Archive: https://archive.today/gGX1h From the post: >>Airbus is to test a radical engine with visible fan blades as the world’s largest plane maker gears up to develop a successor for its best-selling A320 family of jets. The European aerospace and defence group said test flights of a demonstrator of the “open fan” engine would take place on a modified A380 superjumbo towards the end of this decade. The flights will inform an eventual decision on how best to power the next generation of single-aisle aircraft that will succeed the A320 aircraft when they come on the market towards the end of the 2030s.