On April 20, 1989, the V2500-powered Airbus Industrie A320-200 aircraft was certified on schedule by the airworthiness authorities of France, Great Britain. The Netherlands and West Germany. On July 6, 1989, the aircraft was certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
These certificates culminated a virtually flawless certification program carried out by Airbus Industrie during which there was not a single engine-caused delay in eight months' flying. This was a remarkable technical achievement by International Aero Engines (IAE), a new five-nation consortium of aero engine companies in Europe, Japan and the U.S.A.
This paper looks back at the five year development of the V2500 from paper engine to airline service, and provides a status of the V2500 product line as IAE focuses on initial airline service, further product improvement and future applications.