Jetstar A320 Sharklet Retrofit

[Mackenzie Davis]

VH-VFL which was delivered with fence wingtips has now been seen sporting sharklets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EEJ-MSSp30

Is Jetstar planning to retrofit more of their fleet or was this a one-off?

Cheers,

Macca

[Grahame Hutchison]

This is very new as I shot the aircraft on 31st January without the Sharklets.

http://www.16right.com/Aircraft-Images/displayimage.php?image=VH-VFL D300-20150131-155.jpg

[Oliver Gigacz]

Looks like it was done in Melbourne between the 7th and 12th Feb.

[Chris Z]

Mackenzie

VH-XSJ is the next one being retrofitted.

[Greg Hyde]

From Jetstar Source (can't see the timber for the trees)

Jetstar A320 VH-VFL Returns from Melbourne Maintenance.
12/02/2015
Jetstar A320 VH-VFL, which has been under maintenance at Melbourne since 7th February, returned to service this morning operating JQ733 Melbourne – Launceston. We understand that the aircraft has been fitted with Sharklet winglets but have not yet sighted the aircraft to confirm this.

They must be getting good fuel savings to retrofit the fleet ?

[Terence W]

Looks like it was done in Melbourne between the 7th and 12th Feb.

Do you mean it was completed within 5 days? This video from Airbus says it takes 10 days...

http://youtu.be/eoswy2rIW5U

Seems pretty drastic the amount of cutting and hacking into the wing that needs to be done!

[Chris Z]

VFL, XSJ already had the wing 'Sharklet ready' from the factory. There is only a handful of them in the fleet that will be retrofitted. The costs to mod the older MSNs aren't viable.

[Tom PER]

There is far more work required on the older A32x's to retrofit the sharklet.

On the newer frames like the J* ones mentioned, its a far simplier process as the wing is already reinforced and strenghtened to accomodate the sharklet.

Tigerair Singapore has retrofitted a few newer frames in KL, however Australian Tigerair A320's -VNR and -XUG arrived without them, so confusing.

[Steve S... 2]

So which JQ aircraft are going to be done?

I guess those produced after the sharklet option became available, so am I right to say anything built after that date would have them fitted?

Regards

[Tom PER]

J* Asia have also been busy retrofitting some of their A320's of recent with 9V-JSP and Q done.

I'm not sure of the exact c/n of the first A32x series with the factory structurally reinforced wing but I believe it to be somewhere around the high 52xx or early 53xx frames.

[Andrew Coggan]

So which JQ aircraft are going to be done?

I guess those produced after the sharklet option became available, so am I right to say anything built after that date would have them fitted?

Regards

From what I understand Steve it will just be VFL and XSJ.

[Max C]

http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Airbus/A320/5098,PK-AZE-Indonesia-AirAsia.php

If you look at the entire A32X list, you can see which ones have Sharklets

[Chris Z]

Have heard VFH, I, J & K eventually. And that's it.

[Tom PER]

http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Airbus/A320/5098,PK-AZE-Indonesia-AirAsia.php

If you look at the entire A32X list, you can see which ones have Sharklets

PK-AZD cn 5098 ex F-WWIQ was originally built with wing-tip fences and later retrofitted with sharklets before doing flight testing and Airshow visits etc. Indo Air Asia bought it after it's promo life and converted it to -216 spec, it was built as a -214, they didn't order it from the factory.

The first true production frame was AK's 9M-AQQ cn 5428.