In the future a new floor panel type will withstand special loads in the cargo compartments of American Airlines’ A321 fleet.
It took only seven months from design at Airbus to acceptance by the airline. A cross-functional team by Airbus, Elbe Flugzeugwerke (floor panel manufacturer) and Testia got to work together to meet this ambitious schedule.
In this frame, Testia determined the floor panel’s impact values under laboratory conditions, i.e. the resistance values to penetrating objects, to meet American Airlines’ specifications. The floor panels of the A321 cargo compartments were to become more robust and the floor panel’s impact values were to be more than doubled. Background: the generally shorter turnarounds and ground times at North American airports involve more frequent loading and unloading of the cargo holds, resulting in higher wear and tear.
The first American Airlines’ A321 with this more robust cargo compartment floor will be delivered by Airbus and Testia to the customer in spring.
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