In his article Airbus A 320 - A Family Affair (November 2007, page 52), Bruce Hales-Dutton, states that the CFM56 variant of the A318 is expected to gain certification later this year. Which year does he mean? I would like to remind him that the Pratt & Whitney PW 6000-powered version was delayed for more than nearly two years due to severe problems with the compressor. This was solved by Pratt & Whitney's partner company, MTU-Munich, which developed a new compressor to cure the problems. The CFM variant was certified in mid-2003, delivery started end of 2003, it made its first flight on December 9, 2004 and delivery started in 2005.
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