Airbus will test folding wings on one of its A321neo planes starting in the second half of 2027, the company said at the Farnborough airshow on July 21, 2026. Sue Partridge, the head of Airbus's "Wing of Tomorrow" programme, said the company will add extensions of about four to five metres to an A321neo to test different wing shapes in real flight. "The value of being able to fold the wings is huge," she said. The Guardian

The A321neo is part of the A320 family, the bestselling group of planes in aviation history. Airbus will start building the wing extensions at its factory in Broughton, north Wales. The testing will happen in stages. First, the extensions will be bolted on without any hinges. Later, Airbus will add hinges so the wings can actually fold.

The reason for folding wings is simple. Longer wings help a plane fly more efficiently, saving fuel. But if wings are too long, they do not fit into the parking spaces at airport gates, which are built to a standard width. Folding wingtips let a plane have long wings in the air and still fit on the ground. Boeing has already put folding wingtips on its 777X, a large twin-aisle plane, but the idea has not yet been tried on single-aisle planes, the type that most airlines use around the world.

Partridge said Airbus already has a clear idea of what the next generation of planes will look like. The aircraft will use large engines and wings with a gull-like upward bend for better flying performance. The choice of engine is still open. Airbus is considering a conventional jet engine with a covered housing, or an "open fan" design where the blades are exposed. The open-fan idea could save fuel but would bring new testing and safety challenges.

The engine decision is not Airbus's alone to make, and the clock is ticking for suppliers. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç told reporters at Farnborough that the company has only two years to convince Airbus and Boeing to pick its engines for their next single-aisle planes. Rolls-Royce is offering its UltraFan programme, and Erginbilgiç urged the UK government under new prime minister Andy Burnham to support it. He pointed out that the new chancellor is John Healey, who was previously the defence secretary, suggesting that Rolls-Royce sees the new government's spending and industry policies as important to the programme's future.

Airbus has said it will decide on the design of its new aircraft by 2030. That makes the 2027 flight tests a way to gather information, not a final decision. The wing-extension flights will feed into a larger study that must wrap up within about three and a half years.

The bigger picture here involves competition and the supply chain. Single-aisle planes carry most of the world's passengers, and whatever replaces the current A320 and Boeing 737 models will shape engine, wing, and body choices for decades. Airbus's decision to test folding wings shows it is treating airport gate sizes as a fixed limit to design around, not something airports will change. Boeing's folding wingtips only exist on its larger 777X, so the technology is unproven on single-aisle planes. The company that tests it first gains data and experience that could influence what the whole industry expects from future designs.

On engines, Erginbilgiç's two-year deadline is real. Engines take years to develop before a plane ever carries passengers, so Airbus and Boeing need to pick an engine design soon enough to allow for testing and safety approval. Rolls-Royce's call for government support suggests it needs public funding to compete with CFM International and Pratt & Whitney, the two companies that currently dominate the single-aisle engine market. The political side, with a new UK government, adds a factor that is still unresolved.