PICTURE: Airbus flies first sharklet-equipped A321..

[Smudger98]

Picture @ -
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/picture-airbus-flies-first-sharklet-equipped-a321-377965/

Airbus has performed the first flight of a sharklet-equipped A321 as it begins a test campaign of the wing-tip modification on the largest member of its narrowbody family.

The aircraft performed a ferry flight from Airbus's Hamburg facility to its Toulouse plant on 23 October.

Flight testing on the modified A320 has been completed, with EASA certification of the CFM International CFM56-powered variant due in November. Approval of the modification on the International Aero Engines V2500-powered A320 will follow in December.
The airframer expects certification of the fuel-saving modification on the A321 in mid-2013, with the smaller A319 following later next year.