Airbus A319LR

[Hobbes]

About 20 years ago, a debate was raging among airlines: what would be the best model for airline operations, a hub-and-spoke model with few, high-capacity flights connecting the hubs to each other, or direct flights between destinations. Some airlines went for the hub-and-spoke model, ordering Boeing 747 and Airbus 380.
British Airways opted for a direct flight strategy, citing a long history of direct flights among its predecessors, e.g. on the Empire routes. While some routes could be serviced with existing airliners, there were some routes for which demand was insufficient to fill widebody jets like the Airbus A330/340 and Boeing 777. So BA published a request for proposals for an airliner that could do non-stop flights to any BA destination with a smaller number of passengers.


At the time, an internal memo was circulated in the Airbus design offices with the title, 'an application of the Spackman theorem in three dimensions'. In it, an engineer pointed out they'd be able to satisfy the BA requirement with a combination of existing parts: the Airbus 320-series fuselages and the A300 wing. This would almost triple the fuel capacity of the A320 (from 24000 to 68000 litres), while the larger wing would enable cruising at higher altitudes, reducing fuel consumption to offset the extra drag from the added wing area.

Simulations showed the idea was viable, so Airbus set to developing long-range variants of the Airbus 320 range, designed to be able to fly London-Auckland without refueling stops.
The A319LR would use engines and landing gear already certified for the A321. A new, more powerful variant of the V2500 and heavier landing gear were necessary for the A321. BA ordered both variants.

These long-range variants also became popular for 'hot and high' airports, as the huge wing area enabled short take-off and landing runs. Corporate users also liked the LR versions.







The model is a combination of Revell A319 and A300 Beluga parts.

[Thorvic]

Brilliant, I thought it was a real project till I spotted the engineering report reference   

[JayBee]

A truly wonderful idea and model.
I await the response from engineer Spakman although it may be some time coming. I suspect he will be so filled with paroxysms of delight over this design with big wings and a civil airliner, that he may not be able to reply for some time.

[Rheged]

A truly wonderful idea and model.
I await the response from engineer Spakman although it may be some time coming. I suspect he will be so filled with paroxysms of delight over this design with big wings and a civil airliner, that he may not be able to reply for some time.

Mr Spackman lives just over the Severn bridges from Bristol, where Airbus have a large presence.  Perhaps this isn't what if, but what will be!

[Dizzyfugu]

Subtle. 

beyond BA, another potential operator could be "PrivatAir" (Yes, it's really called that!). They operate modified Boeing 737s and 757s and Airbus 319s for transatlantic business flights from Frankfurt and sometimes from Düsseldorf. Livery is pretty simple and modeler-friendly:

[NARSES2]

Nice one Harro 

[PR19_Kit]

At the time, an internal memo was circulated in the Airbus design offices with the title, 'an application of the Spackman theorem in three dimensions'.

Hehehe, I LOVE it! 

And the model looks awesome, they could get that off runway 27R at Heathrow before it reached the 2nd entry ramp!

Great work Harro.