EASA issues Type Certificate to Airbus A321XLR: how we certified a design novelty

Image COLOGNE, July 19, 2024 – The award to Airbus of a Type Certificate for the A 321 XLR marks the end of a certification process for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency that lasted more than five years. Airbus’s aim for the new model was to offer a narrowbody aircraft which has additional fuel capacity and so is suited to long-haul flights. Airbus proposed to build in a new fuel tank, known as the Rear Central Tank or RCT. The proposal was classified as a major significant change, based on the closest derivative aircraft, the A 321 Neo. The RCT represented a novel unusual design, that was not fully covered by the existing CS-25 certification specifications, the main technical requirements that have to be complied with in the certification of large commercial aircraft. EASA’s approach in such a situation is to lay down what is known as Special Conditions to address any gaps or inadequacies in CS-25. The special condition defines safety standards which any manufacturer wishing to adopt this type of change would have to meet to achieve certification approval, without prescribing exactly how they should achieve this.“The aim of every action taken by EASA is to ensure that the aircraft is safe,” said EASA Executive Director Florian Guillermet. “Our requirements can be quite stringent and pose significant challenges to the manufacturer, in this case Airbus. But we have a truly common aim of ensuring safety.”In this case, the safety challenge was posed by the addition of...