (see A320 flight control laws and protections).

The A320's CONF FULL is 27/35 (slats/flaps) on the CFM56 ceo and 27/40 with IAE or LEAP-1A engines, a list that covers both neo engines because the TCDS files the PW1100G-JM under IAE. A CFM56 pilot moving to the A320neo therefore lands with more flap; the VFE stays at 177 kt. The A321neo changes more: FULL is 27/34 at 186 kt against 27/25 at 190 kt on the A321ceo, and CONF 1, 1+F and 2 rise from the basic A321ceo's 230, 215 and 205 kt to 238, 225 and 215 kt.

Three of the A320neo's special conditions concern fuel and the engines:

• Ice in fuel (E-37). After the Boeing 777 accident at Heathrow in January 2008 (British Airways Flight 38), in which both engines lost thrust through reduced fuel flow and the investigation found that ice accumulated in the fuel system could be released and restrict the flow, the neo fuel system had to be shown to cope with accumulated water or ice released suddenly, not only with water evenly dispersed in the fuel.
• Low fuel level (F-13). A low-level warning for any tank or collector cell that should not run dry in normal operation, given in time and unaffected by any single failure that could corrupt the normal gauging, with alerts for abnormal fuel management and leaks.
• Fan blade loss (E-55), applied to the CFM models only.

Annex II lists a new engine bleed air system and engine interface unit, but neither the TCDS, its annexes nor the FSB describe a neo-specific change to the air conditioning, electrical or hydraulic systems for the A319neo, A320neo or A321neo; the FCOM of the aircraft flown is the reference there.

Weights, speeds and limitations

Weights are the highest certified values; the AFM weight variant of each aircraft decides what applies.

Landing and zero fuel weights rise on every neo length. The maximum takeoff weight does not always: the A319neo's 75,500 kg is 1,000 kg below the A319ceo's highest, and the A321neo matches the A321ceo at 93,500 kg, with landing and zero fuel weights of 79,200 kg and 75,600 kg against 77,800 kg and 73,800 kg.

Much is common. VMO 350 kt and MMO 0.82, VLE 280 kt or M 0.67, VLO 250 kt for extension and 220 kt for retraction, the 195.5 kt tire limit speed and the 39,100 ft maximum operating altitude (39,800 ft with MOD 30748) are the same on the ceo and the neo. Every A320neo model was found capable of ETOPS, as were the ceos, but that finding is not an approval: the operator still needs its own. See A320 limitations.

Operator differences training and common type rating

Differences training is the instruction a pilot qualified on a base aircraft needs before flying a related one. The FSB grades each difference from Level A, self-instruction such as a manual bulletin, to Level E, a Level C or D full flight simulator or the aircraft, written as training/checking: B/A means aided instruction such as computer-based training, with no differences check. The master differences requirements (MDR) table sets the minimum for each pair of aircraft from the highest level in the item tables (FSB reports and differences training).

For the A320 family, the FSB's Revision 7 draft:

• gives the A318, A319, A320 and A321 the type rating A-320, as related aircraft on one FAA data sheet, A28NM;
• lists common type ratings as not applicable. In FAA usage a common type rating links separate ratings on different type certificates; the ceo and neo need none because they already share one rating;
• requires differences training between the four models and for different engine makes and models;
• sets B/A between any two of the four models, and Level B checking (B/B) for the move to the A321neo ACF or XLR;
• requires no differences checking within the family otherwise, and accepts currency in any model for all.

What the draft does not print is a ceo-to-neo level. Its MDR table works by model, so the A320-to-A320 cell reads "not applicable", and its list of Airbus difference requirement (DR) tables names one for ceo engines, one for the A321neo ACF and one for the XLR, but none for the neo engines. The level and content of a ceo-to-neo course therefore come from the operator's approved program.

In Europe, the 2003 JAA Joint Operational Evaluation Board report, which, as EASA's 2015 transition note records, is deemed to be the family's operational suitability data, gave the A318, A319, A320 and A321 one license endorsement and set B/A/A between them, the third letter meaning that currency is common. It covers the ceo only. Under it, an operator flying more than one variant needs approved operator differences requirements (ODR) tables. The current TCDS refers to the Airbus flight crew data document SA01RP1536744, approved under CS-FCD and required for entry into service with an EU operator, which was not among the sources read for this article.

The Boeing equivalent is described in 737 NG and 737 MAX differences.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.