The first A321neo equipped with CFM International LEAP-1A engines completed its maiden flight on February 9th from Hamburg, Germany.

The aircraft, registration D-AVXB, was flown by Experimental Test Pilots Martin Scheuermann and Bernardo Saez Benito Hernandez. Accompanying them in the cockpit was Test-Flight Engineer Gérard Leskerpit and monitoring the flight’s progress were Flight-Test Engineers Sandra Bour Schaeffer and Emiliano Requena Esteban.

The flight lasted five hours and 29 minutes during which tests were performed on the engine speed variation (low/high), systems behaviour and to validate the aircraft’s flight envelope.

The A321neo will join the NEO flight test fleet and perform a partial flight tes tprogramme to validate the impact on handling qualities, performance and systems. The first A321neo will be delivered at the end of 2016.