title: Billie Jean King

text: King did not lose again until mid-August, winning six consecutive tournaments. She won the tournaments in Tucson and Indianapolis. King then won the French Open without losing a set and completed a career Grand Slam. She defeated Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals, Helga Niessen Masthoff in the semi-finals, and Goolagong in the final. On grass, King then won the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments in Nottingham and Bristol and won Wimbledon itself for the fourth time. She lost only one set during the tournament, to Wade in the quarterfinals. That was followed by straight set wins over Rosemary Casals and Goolagong. When the tour returned to the United States, King did not win any of the three tournaments she played before the US Open, including a straight sets loss to Margaret Court in Newport. At the US Open, however, King won the tournament without losing a set, including a quarterfinal win over Wade, a semi-final defeat of Court, and a final win over Kerry Melville Reid. King finished the year by winning the tournaments in Charlotte and Phoenix (defeating Court in the final of both), a runner-up finish in Oakland (losing to Court), and a semifinal finish at the year-end championships in Boca Raton (losing to Evert).


title: Billie Jean King

text: 1973 was Margaret Court's turn to win three Grand Slam singles titles, failing to win only Wimbledon, and was the clear world No. 1 for the year; this was her first full season since winning the Grand Slam in 1970, as she had missed significant portions of 1971 and 1972 due to childbirth. As during the previous year, King started 1973 inconsistently. She missed the first three Virginia Slims tournaments in January because of a wrist injury. She then lost in the third round at the Virginia Slims of Miami tournament but won the Virginia Slims of Indianapolis tournament, defeating Court in the semi-finals 6–7, 7–6, 6–3 and Rosemary Casals in the final. The semi-final victory ended Court's 12-tournament and 59-match winning streaks, with King saving at least three match points when down 5–4 (40–0) in the second set. Indianapolis was followed by five tournaments that King failed to win (Detroit, Boston, Chicago, Jacksonville, and the inaugural Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head, South Carolina). King lost to Court in two of those tournaments. After deciding not to defend her French Open singles title, King won four consecutive tournaments, including her fifth Wimbledon singles title when she defeated Kerry Melville Reid in the quarterfinals, Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals on her eighth match point, and Chris Evert in the final. King lost only nine points in the 6–0 bageling of Evert in the first set of their final.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King also completed the Triple Crown at Wimbledon (winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles in the same year), thus becoming the first, and only, player to do so at Wimbledon in the Open Era. In none of the preceding tournaments, however, did King play Court. Their rivalry resumed in the final of the Virginia Slims of Nashville tournament, where Court won for the third time in four matches against King in 1973. (This was the last ever singles match between those players, with Court winning 21 and King 13 of their 34 matches.) Three weeks later at the US Open, King retired from her fourth-round match with Julie Heldman while ill and suffering from the oppressive heat and humidity. When Heldman complained to the match umpire that King was taking too long between games, King reportedly told Heldman, "If you want the match that badly, you can have it!" The Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs was held in the middle of the Virginia Slims of Houston tournament. King won her first and second round matches three days before playing Riggs, defeated Riggs, won her quarterfinal match the day after the Riggs match, and then lost the following day to Casals in the semifinals 7–6, 6–1. According to King, "I had nothing left to give." To end the year, King won tournaments in Phoenix, Hawaii, and Tokyo and was the runner-up in Baltimore.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Riggs had been a top men's player in the 1930s and 1940s in both the amateur and professional ranks. He won the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1939, and was considered the World No. 1 male tennis player for 1941, 1946, and 1947. He then became a self-described tennis "hustler" who played in promotional challenge matches. Claiming that the women's game was so inferior to the men's game that even a 55-year-old like himself could beat the current top female players, he challenged and defeated Margaret Court 6–2, 6–1. King, who previously had rejected challenges from Riggs, then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him for $100,000, winner-take-all.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Dubbed "the Battle of the Sexes", the Riggs-King match took place at the Houston Astrodome in Texas on September 20, 1973. The match garnered huge publicity. In front of 30,492 spectators and a television audience estimated at 50 million people (U.S.), and 90 million in 37 countries, 29-year-old King beat the 55-year-old Riggs 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. The match is considered a significant event in developing greater recognition and respect for women's tennis. King said, "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match. It would ruin the women's tour and affect all women's self-esteem," and that "To beat a 55-year-old guy was no thrill for me. The thrill was exposing a lot of new people to tennis."


title: Billie Jean King

text: King won five of the first seven tournaments she contested in 1974. She won the Virginia Slims of San Francisco, defeating Nancy Richey Gunter in the semi-finals and Chris Evert in the final. The following week in Indian Wells, California, King again defeated Gunter in the semi-finals but lost to Evert in the final. King then won tournaments in Fairfax, Virginia and Detroit before losing a semi-final match to Virginia Wade in Chicago. King won both tournaments she played in March, defeating Gunter in the Akron, Ohio final and Evert at the U.S. Indoor Championships final. Olga Morozova then upset King in her next two tournaments, at Philadelphia in the final and at Wimbledon in a quarterfinal 7–5, 6–2. Afterward, King did not play a tour match until the US Open, where she won her fourth singles title and third in the last four years. She defeated Rosemary Casals in a straight sets quarterfinal, avenged in the semi-finals her previous year's loss to Julie Heldman, and narrowly defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final. King did not reach a tournament final during the remainder of the year, losing to Heldman in an Orlando semi-final, Wade in a Phoenix semi-final, and Goolagong in a semi-final of the tour-ending Virginia Slims Championships in Los Angeles.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 1975, King played singles only half the year, as she retired (temporarily, as it turned out) from tournament singles competition immediately after winning her sixth Wimbledon singles title.


title: Billie Jean King

text: She began the year in San Francisco, defeating Françoise Dürr and Virginia Wade before losing to Chris Evert in the final. The following week, King won the Sarasota, Florida tournament, defeating Evert in the final 6–3, 6–2. Evert said immediately after the final, which was her thirteenth career match with King, "I think that's the best that Billie Jean has ever played. I hit some great shots but they just kept coming back at me." Looking back at that match, King said, "I probably played so well because I had to, for the money. Out of frustration comes creativity. Right?" Two months later, Wade defeated King in the semi-finals of the Philadelphia tournament. At the Austin, Texas tournament in April, King defeated Evonne Goolagong 6–1, 6–3 before losing to Evert in the final. As King was serving for the match at 6–5 in the third set, a disputed line call went in Evert's favor. King said after the match that she was cheated out of the match and that she had never been angrier about a match.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King played only one of the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments, defeating Olga Morozova in the Eastbourne semi-finals before losing to Wade in the final. Seeded third at Wimbledon, King defeated seventh seeded Morozova in the quarterfinals (6–3, 6–3) and then top seeded Evert in the semi-finals (2–6, 6–2, 6–3) after being down 3–0 (40–15) in the final set. Evert blamed her semifinal defeat on a loss of concentration when she saw Jimmy Connors, her former fiancé, escorting Susan George into Centre Court. King, however, believes that the match turned around because King planned for and totally prepared for Wimbledon that year and told herself when she was on the verge of defeat, "Hey, Billie Jean, this is ridiculous. You paid the price. For once, you looked ahead. You're supposed to win. Get your bahoola in gear." King then defeated fourth seeded Goolagong Cawley in the second most lopsided women's final ever at Wimbledon (6–0, 6–1). King called her performance a "near perfect match" and said to the news media, "I'm never coming back."


title: Billie Jean King

text: Except for five Federation Cup singles matches that she won in straight sets in August, King played only in doubles and mixed doubles events from January through September. She partnered Phil Dent to the mixed doubles title at the US Open. She lost to Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat in both of the singles tournaments she played the remainder of the year. Looking back, King said, "I wasted 1976. After watching Chris Evert and Evonne [Goolagong] Cawley play the final at Wimbledon I asked myself what I was doing. So, despite my age and the operations, the Old Lady came back..." King had knee surgery for the third time on November 9, this time on her right knee, and did not play the remainder of the year.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King spent the first three months of the year rehabilitating her right knee after surgery in November 1976.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In March 1977, King requested that the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) exercise its right to grant a wild card entry to King for the eight-player Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Margaret Court, who finished in sixth place on the Virginia Slims points list, failed to qualify for the tournament because she did not play enough Virginia Slims tournaments leading up to the championships. This left a spot open in the draw, which the WTA filled with Mima Jaušovec. King then decided to play the Lionel Cup tournament in San Antonio, Texas, which the WTA harshly criticized because tournament officials there had allowed Renée Richards, a transgender athlete, to enter. Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Betty Stöve (president of the WTA) criticized King's decision because of Richards's unresolved and highly controversial status on the women's tennis tour. Evert said she was disappointed with King and that until Richards's status was resolved, "all of the women should stick together." Navratilova said, "Billie Jean is a bad girl pouting. She made a bad decision. She's mad because she could not get what she wanted." Stöve said that if King had wanted the competition, "[T]here are plenty of men around here she could've played with. She didn't have to choose a 'disputed' tournament." The draw in San Antonio called for King to play Richards in the semi-finals had form held; however, Richards lost in the quarterfinals. King eventually won the tournament.


title: Billie Jean King

text: At the clay court Family Circle Cup in late March, King played for the last time her long-time rival Nancy Richey Gunter in the first round. King won 0–6, 7–6, 6–2. She defeated another clay court specialist, Virginia Ruzici, in the second round before winning only one game from Evert in the final.


title: Billie Jean King

text: At Wimbledon in the third round, King played Maria Bueno for the last time, with King winning 6–2, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, Evert defeated King for the first time at a Grand Slam singles tournament and for the first time on grass 6–1, 6–2 in just 46 minutes. Evert said it was the best match she had ever played on grass up to that point in her career, and King said, "No excuses. Let's forget knees, ankles, toes, everything else. She just played beautiful tennis. I don't think many players would've beaten her today." King also said after the match, "Maybe I can be happy being number eight instead of number one. At this stage, just playing, that's winning enough for me." But when asked about retirement, King said, "Retire? Quit tournament tennis? You gotta be kidding. It just means I've got a lot more work. I've got to make myself match tough ... mentally as well as physically. I gotta go out and kill myself for the next six months. It's a long, arduous process. I will suffer. But I will be back." There was a small historic note at Wimbledon 1977 in that it was the first time ever that King competed at the championships that she did not reach a final. From her debut in 1961 until 1976, she had played in the final of one of the three championship events for women every year. Perhaps there was irony in this in that as the Wimbledon champion with the most titles in its history, the event was celebrating its centenary in the year King failed to make a final for the first time. The only other years she competed at the championship and did not feature in a final were 1980 and 1982. In her entire Wimbledon career of 22 competitions, King never failed to be a semi-finalist in at least one event every year.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Evert repeated her Wimbledon quarterfinal victory over King at the clay court US Open, winning 6–2, 6–0. This loss prompted King to say, "I better get it together by October or November or that's it. I'll have to make some big decisions. I'm not 20-years-old and I can't just go out and change my game. It's only the last four weeks I haven't been in [knee] pain. [But if] I keep using that as a copout, I shouldn't play."


title: Billie Jean King

text: The remainder of the year, King's win–loss record was 31–3, losing only to Evert, Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat, and Michelle Tyler. King won five of the eight tournaments she entered plus both of her Wightman Cup matches. She defeated Navratilova all four times they played, including three times in three consecutive weeks, and beat Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade twice. Beginning September 26, King played seven consecutive weeks. She lost to Tyler in the second round in Palm Harbor, Florida and Fromholtz Balestrat in the semi-finals in Atlanta. She then won three hard court tournaments in three consecutive weeks. She defeated Navratilova and Wendy Turnbull to win in Phoenix, losing only four points to Turnbull in the third set of the final. The next week, she defeated Navratilova, Fromholtz Balestrat, and Wimbledon runner-up Stöve to win in São Paulo. The third week, she defeated Ruzici, Stöve, and Janet Newberry Wright to win in San Juan. In November, Evert snapped King's 18-match winning streak in the final of the Colgate Series Championships in Mission Hills, California. King then won her Wightman Cup matches, defeated Navratilova to win the tournament in Japan, and beat Wade to win the Bremar Cup in London. King said, "I have never had a run like this, even in the years when I was Wimbledon champion. At 34, I feel fitter than when I was 24."


title: Billie Jean King

text: King played ten singles tournaments during the first half of 1978, limiting herself to doubles after Wimbledon.


title: Billie Jean King

text: To start the year, King was the runner-up in Houston and Kansas City (losing to Martina Navratilova in both) and in Philadelphia (losing to Chris Evert). At the Virginia Slims Championships, King lost her first round robin match to Virginia Wade and defaulted her two remaining round robin matches because of a leg injury sustained during the first match.


title: Billie Jean King

text: At Wimbledon, King played with a painful heel spur in her left foot and lost to Evert in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. The match was on-serve in the third set with King serving at 2–3 (40–0) before Evert won five consecutive points to break serve. King won a total of only two points during the last two games. King said after the match, "I don't think my mobility is very good and that's what I need to beat her. Physically, she [Evert] tears your guts apart unless you can stay with her. I'm really disappointed. I really wanted to play well. I just couldn't cut it because of my heel." King and her partner Ray Ruffels lost in the final of mixed doubles in straight sets.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King teamed with Navratilova to win the women's doubles title at the US Open, King's fourth women's doubles title at that tournament and fourteenth Grand Slam women's doubles title overall. To end the year, King was undefeated in five doubles matches (four with Evert and one with Rosemary Casals) as the U.S. won the Federation Cup in Melbourne, Australia. She also teamed with Tracy Austin in the 1978 Wightman Cup against Great Britain, beating Anne Hobbs & Sue Mappin in the best of seven rubbers, despite the US losing the Cup 3–4. During the Federation Cup competition, King hinted at retirement from future major singles competitions and said that she was "sick and tired of continued surgery" in trying to get fit enough for those events. Nevertheless, King had foot surgery on December 22 in an attempt to regain mobility for a return to the tennis tour.


title: Billie Jean King

text: During the first half of 1979, King played only one event – doubles in the Federation Cup tie against Spain – because of major surgery to her left foot during December 1978.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King returned to singles competition at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Chichester. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova, in a 48-minute quarterfinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 10–8. Seeded seventh at Wimbledon, King defeated Hana Mandlíková in the fourth round before losing the last six games of the quarterfinal match with fourth-seeded Tracy Austin 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–2. King partnered with Navratilova at Wimbledon to win King's 20th and final Wimbledon title, breaking Elizabeth Ryan's longstanding record of 19 Wimbledon titles just one day after Ryan collapsed and died at Wimbledon.


title: Billie Jean King

text: At the US Open, the ninth-seeded King reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set, where she upset the fourth-seeded Virginia Wade 6–3, 7–6(4). Next up was a semi-final match with the four-time defending champion and top-seeded Chris Evert; however, with King hampered by a neck injury sustained during a bear hug with a friend the day before the match, Evert won 6–1, 6–0, including the last eleven games and 48 of the last 63 points. This was Evert's eighth consecutive win over King, with Evert during those matches losing only one set and 31 games and winning four 6–0 sets. Evert said after the match, "Psychologically, I feel very confident when I ... play her."


title: Billie Jean King

text: The following week in Tokyo, King won her first singles title in almost two years, defeating Goolagong Cawley in the final. In November in Stockholm, King defeated Betty Stöve in the final after Stöve lost her concentration while serving for the match at 5–4 in the third set. Three weeks later in Brighton, King lost a semi-final match with Navratilova 7–5, 0–6, 7–6(3) after King led 6–5 in the third set. She ended the year with a quarterfinal loss in Melbourne (not the Australian Open), a second round loss in Sydney, and a three-set semi-final loss to Austin in Tokyo.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King won the tournament in Houston that began in February, snapping Martina Navratilova's 28-match winning streak in the straight-sets final.


title: Billie Jean King

text: At the winter series-ending Avon Championships in March, King defeated Virginia Wade in her first round robin match 6–1, 6–3. After Wade held serve at love to open the match, King won nine consecutive games and lost only nine points during those games. King then lost her second round robin match to Navratilova and defeated Wendy Turnbull in an elimination round match, before losing to Tracy Austin in the semi-finals


title: Billie Jean King

text: King played the 1980 French Open, her first time since she won the event in 1972 and completed a career singles Grand Slam. She was seeded second but lost in the quarterfinals to fifth-seeded Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat of Australia.


title: Billie Jean King

text: At Wimbledon, King defeated Pam Shriver in a two-hour, forty minute fourth round match after King saved a match point in the second set and recovered from a 4–2 (40–0) deficit in the third set with Shriver serving. In a quarterfinal that took two days to complete, King lost to two-time defending champion and top-seeded Navratilova 7–6, 1–6, 10–8. The beginning of the match was delayed until late afternoon because of rain. Because she wore glasses, King agreed to start the match then on condition that tournament officials immediately suspend the match if the rain resumed. During the first set, drizzle began to fall; however, the chair umpire refused to suspend the match. King led in the tiebreaker 5–1 before Navratilova came back to win the set, whereupon the umpire then agreed to the suspension. When the match resumed the next day, King won 20 of the first 23 points to take a 5–0 lead in the second set and lost a total of seven points while winning the set in just 17 minutes. In the third set, Navratilova broke serve to take a 2–0 lead before King broke back twice and eventually served for the match at 6–5. King then hit four volley errors, enabling Navratilova to break serve at love and even the match. King saved three match points while serving at 6–7 and three more match points while serving at 7–8. During the change-over between games at 8–9, King's glasses broke for the first time in her career. She had a spare pair, but they did not feel the same. King saved two match points before Navratilova broke serve to win the match. King said, "I think that may be the single match in my career that I could have won if I hadn't had bad eyes."


title: Billie Jean King

text: King teamed with Navratilova to win King's 39th and final Grand Slam title at the US Open. Navratilova then decided she wanted a new doubles partner and started playing with Shriver but refused to discuss the change directly with King. She finally confronted Navratilova during the spring of 1981, reportedly saying to her, "Tell me I'm too old ... but tell me something." Navratilova refused to talk about it.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 1982, King began a comeback, winning the Wimbledon warm-up tournament the 1982 Edgbaston Cup in Birmingham, her first singles title in more than two years. King was 38 years old and the twelfth-seed at Wimbledon. In her third round match with of South Africa, King was down 7–5, 5–4 (40–0) before Harford's apparent winner was deemed 'not up' by the umpire, something the South African protested vehemently. King then saved the next two match points to win the second set 7–6(2) and then the third set 6–3. King said in her post-match press conference, "I can't recall the previous time I have been so close to defeat and won. When I was down 4–5 and love–40, I told myself, 'You have been here 21 years, so use that experience and hang on. In the fourth round, King upset sixth-seeded Australian Wendy Turnbull in straight sets. King then upset third-seeded Tracy Austin in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 to become the oldest female semi-finalist at Wimbledon since Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers in 1920. This was King's first career victory over Austin after five defeats and reversed the result of their 1979 Wimbledon quarterfinal. King said in her post-match press conference, "Today, I looked at the scoreboard when I was 2–0 in the third set and the '2' seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. In 1979, when I was up 2–0 at the same stage, I was tired and didn't have anything left. But today I felt so much better and was great mentally." Two days later in the semi-finals, which was King's 250th career match at Wimbledon in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles, the second-seeded Chris Evert defeated King on her fifth match point 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–3. King was down a set and 2–1 in the second set before winning five consecutive games to even the match. King explained that she actually lost the match in the first set by failing to convert break points at 15–40 in the second and fourth games. Having started the year in retirement, King finished 1982 ranked 14 in the world.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 1983, she reached the semi-finals in her final appearance at Wimbledon, losing to Andrea Jaeger 6–1, 6–1 after beating Kathy Jordan in the quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Wendy Turnbull in the fourth round, and Rosemary Casals, her longtime doubles partner, in the third round. Jaeger claims that she was highly motivated to defeat King because King had defeated Turnbull, a favorite of Jaeger's, and because King refused a towel from an attendant just before her match with Jaeger, explaining, "I'm not going to sweat in this match."


title: Billie Jean King

text: King became the oldest WTA player to win a singles tournament when she won the Edgbaston Cup grass court tournament in Birmingham at 39 years, 7 months and 23 days after a straight-sets victory in the final against Alycia Moulton. Her tally of 20 Wimbledon titles remained when partnered with Steve Denton and the no.1 seeds in the mixed doubles, they lost 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–5 to John Lloyd & Wendy Turnbull in the final, King being the only player to drop her service in the final game. At her final appearance at the US Open later in 1983, King didn't play singles, but partnered Sharon Walsh in the women's doubles, reaching the semi-finals and Trey Waltke in the mixed doubles, losing in the second round. The final official singles match of King's career was a second round loss to Catherine Tanvier at the 1983 Australian Open.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990. She and Vijay Amritraj were seeded sixth for the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles 1984, but they withdrew before the tournament began. She retired from competitive play in doubles in March 1990. In her last competitive doubles match, King and her partner, Jennifer Capriati, lost a second round match to Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Andrea Temesvári 6–3, 6–2 at the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King became the captain of the United States Fed Cup team and coach of its women's Olympic tennis squad. She guided the U.S. to the Fed Cup championship in 1996 and helped Lindsay Davenport, Gigi Fernández, and Mary Joe Fernández capture Olympic gold medals.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 2002, King dismissed Capriati from the Fed Cup team, saying Capriati had violated rules that forbade bringing along and practicing with personal coaches. Opinion was sharply divided, with many supporting King's decision but many feeling the punishment was too harsh, especially in hindsight when Monica Seles and Lisa Raymond were defeated by lower-ranked Austrians Barbara Schett and . The following year, Zina Garrison succeeded King as Fed Cup captain.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Before the start of the open era in 1968, King earned US$100 a week as a playground instructor and student at California State University, Los Angeles when not playing in major tennis tournaments.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 1967, King criticized the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) in a series of press conferences, denouncing what she called the USLTA's practice of "shamateurism", where top players were paid under the table to guarantee their entry into tournaments. King argued that this was corrupt and kept the game highly elitist. King quickly became a significant force in the opening of tennis to professionalism. King said this about the amateur game:


title: Billie Jean King

text: When the open era began, King campaigned for equal prize money in the men's and women's games. In 1971, her husband, Larry King created the idea to form a nine player women's group with the financial backing of "World Tennis" magazine founder Gladys Heldman and the sponsorship of Virginia Slims chairman Joe Cullman. King became the first woman athlete to earn over US$100,000 in prize money; however, inequalities continued. King won the US Open in 1972 but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie Năstase. She stated that she would not play the next year if the prize money was not equal. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King led player efforts to support the first professional women's tennis tour in the 1970s called the Virginia Slims, founded by Gladys Heldman and funded by Joseph Cullman of Philip Morris. Once the tour took flight, King worked tirelessly to promote it even though many of the other top players were not supportive. "For three years we had two tours and because of their governments [Martina] Navratilova and Olga Morozova had to play the other tour. Chris [Evert], Margaret [Court], Virginia [Wade], they let us do the pioneering work and they weren't very nice to us. If you go back and look at the old quotes; they played for the love of the game, we played for the money. When we got backing and money, we were all playing together – I wonder why? I tried not to get upset with them. Forgiveness is important. Our job was to have one voice and win them over."


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 1973, King became the first President of the women's players union – the Women's Tennis Association. In 1974, she, with husband Larry King and Jim Jorgensen, founded "womenSports" magazine and started the Women's Sports Foundation. Also in 1974, World TeamTennis began, founded by Larry King, Dennis Murphy, Frank Barman and Jordan Kaiser. She became league commissioner in 1982 and major owner in 1984.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King is a member of the Board of Honorary Trustees for the Sports Museum of America, which opened in 2008. The museum is the home of the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center, a comprehensive women's sports hall of fame and exhibit.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King's husband Larry co-founded World Team Tennis in 1973 with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser, and Fred Barman and WTT began in 1974. The couple used their savings to put on a team tennis event at the Oakland Coliseum. King remained involved with World Team Tennis for decades, eventually sharing ownership with her ex-husband, her life partner Ilana Kloss and USTA. In 2017, King sold her majority ownership stake of the league to Mark Ein and Fred Luddy. WTT was based on her philosophy for gender equality and it had been running continuously for over 40 years.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 1999, King was elected to serve on the board of directors of Philip Morris Incorporated, garnering some criticism from anti-tobacco groups. She no longer serves in that capacity.


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 2008, King published the book "Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I've Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes".


title: Billie Jean King

text: In December 2013, US President Barack Obama appointed King and openly gay ice hockey player Caitlin Cahow to represent the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. This has been interpreted as a signal on gay rights, in the context of concerns and controversies at the 2014 Winter Olympics regarding LGBT rights in Russia. King was forced to drop out of the delegation due to her mother's ill health. Betty Moffitt, King's mother, died on February 7, 2014, the day of the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Billie Jean was selected to deliver the Northwestern University commencement address on June 16, 2017, in Evanston, Illinois.


title: Billie Jean King

text: King and Kloss became minority owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in September 2018, and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks basketball team. In October 2020, they became part of the ownership group of Angel City FC, a Los Angeles–based team set to start play in the National Women's Soccer League in 2022.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Margaret Court, who won more Grand Slam titles than anyone, has said that King was "the greatest competitor I've ever known".


title: Billie Jean King

text: Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, has said, "She's the wisest human being that I've ever met and has vision people can only dream about. Billie Jean King is my mentor and has given me advice about my tennis and my boyfriends. On dealing with my parents and even how to raise children. And she doesn't have any."


title: Billie Jean King

text: In 1979, several top players were asked who they would pick to help them recover from a hypothetical deficit of 1–5 (15–40) in the third set of a match on Wimbledon's Centre Court. Martina Navratilova, Rosemary Casals, and Françoise Dürr all picked King. Navratilova said, "I would have to pick Billie Jean at her best. Consistently, Chris [Evert] is hardest to beat but for one big occasion, one big match, one crucial point, yes, it would have to be Billie Jean." Casals said, "No matter how far down you got her, you never could be sure of beating her."


title: Billie Jean King

text: King learned to play tennis on the public courts of Long Beach, California, and was coached by tennis teacher Clyde Walker. She furthered her tennis career at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.


title: Billie Jean King

text: She was an aggressive, hard-hitting net-rusher with excellent speed, Chris Evert, however, said about King, "Her weakness is her impatience."


title: Billie Jean King

text: Julie Heldman, who frequently played King but never felt close to her, said about King's personality,


title: Billie Jean King

text: Billie Jean and Larry King were engaged in fall of 1964 and married in Long Beach, California, on September 17, 1965. Billie Jean credited Larry with introducing her to feminism and for pushing her to pursue tennis as a career. Billie Jean later said she "was totally in love with Larry" when they married.


title: Billie Jean King

text: By 1968, King realized that she was attracted to women. In 1971, she began a relationship with her secretary, Marilyn Barnett (born Marilyn Kathryn McRae on January 28, 1948). Marilyn Barnett had been living rent-free in Billie Jean and Larry King's Malibu house. In 1979, the Kings asked Barnett to leave their house, but Barnett did not want to. Refusing to leave the house, Barnett threatened to leak records and receipts between the two that she had kept over the years. These receipts included letters from King to Barnett, credit card receipts, and paid bills. When the attempts to leak these records failed, Marilyn Barnett sued the Kings in 1981 for half their income and the Malibu house where she had been staying. Billie Jean King did not know of the lawsuit until a reporter from the Los Angeles Times asked her about it. Billie Jean King did not want to confirm this, so she continued to deny the relationship. Billie Jean acknowledged the relationship when it became public in a May 1981 palimony lawsuit filed by Barnett, making Billie Jean the first prominent female professional athlete to come out. Feeling she could not admit to the extent of the relationship, Billie Jean publicly called it a fling and a mistake. She remained married to Larry. The lawsuit caused Billie Jean to lose an estimated $2 million in endorsements and forced her to prolong her tennis career to pay attorneys. In December 1981, a court order stipulated that Barnett leave the house, and that her threats to publish private correspondence between she and King in exchange for money came close to extortion. Barnett's palimony suit was thrown out of court in November 1982. In March 1983, the house was destroyed during a series of storms that lashed the southern California coastline.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Also in 1971, King had an abortion that was made public in a "Ms." magazine article. Larry had revealed Billie Jean's abortion without consulting her.


title: Billie Jean King

text: Billie Jean and Larry remained married through the palimony suit fallout. The marriage ended in 1987 after Billie Jean fell in love with her doubles partner, Ilana Kloss. Larry King and Billie Jean remained close, and Billie Jean is the godmother of Larry's son from his subsequent marriage. Billie Jean King has residences in New York City and Chicago with Kloss, her wife. On October 18, 2018, King and Kloss were married by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins in a secret ceremony.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Judas and the Black Messiah is a 2021 biographical crime drama film about the betrayal of Fred Hampton (played by Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in late-1960s Chicago, by William O'Neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield), an FBI informant. Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Lil Rel Howery, Algee Smith, Dominique Thorne, and Martin Sheen also star. The film is directed and produced by Shaka King, who wrote the screenplay with Will Berson, based on a story by the pair and Kenny and Keith Lucas.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: A Fred Hampton biopic had been in the works for several years, with both the Lucas brothers and Will Berson writing and shopping screenplays individually since 2014. Berson's version almost got made with F. Gary Gray directing, but, when that fell through, King was hired to direct. The cast joined in 2019, with the blessings of Hampton's family, with filming beginning that fall in Ohio.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: "Judas and the Black Messiah" premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on February 1, 2021, and was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on February 12, simultaneously in theaters and digitally on HBO Max. The film was lauded by critics, who praised King's direction, the performances (particularly Kaluuya's and Stanfield's), and its timely themes. The film earned six Oscar nominations at the 93rd Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for both Kaluuya and Stanfield, and won Best Supporting Actor for Kaluuya and Best Original Song ("Fight for You"). For his performance, Kaluuya also won Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes, Critics' Choice Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and BAFTA Awards.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Released in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film grossed $7 million worldwide against a budget of $26 million.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: In 1968, 19-year-old petty criminal William O'Neal is arrested in Chicago after attempting to steal a car while posing as a federal officer. He is approached by FBI Special Agent Roy Mitchell, who offers to have O'Neal's charges dropped if he works undercover for the bureau. O'Neal is assigned to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and its leader, Fred Hampton.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: O'Neal begins to grow close to Hampton, who works to form alliances with rival gangs and militia bands while extending community outreach through the BPP's Free Breakfast for Children Program. Hampton's persuasive oratory skills eventually help to form the multiracial Rainbow Coalition along with the Young Lords and Young Patriots Organization. Hampton also falls in love with Deborah Johnson, a fellow BPP member. O'Neal begins to relay intel to Mitchell, who in return compensates him with money.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: After Hampton is arrested and imprisoned for allegedly stealing $71 worth of ice cream bars, O'Neal begins to rise through the ranks and is promoted to security captain. When a shootout between the Chicago Police and the BPP occurs at the chapter office, O'Neal sneaks out as the police bomb the office. Outraged that he could have been killed himself, O'Neal attempts to quit being an informant but Mitchell refuses.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Three months later, Hampton is released from prison while appealing his charges and he reunites with Deborah, now pregnant with his child. BPP member Jimmy Palmer, who was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after being shot by a police officer, dies unexpectedly while being transferred to another hospital. Assuming police have murdered Jimmy, fellow member Jake Winters engages in a shootout with police, killing several officers before being gunned down himself.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: After Hampton's appeal is rejected, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover orders Hampton be "neutralized" before he returns to prison. Mitchell corners O'Neal into helping with the plan by warning him that the BPP will retaliate against him if they find out he's an informant, and O'Neal reluctantly agrees to help. O'Neal is later handed a vial of sedatives and ordered to drug Hampton's drink with it by another undercover FBI collaborator, who hands O'Neal his old fake FBI badge. The next evening, BPP members gather at Hampton's apartment before he must depart for prison. An allied gang leader offers Hampton money to flee the country, but he turns it down and instead orders a trust to be established with the money under Jake's name. As the evening progresses, O'Neal reluctantly drugs Hampton's drink and departs soon after. Hours later, officers and agents raid the apartment and assassinate Hampton after shooting or injuring the other Black Panthers, while Deborah is arrested. Later, O'Neal meets with Mitchell, who gives him money and a pair of keys to a gas station he now owns. O'Neal attempts to quit again but reluctantly accepts the money and keys and puts them in his pocket.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Archive footage is shown of Hampton's speeches, including his funeral procession, and an interview O'Neal gave in 1989. The title cards state that O'Neal continued to work as an informant within the BPP before committing suicide in 1990. A lawsuit was filed against the FBI in 1970 and 12 years later was settled for $1.85 million. As of the film's release, Fred Hampton Jr. and his mother serve as chairman and board member of the Black Panther Party Cubs.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: In addition, Nicholas Velez portrays José Cha Cha Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords group, while Terayle Hill plays Black Panthers chairman George Sams, who is depicted as an FBI informant.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Kenny and Keith Lucas began pitching the idea of a Fred Hampton biopic to A24 and Netflix in 2014, selling it as ""The Conformist" meets "The Departed"." While working with Shaka King on a television pilot in 2016, they pitched their idea for a Hampton film, and he became intrigued. Will Berson had also written a Hampton screenplay about the same time and it was in early stages of production, with F. Gary Gray in talks to direct, Casey Affleck and John Powers Middleton in negotiations to produce, and Jaden Smith and O'Shea Jackson Jr. being eyed to portray Hampton. After that version fell through, Berson and King rewrote his script with help from the Lucas brothers.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: In February 2019, it was announced Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield had joined the cast of the film, with Ryan Coogler producing and Warner Bros. Pictures distributing. The film marks the second collaboration between Kaluuya and Stanfield, following the 2017 film "Get Out". King, Kaluuya, and producer Charles D. King (who provided half the film's $26 million budget) reached out to Hampton's widow Akua Njeri and her son, Fred Hampton Jr., to get their blessing on the film and casting. In September 2019, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback and Ashton Sanders joined the cast of the film, with Algee Smith being cast the following month.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Principal photography began in Cleveland, Ohio on October 21, 2019. On November 25 and 26, 2019, filming took place at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. After 42 days, production concluded on December 19, 2019. Originally announced as "Jesus Was My Homeboy", the film was later reported as being titled "Judas and the Black Messiah" before being described as untitled. Kristan Sprague began editing the film in January 2020, prior the dozens of studios being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, which later resulted in crew members working remotely during post-production. In July 2020, the film's title was confirmed to be "Judas and the Black Messiah".


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Two soundtrack albums were released for the film. The first, titled "Judas and the Black Messiah (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)", featured incerpts from the film's score composed by Mark Isham and Craig Harris. It was released on February 12, 2021, by WaterTower Music. The same day, another soundtrack consisting of incorporated songs, were released under the title "Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album". The 22-track music album, featured songs from many prominent rappers, such as Jay-Z, ASAP Rocky and Nas, as well as a posthumous appearance by Nipsey Hussle. It features an original song titled "Fight for You" performed by H.E.R., who also co-wrote it with D'Mile and Tiara Thomas. The music album received critical acclaim, and was featured in the 12th position of the Weekly "Billboard" 200 charts, while also topping the "Billboard" soundtracks chart, and also listed in 23rd position in the year-ender charts.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: "Judas and the Black Messiah" had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on February 1, 2021 at both virtual and in-person screenings. The film was released on February 12, 2021, in the United States, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was originally scheduled to be released on August 21, 2020, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed to 2021.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: As part of its plans for all of its 2021 films, Warner Bros. Pictures also streamed the film simultaneously on the HBO Max service for a period of one month, after which the film played exclusively in theatres until the start of the normal home media release schedule period. Samba TV reported that 653,000 households streamed the film over its opening weekend. By the end of its first month, the film had been watched in over 1.4 million U.S. households. The film was re-added to HBO Max on July 1, 2021.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: "Judas and the Black Messiah" grossed $5.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $7 million.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Compared to "Land" with limited expansion of "Willy's Wonderland" and "The Mauritanian", "Judas and the Black Messiah" made $2.5 million from 1,888 theaters over its four-day opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind holdover "". About 61% of the audience was African-American and 21% Caucasian, while male/female split evenly and 75% were above the age of 25. In its second weekend the film finished third, dropping 55% to $905,000, then made $500,000 in its third weekend. The weekend following its six Oscar nominations, the film made $250,000 from 951 theaters, for a domestic running total of $5 million.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 97% of 350 critic reviews were positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "An electrifying dramatization of historical events, "Judas and the Black Messiah" is a forceful condemnation of racial injustice – and a major triumph for its director and stars." According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 49 critics, the film received "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while 87% of filmgoers at PostTrak gave it a positive score (with an average 4.5 out of 5 stars) and 74% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Writing for "Variety", Peter Debruge praised Stanfield's performance and said, "The powerful film puts the current moment into fresh historical context and suggests that ambivalence can be its own form of betrayal." David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote: "Led by sensational performances from Daniel Kaluuya as Hampton and LaKeith Stanfield as William O'Neal, the FBI informant who infiltrated his inner circle, this is a scalding account of oppression and revolution, coercion and betrayal, rendered more shocking by the undiminished currency of its themes."


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Pete Hammond from "Deadline Hollywood" and Karen Han from "Slate" both compared various themes in the film to those found in "The Trial of the Chicago 7" (released the year before), with Hammond saying that "King skillfully lays out each side of the equation in this raw and exciting account set in 1968". Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and called the film "a leap and a bound ahead of the recent Netflix production "Trial of the Chicago 7"" and called it "brash, narratively risky, full of life and sneaky wit (even if the dominant tone is one of foreboding) and brimming with terrific actors."


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Former Black Panther Party member Eddie Conway found the portrayal of Hampton in the film inaccurate, noting that he was an outwardly warmhearted person, and not a cold, hardened individual as the film depicts.


title: Judas and the Black Messiah

text: Despite being campaigned for leading actor nominations, LaKeith Stanfield was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor alongside co-star Daniel Kaluuya. Both of the film's primary actors appearing in the supporting category proved unexpected and confusing to the public and awards pundits. Kyle Buchanan of the "New York Times" jokingly questioned, "If Stanfield and Kaluuya are both supporting actors, then who exactly is this movie supposed to be about?"


title: The Animals

text: The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their signature song and transatlantic number-one hit single "The House of the Rising Sun" as well as by hits such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life", "Don't Bring Me Down", "I'm Crying", "See See Rider" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm-and-blues-oriented album material and were part of the British Invasion of the US.


title: The Animals

text: The Animals underwent numerous personnel changes in the mid-1960s, and suffered from poor business management, leading the original incarnation to split up in 1966. Burdon assembled a mostly new lineup of musicians under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals; the much-changed act moved to California and achieved commercial success as a psychedelic and hard rock band with hits such as "San Franciscan Nights", "When I Was Young" and "Sky Pilot" before disbanding at the end of the decade. Altogether, the group had 10 top-20 hits in both the UK Singles Chart and the US "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: The Animals

text: The original lineup of Burdon, Alan Price, Chas Chandler, Hilton Valentine and John Steel reunited for a one-off benefit concert in Newcastle in 1968. They later launched brief comebacks in 1975 and 1983. Several partial regroupings of the original-era members have occurred since then under various names. The Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.


title: The Animals

text: Formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during 1962 and 1963 when Burdon joined the Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo, the original lineup was Burdon (vocals), Price (organ and keyboards), Hilton Valentine (guitar), John Steel (drums) and Bryan "Chas" Chandler (bass).


title: The Animals

text: They were dubbed "animals" reportedly because of their wild stage act, and the name stuck. In a 2013 interview, Burdon denied this, stating that the name was a tribute to a friend known as "Animal" Hogg. In a 2021 interview, Steel affirmed that the name was given them by Graham Bond. The Animals' success in their hometown and a connection with Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky motivated them to move to London in 1964 in the immediate wake of Beatlemania and the beat boom takeover of the popular music scene, just in time to play an important role in the British Invasion of the American music charts.


title: The Animals

text: The Animals performed fiery versions of the staple rhythm-and-blues repertoire, covering songs by artists such as Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone. Signed to EMI's Columbia label, their first single was a rocking version of the standard "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" (retitled "Baby Let Me Take You Home").


title: The Animals

text: In June 1964, the transatlantic number-one hit "The House of the Rising Sun" was released. Burdon's vocals and the particular arrangement, featuring Price's haunting organ riffs, created perhaps the first folk-rock hit. Debate continues regarding the Animals' inspiration for the arrangement, which has been variously ascribed to prior versions by Bob Dylan, folk singer Dave Van Ronk, blues singer Josh White (who recorded it twice in 1944 and 1949) and singer/pianist Nina Simone (who recorded it in 1962 for "Nina at the Village Gate"). The arrangement is said to owe much to the band's desire to become the most memorable of the many acts on tour in the UK.


title: The Animals

text: The Animals' two-year chart career, with their songs produced by Mickie Most, featured intense, gritty pop-music covers such as Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me" and the Simone-popularised number "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood." In contrast, their album tracks stayed with rhythm and blues, with John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" and Ray Charles' "I Believe to My Soul" as notable examples.


title: The Animals

text: In October 1964, the Animals visited New York for concert dates and an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show". They were transported from the airport into Manhattan in a motorcade, chased by shrieking young female fans, consisting of Sunbeam Alpine Series IV top-down convertibles with fashion models riding along. The Animals sang "I'm Crying" and "The House of the Rising Sun" to a packed audience of hysterical girls screaming throughout both performances on Sullivan's show. In December, the MGM film "Get Yourself a College Girl" was released, featuring the Animals and the Dave Clark Five. The Animals sang the Chuck Berry song "Around and Around" in the film.


title: The Animals

text: By May 1965, the group was starting to feel internal pressures. Price left because of personal and musical differences, as well as his fear of flying while on tour. He went on to a successful career as a solo artist and with the Alan Price Set. Mick Gallagher filled in for Price on keyboards for a short time until Dave Rowberry replaced Gallagher. Rowberry was on hand for the hit songs "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" and "It's My Life."


title: The Animals

text: The Animals assembled a big band to play at the fifth annual British Jazz and Blues Festival in Richmond. The Animals Big Band made their one public appearance on 5 August 1965. In addition to Burdon, Rowberry, Valentine, Chandler and Steel, the band featured a brass/horn section of Ian Carr, Kenny Wheeler and Greg Brown on trumpet and Stan Robinson, Al Gay, Dick Morrissey and Paul Carroll on saxophone.


title: The Animals

text: Many of the Animals' hits originated from Brill Building songwriters recruited by Mickie Most, but the group, and Burdon in particular, felt this to be too creatively restrictive. As 1965 ended, the group signed a new deal with their American label MGM Records for the US and Canada and switched to Decca Records for the rest of the world. They also ended their association with Most and began to work with MGM Records producer Tom Wilson, who allowed them more artistic freedom. In early 1966, MGM collected the band's hits on "The Best of The Animals", and it became their best-selling album in the US. In February 1966, Steel left and was replaced by Barry Jenkins. A leftover rendition of Goffin–King's "Don't Bring Me Down" was the group's last hit as the Animals. The next single, "See See Rider," was credited to Eric Burdon and the Animals. By September 1966, the original incarnation of the group had split up. Their last batch of recordings was released on the album "Animalism" in November 1966.


title: The Animals

text: Burdon began work on a solo album called "Eric Is Here", which also featured his UK number-14 solo hit single "Help Me, Girl," which he heavily promoted on TV shows such as "Ready Steady Go!" and "Top of the Pops" in late 1966. "Eric Is Here" was Burdon's final release for Decca Records.


title: The Animals

text: By this time, the Animals' business affairs "were in a total shambles" according to Chandler (who went on to manage Jimi Hendrix and produce Slade) and the group disbanded. Even by the standards of the day, when artists tended to be financially naïve, the Animals made very little money, eventually claiming mismanagement and theft on the part of their manager Michael Jeffery.


title: The Animals

text: A group with Burdon, Jenkins and new sidemen John Weider (guitar/violin/bass), Vic Briggs (guitar/piano) and Danny McCulloch (bass) was formed under the name Eric Burdon and Animals (or sometimes Eric Burdon and the New Animals) in December 1966, and changed direction. The hard-driving blues sound was transformed into Burdon's version of psychedelia as the former heavy-drinking Geordie (who later said he could never get used to Newcastle "where the rain comes at you sideways") relocated to California and became a spokesman for the Love Generation.


title: The Animals

text: Early performances by this group did not include any of the hits for which the original group had become known. Some of the new Animals' hits included "San Franciscan Nights," "Monterey" (a tribute to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival) and "Sky Pilot." Their sound was much heavier than that of the original group, with Burdon screaming more and louder on live versions of "Paint It Black" and "Hey Gyp." By 1968, they had developed a more experimental sound on songs such as "We Love You Lil" and the 19-minute "New York 1963–America 1968" from the album "Every One of Us".


title: The Animals

text: Zoot Money was added to the lineup in April 1968, initially as organist/pianist only, but upon McCulloch's departure, he also took on bass and occasional lead vocals.


title: The Animals

text: In July 1968, Andy Summers (later the guitarist for the Police) replaced Briggs. Both Money and Summers were formerly of British psychedelic outfit Dantalian's Chariot, and much of this new lineup's set was composed of Dantalian's Chariot songs, which caught Burdon's interest. Because of Money's multi-instrumental load, in live settings, bass was played alternately by Weider and Summers.


title: The Animals

text: By December 1968, this incarnation of the Animals had dissolved, but their double album "Love Is" was released internationally, featuring the singles "Ring of Fire" and "River Deep – Mountain High".


title: The Animals

text: Numerous reasons have been cited for the breakup, the most famous of which involved an aborted Japanese tour. The tour had been scheduled for September 1968 but was delayed until November after difficulty obtaining visas. Only a few dates into the tour, the promoters (whom the band did not know were "yakuza") kidnapped the band's manager and threatened him at gunpoint to write an IOU for $25,000 to cover losses incurred by the tour's delay. Correctly surmising that his captors could not read English, he added a note to the IOU that it was written under duress. The "yakuza" released him, but warned that he and the band would have to leave Japan the next day or be killed. The Animals promptly fled the country, leaving all of their tour equipment behind. Money and Summers each pursued solo careers, Weider signed up with Family and Burdon joined forces with a funk/r&b/rock group from Long Beach, California called War.


title: The Animals

text: The original Animals lineup of Burdon, Price, Valentine, Chandler and Steel reunited for a benefit concert in Newcastle in December 1968 and reformed in late 1975 to record again. Burdon later said that nobody understood why they had agreed to this short reunion. They embarked on a brief tour in 1976 and shot videos for their new songs such as "Lonely Avenue" and "Please Send Me Someone to Love." They released an album in 1977 that was aptly titled "Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted". The album received critical praise. Burdon and Valentine also recorded some demos at that time that were never released. On 12 December 1982, Burdon performed with Price and a complete lineup, foreshadowing future events.


title: The Animals

text: All five original band members reunited in 1983 for the album "Ark" and a world concert tour, supplemented by Zoot Money on keyboards, Nippy Noya on percussion, Steve Gregory on saxophone and Steve Grant on guitar. The first single, "The Night," reached number 48 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. The band released a second single called "Love Is for All Time," which did not chart.


title: The Animals

text: Songs performed on the "Ark" tour included some from the 1960s, but most were from the band's contemporary repertoire, such as "Heart Attack", "No More Elmore" (both released a year earlier by Burdon), "Oh Lucky Man" (from the 1973 soundtrack album to "O Lucky Man!" by Price), "It's Too Late", "Tango" and "Young Girls" (later released on Burdon's compilation album "The Night"). Their Wembley Arena concert on 31 December 1983 (supporting the Police) was released on the "Rip it To Shreds" live album in 1984 after the Animals had disbanded again. Their 29 November 1983 concert at the Royal Oak Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan was released on 27 February 2008 as "Last Live Show". A film about the reunion tour was shot but never released.


title: The Animals

text: Chandler died from an aneurysm in 1996, putting an end to any possibility of another reunion of the full original lineup.


title: The Animals

text: In 2008, an adjudicator determined that original Animals drummer John Steel owned "the Animals" name in the UK because of a trademark registration that Steel had filed. Eric Burdon had objected to the trademark registration, arguing that he personally embodied any goodwill associated with "the Animals" name. Burdon's argument was rejected, in part because he had billed himself as "Eric Burdon and the Animals" as early as 1967, thus separating the goodwill associated with his own name from that of the band. On 9 September 2013, Burdon's appeal was allowed, and he is now permitted to use the name "the Animals."


title: The Animals

text: The original Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, although Burdon did not attend and the band did not perform. In 2003, the band's version of "The House of the Rising Sun" ranked number 123 on "Rolling Stone's" 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Their 1965 hit single "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" was ranked number 233 on the same list. Both songs are included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.


title: The Animals

text: On 15 March 2012, in a keynote speech to an audience at the South by Southwest music festival, Bruce Springsteen discussed the Animals' influence on his music at length, stating, "To me, the Animals were a revelation. They were the first records with full-blown class consciousness that I'd ever heard." Of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" (written by two New York songwriters, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil), Springsteen said: "That's every song I've ever written ... That's 'Born to Run,' 'Born in the U.S.A.,' everything I've done for the past 40 years including all the new ones. That struck me so deep. It was the first time I felt I heard something come across the radio that mirrored my home life, my childhood." Saying that his album "Darkness on the Edge of Town" was "filled with Animals," Springsteen played the opening riffs to "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and his own "Badlands" back to back, then said, "Listen up, youngsters! This is how successful theft is accomplished!"


title: The Animals

text: Tony Banks, keyboardist of British progressive rock band Genesis, drew influence from Alan Price, whom he regarded as "[t]he first person who made me aware of the organ in a rock context."


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The A320neo family ("neo" for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 (enhanced variant), which was then renamed A320ceo, for "current engine option".


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Re-engined with CFM LEAP-1A or Pratt & Whitney PW1000G engines and fitted with sharklets as standard, it is 15% to 20% more fuel efficient than the A320ceo (Enhanced) family.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: It was launched on 1 December 2010, made its first flight on 25 September 2014 and was introduced by Lufthansa on 25 January 2016.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: , a total of 8,502 A320neo family aircraft had been ordered by more than 130 customers, of which 2,341 aircraft had been delivered. The global A320neo fleet had completed more than 5.51 million flights over 11 million block hours without accidents.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In 2006 Airbus started the A320 Enhanced (A320E) programme as a series of improvements targeting a 4–5% efficiency gain with large winglets (2%), aerodynamic refinements (1%), weight savings and a new aircraft cabin.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: At the time Airbus' Sales Chief John Leahy said "Who's going to roll over a fleet to a new generation aircraft for 5% better than an A320 today? Especially if another 10% improvement might be coming in the second half of the next decade based on new engine technology".


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Airbus launched the sharklet blended wingtip device during the November 2009 Dubai Airshow. The installation adds but offers a 3.5% fuel burn reduction on flights over .


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Compared to the re-engine improvement of 15%, an all-new single-aisle would have brought only 3% more gain while high volume manufacturing in carbon fibre could be much more expensive.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: At the February 2010 Singapore Air Show, Airbus said its decision to launch was scheduled for the July 2010 Farnborough Air Show.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The decision had still not been taken by August, but the engine choice included the CFM International LEAP-1A and the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G, with 20% lower maintenance cost than current A320 engines.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The new engines burn 16% less fuel, though the actual gain is slightly less as 1–2% is typically lost when installed on an existing aircraft.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: On 1 December 2010, Airbus launched the A320neo "New Engine Option" with more range or more payload, and planned to deliver 4,000 over 15 years.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Development costs were predicted to be "slightly more than €1 billion [$1.3 billion]". The neo list price would be $6 million more than the ceo, including $3.5 million for airframe modifications and around $0.9 million for the sharklets. The A320neo was slated for service entry in spring 2016, the A321neo six months later and the A319neo six months after that.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The 2010 order for 40 Bombardier CS300s (now known as Airbus A220-300) and 40 options from Republic Airways Holdings – then owner of exclusive A319/320 operator Frontier Airlines – pushed Airbus into the re-engine. Airbus COO-customers John Leahy decided against ignoring the CSeries and allowing it to grow, as Boeing had previously done with Airbus, and instead aggressively competed against Bombardier Aerospace.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Introduction was then advanced to October 2015. Airbus claims a 15% fuel saving and "over 95 percent airframe commonality with the current A320".


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The new "Space-Flex" optional cabin configuration increases space-efficiency with a new rear galley configuration and a "Smart-Lav" modular lavatory design allowing an in-flight change of two lavatories into one accessible toilet.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The rearranged cabin allows up to 20 more passengers for the A321neo without "putting more sardines in the can" with the larger "Cabin-Flex" modified exits described below.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Total fuel consumption per seat is reduced by over 20%, while the rearranged cabin allows up to nine more passengers for the A320neo.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The first Airbus A320neo rolled out of the Toulouse factory on 1 July 2014 and first flight was scheduled for September 2014.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The first flight of the neo occurred on 25 September 2014. Its Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM geared turbofan ('GTF') engine was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 19 December 2014.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: After 36 months, the A320neo and A321neo had flown around 4,000 hours for certification of the two powerplant versions.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Of these 4,000 hours flown, 2,250 were with PW GTFs and 1,770 with CFM LEAPs. The flight test programme was to conclude in 2018 with the completion of A319neo testing. The changes impact flying qualities, performance and system integration; they entailed retuning the fly-by-wire controls and meeting type certification requirements which have evolved since 1988, and helped decrease the minimum V speeds. The neo is 1.8t heavier than the ceo, but take-off and landing performance is the same with a modified rotation law, adjusted wing flap and wing slat angles and rudder deflection increased by 5° to cope with the higher thrust.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The A320neo is half as loud as an A320 at take-off, with an 85 decibel noise footprint. The LEAP-powered A321neo has 83.3 dB flyover noise, substantially lower than the older CFM56 and V2500.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Two hundred deliveries were targeted in 2017, but as Pratt & Whitney faced ramp-up difficulties, Airbus expected that 30 aircraft would have to be parked awaiting engines.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The fourth and latest final assembly line in Hamburg was to open in July 2017; 60 A320s should be produced monthly from 2019.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: With 90 A320neos delivered by October 2017, Airbus acknowledged that it would not attain the 200 target, even with many deliveries in the fourth quarter. More than 40 A320neos were parked without engines, but with most of the engine issues resolved by early 2018, more than half of the A320s delivered in 2018 were expected to be neos.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Airbus expected to produce 60 narrow-bodies per month by the middle of 2019 and studied higher rates.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Airbus confirmed plans to reach 63 monthly from 55 in 2018 and study 70 to 75 monthly beyond 2019, though Safran, one of the two partners in LEAP producer CFM, could not commit to higher volumes.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In February 2018, after in-flight failures of the PW1100G with its high pressure compressor aft hub modified, apparently caused by problems with its knife edge seal, European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Airbus grounded some A320neo family aircraft until they were fitted with spares.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: , P&W engines had flown 500,000 hours since introduction and 113 P&W-powered A320neo family aircraft were operated by eight customers.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Deliveries of GTF-powered A320neos resumed in May after Pratt returned to the original design seal as a quick fix.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: By the end of June, Airbus expected to have around 100 A320neos awaiting engines and aimed to deliver most of them in the second half of the year, for a total of over 800 aircraft handed over in 2018.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In the first five months of 2018, 69 had been delivered: 40% of all single-aisles, and almost 80% with CFM LEAP engines, but the 22 delivered in May were equally split between the two power plants.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: After the three-month halt, the goal of 210 GTF-powered deliveries in 2018 was expected to be missed by 30–40 unless Pratt could accelerate production, exposing itself and Airbus to late penalties.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Airbus COO Guillaume Faury aimed to do away with "gliders", i.e. airframes without engines, by the end of 2018. Bernstein Research had forecast 50 fewer deliveries than planned and expected a return to normal by 2019.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Delivery targets could still be met with other engine options (neo or ceo), as 210 Leap-powered jets were planned.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: After having peaked above 100, the number of aircraft parked awaiting their turbofans declined to 86 by the end of June.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In July 2019, with the A321neo accounting for 40% of sales, Airbus was examining options for allocating more production capacity to the stretched variant. It acknowledged that ramping up production of the popular Airbus Cabin Flex configuration was proving challenging. All A321s are currently assembled in Hamburg; one option under consideration would be to repurpose the A380 assembly line in Toulouse. In the first half of 2019, Airbus delivered 294 A320/A320neo-family aircraft, of which 71 were A321neos and 163 were A320neos (i.e. A321neos accounted for 71/(71+163)*100round0% of neo deliveries).


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In January 2020, Airbus confirmed that the A380 assembly line is to be converted to a "digitally enabled" final assembly facility for the A321neo by mid-2022, because of unprecedented demand, in particular for the A321 LR and XLR variants. In February, it indicated that it had a clear path to increasing production rates beyond the 63 per month targeted for 2021, to reach 65 or 67 by 2023. In April, Airbus reduced the average production rate to 40 per month due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on aviation from 2020.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In February 2021 Airbus set up a separate production line in Hamburg for A321XLR aft fuselage work, in a facility formerly used to assemble fuselage sections for the A380. The goal is to enable production of the XLR-specific aft fuselage to ramp up gradually without affecting other A320neo-family production output. Other A321XLR sections are to be produced at numerous sites: the centre wing box at Airbus's Nantes facility, the rear centre tank at Premium Aerotec in Augsburg, the nose and forward fuselage built at Stelia Aerospace in Toulouse then assembled in Saint-Nazaire, and the wings at Airbus Broughton in cooperation with Spirit Aerosystems and which provide high-lift devices.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In May 2021, Airbus targeted a production rate of 45 per month by the end of 2021, 64 by the second quarter of 2023, asked its supply chain to allow a rate of 70 from the first quarter of 2024 and is looking for 75 by 2025.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In 2015, Airbus started a new wing project, announced as the "Wing of the future" programme in 2017. A new 1-2 billion carbon-composite wing could be used in the A321neo-plus-plus, compared to $15 billion for a completely new design. The new wing is made from composite material. It is first seen as an upgrade to the existing, mostly metal A320 family wing, which was already upgraded many times. Airbus has already composite wings on the A350, but this will be an enhanced, new design with highly automated manufacturing suitable for inexpensive high-volume production. Announced in January 2016, a €44.8 million facility was built in Filton, with 300 engineers. The new wing design and tests take place in this Filton facility. Other Airbus locations in the UK, France, Spain and Germany are working with 30 partners on this wing project.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In May 2021, Airbus announced that for improved aerodynamic performance the wing will be longer and thinner with folding wingtips to access existing airport gates. By May 2021, assembly of the first demonstrator was to start in the coming weeks, as the project should be completed by 2023 before an eventual product launch.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: A “radical” A320 makeover is expected to cost over 4 billion euros ($4.9 billion), significantly less than the estimates of $15 billion to $20 billion for an all-new Boeing design.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Due to the increased length and increased lift, the new wings could also be used on an Airbus A322, an A321 lengthened by 4 passenger seat-rows, being studied by Airbus.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The current A320neo family wingspan of 36m with an aspect-ratio of 9 will be extended by ground-folding wingtips to 45m with an aspect-ratio of 14. Additional semi-aeroelastic hinges could lead to 52m wingspan with an aspect-ratio of 18, still fitting in a standard 36m airport gate. In September 2021, Airbus announced starting the assembly of in total 3 full-size "Wing of Tomorrow" prototypes. The first prototype was completed in December 2021. The flapping wing section flight tests are targeted to begin in late 2023.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: By November 2018, Airbus was hiring in Toulouse and Madrid to develop a clean sheet successor for the A320.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Although its launch was not guaranteed, it was expected to arrive from the middle of the following decade, after the A321XLR and a stretched A320neo "plus", and would have competed with the Boeing NMA that was, at the time, expected to be launched as early as 2019.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Service entry would be determined by ultra-high bypass ratio engine developments pursued by Pratt & Whitney, testing its Geared Turbofan upgrade; Safran, ground testing a demonstrator from 2021; and Rolls-Royce Plc, targeting a 2025 Ultrafan service entry.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: At the November 2019 Dubai air show, Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said the company was considering the launch of a single-aisle programme in the second half of the 2020s for an introduction in the early 2030s.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: By January 2019, three years after its introduction, 585 neos were in commercial service with over 60 operators, led by IndiGo (87), Frontier Airlines (33) and China Southern (26).


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Lufthansa confirms the PW 16% fuel savings, 21% per seat with denser 180-seat layout up from 168, while Avianca states its LEAPs are 15-20% more efficient, quieter, reduce oil consumption and routine maintenance.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Starting both GTFs initially took 6-7 min up from the A320ceo's 2 min, improving to 2-3 min by late 2017, still longer than the ceo.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: LEAP production bottlenecks led to early delivery delays, with no significant repercussions at Avianca or AirAsia; AirAsia's dispatch reliability is comparable to its ceos.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: On 30 November 2021, two years after receiving the 1,000th member of the A320neo family, IndiGo took delivery of the 2,000th, an A321neo (MSN 10654) at Airbus Hamburg site.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: , the global A320neo fleet had completed more than 5.51 million flights over 11 million block hours since its entry into service and had been contributing to 15 million tons of saving.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Engine vibration affects one GTF in 50, leading to premature replacement, but spare engine pools compete with new production: at Lufthansa, dispatch reliability has remained stagnant since service entry and is below its 99.8% goal, with a utilization rate 20% below its ceos.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: P&W cites a 99.91% dispatch reliability for GTF-powered neos, higher than other new engine introductions, while Airbus reports a 99.6% dispatch reliability.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: With engine deliveries resuming, there were expected to be fewer than 10 engine-less neos at the end of 2018; Airbus is on track to reach its target rate of 60 deliveries per month by mid-2019.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Of the 6,362 orders, 2,456 are for CFM LEAP engines (2456/63.62round1%), 1,869 for Pratt & Whitney GTFs (1869/63.62round1%), and 2,037 for an as-yet unspecified engine choice (2037/63.62round1%).


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: By 30 June 2019, Safran claimed the Leap has a 61% market share on the A320neo family, with 44 airlines operating 454 Leap powered aircraft having accumulated 3.3 million flight hours.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In early 2022, 57% of in service A320neos were fitted with Leap engines, and 43% with PW1100G engines.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In July 2019, Airbus disclosed two outwardly similar, though separate, issues which could result in excessive pitch up behaviour, one affecting the A320neo and the other the A321neo. Both issues were detected during analysis and laboratory testing, and have not been encountered in actual operation. Airbus has addressed the issues through temporary revisions to the flight manual, including loading recommendations and a change to the centre-of-gravity envelope, and expected to release updated flight control software in 2020.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: As Lufthansa waited for the 2020 flight software update, it blocked the last row of its aft-heavy layout of 180, offering only 174 seats.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In 2018, Airbus explored the possibility of military versions, for VIP transport, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and maritime patrol for the armed forces of France, Germany and the Netherlands; or Asia-Pacific nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. Such conversions would be possible within a six-to-eight-month timescale.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Airbus offers three variants of the A320neo family: the A319, A320 and A321. A "neo" variant for the Airbus A318 was not proposed but could be developed should demand arise.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The shortened-fuselage variant can seat up to 160 passengers or 140 in two classes, with a range of up to and improved takeoff performance, while its ACJ derivative can fly eight passengers or 15 hours.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Qatar Airways was set to be launch customer but upgraded its order to the larger A320neo in late 2013, with no new launch operator named since then. Spirit later ordered 47 new A319neo aircraft.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: After 500 flight hours, the LEAP-powered A319neo achieved FAA/EASA Type Certification by 21 December 2018, allowing it to enter service in the first half of 2019.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: At the time 53 aircraft had been ordered, including 17 with Leap engines: 12 for Avianca, four for an unconfirmed Chinese operator (later known as China Southern Airlines, which became the launch operator), and one ACJ319neo; and 36 with no engine selection: eight for Avianca, 26 for unannounced customers, and two ACJ319neos.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: , certification of the PW1100G-powered version was planned for the end of 2019, with the same test aircraft to be converted during the first quarter and undergo 200 hours of flight testing.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Interest in the variant has been low, and in January 2019 the A319neo's order backlog was only a fraction of that of the A220, following confirmation of orders from JetBlue and Moxy for 60 A220s each. Also in January 2019, Airbus confirmed that, while it expects fewer orders due to competition with the A220-300, it has no plans to discontinue the A319neo.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: On 18 February 2022, China Southern Airlines received the first of its order of four A319neo with CFM LEAP engines.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The first A320neo rolled out of the Airbus factory in Toulouse on 1 July 2014. It first flew on 25 September 2014. A joint type certification from EASA and the FAA was received on 24 November 2015.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Six months later at Farnborough Airshow, John Leahy reported that the eight in-service aircraft had achieved 99.7% dispatch reliability.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: After a year in service, Lufthansa confirmed the 20% efficiency gain per passenger with up to 180 seats, along with reduced noise and emissions.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: By March 2017, 88 A320neos had been delivered to 20 airlines, 49 with the PW1000G and 39 with the CFM LEAP-1A, and the fleet had accumulated more than 57,600 flight hours and 37,500 cycles (57.6/37.5round1h average); over 142 routes the average stage length is and like the A320ceo the neo flies an average of 8.4 block hours and up to 10 cycles a day with Lufthansa operating 45 min sectors from Frankfurt to Hamburg or Munich, up to China Southern Airlines flying close to 6 hr sectors.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In July 2018, Airbus was evaluating an A320neo variant for ISR missions, particularly maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare, and military transport. The aircraft will be able to take roll-on/roll-off mission payloads to carry passengers, troops, VIPs, patients, or cargo. The aircraft could be fitted with a weapons bay, a self-protection system, or a magnetic anomaly detector and could be configured for signals intelligence or Airborne Early Warning and Control.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: This lengthened fuselage variant has structural strengthening in the landing gear and wing, increased wing loading and other minor modifications due to higher Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW).


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: It suffered a tailstrike three days later and was flown to Toulouse for repairs, delaying the certification programme for several weeks.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: It received its type certification with Pratt & Whitney engines on 15 December 2016, and simultaneous EASA and FAA certification for the CFM Leap powered variant on 1 March 2017.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The first A321neo, leased by GECAS, was delivered in Hamburg to Virgin America, configured with 184 seats and LEAP engines, and entered service in May 2017.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The neo empty weight is 1.8t more than the ceo due to new engines and associated airframe modifications: engine pylons, wing structure and bleed and oil systems were adapted.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: At FL330 (10 000 m), ISA and , it burns at Mach 0.76 / long-range cruise or at Mach 0.80 / high-speed cruise.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: To offer similar takeoff performance, pitch response to stick input is a rate-command to hit the 3°/sec rotation rate to capture the right pitch attitude and there is an "electronic tail bumper" preventing a tailstrike if the stick is less than three-quarters of the way aft; additional thrust, slower rotation and lift-off speeds require more rudder authority and its maximum deflection went from 25° to 30°.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: By January 2018, the A321neo had received 1,920 orders, exceeding orders for the A321ceo. By this time the A321neo accounted for 32% of all A320neo family orders, whereas the original A321 represented just 22% of A320ceo family orders. By July 2022, the A321neo represented over 53% of all A320neo family orders.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: A stretch would probably involve fore and aft plugs to keep its centre-of-gravity, but tailstrike clearance could constrain field speed and performance and a larger aircraft could need more powerful engines, while further cabin crew would be needed over 250 seats.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Stretching it by one or two rows would be needed to compete with the Boeing NMA, a concept airliner: its take-off weight could increase to by tweaking its wing and strengthening its landing gear, requiring more engine thrust; or it could receive a lighter and larger new wing, more costly to develop but with the same thrust.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: As Pratt & Whitney encountered early reliability issues with the PW1100G, retrofitting fixes affected the deliveries.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Cebu Pacific was due to add its first three A321neos to its 40 A320ceos by the end of 2017 but agreed to postpone them; it was to receive seven A321ceos in 2018, starting in March, to upgauge A320 routes from slot-constrained Manila Airport and redeploy some of its international A330s to shorter-haul routes.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Air New Zealand has at least seven A321neos in its 13 A320-family orders, increasing seating capacity by 27% over A320ceos currently used on short-haul international routes, mainly to Australia; the neos will be delayed until July 2018 for the A320neos and September 2018 for the A321neos with a new, higher density and some A320ceo leases will be extended for the interim.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Hawaiian's first two A321neos were to have been delivered in 2017 before its upcoming winter peak season but were postponed to early 2018, a "frustrating" and "irritating" delay, with another nine in 2018, mostly in the first half. They are intended to open up thinner routes to the U.S. mainland not viable with its widebodies, such as Portland to Maui, or better matched and allowing two routes to be expanded to daily service instead of seasonal, bypassing its Honolulu hub for half of the A321neo fleet.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Well suited for routes to the US west coast, Hawaiian's 189-seat A321neos are more efficient than the competing narrow-body aircraft and even have slightly lower per-seat costs than its 294-seat A330-200s.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: By permanently replacing the second door pair in front of the wing (R2/L2) with a new second pair of overwing exits, the capacity of the A321neo is increased from 220 seats to 240 seats and fuel efficiency per seat is increased by 6%, exceeding 20% together with the new engines and the sharklets.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Initial A321neos have the A321ceo exit door configuration with four exit door pairs until the Airbus Cabin-Flex (ACF) layout can be selected.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The third door pair (R3/L3), aft of the wings, is moved aft four frames back and could be plugged for 195 seats or less, and one overwing exit can be plugged for 165 seats or less.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: It was rolled out on 5 January 2018, and will be ground tested before first flight in the following weeks.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: It was to be delivered in mid-2018 and the optional layout will become the A321neo default from 2020.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The ACF exit limit is 250 passengers, but the aircraft is available for up to 240 passengers; it could be offered for 244 or potentially beyond by integrating flight attendant seats in the lavatories outside wall to allow additional passenger seats.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The EASA allows 244 passengers with "overperforming" Type C exits at both ends, two Type III overwing exits, a Type C mid-cabin exit and a separate approval for individual customised cabin layouts.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The FAA would limit it to 200 as the mid-cabin exit would be derated to a Type III exit: 65 each for Type C doors at the ends plus 70 for all the Type III exits; Airbus seeks an exemption to increase it to 105 for 235 passengers for the aircraft. Four different door-arrangement configurations are noted below.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In October 2014, Airbus started marketing a 164-seat, MTOW variant with three auxiliary fuel tanks called the A321neoLR (Long Range) with more operational range than a Boeing 757-200 configured with 169 seats, 27% lower trip costs and 24% lower per seat costs; it was scheduled for introduction in the second half of 2018, two years after the A321neo.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Airbus launched the A321LR on 13 January 2015 with Air Lease Corporation as the launch customer, hoping to sell 1,000 examples of the variant. The initial layout of 164 seats (20 in business, 30 in premium economy and 114 in economy) was replaced by a two-class 206-seat configuration (16 in business and 190 in economy). Range is , farther than the regular 93.5t MTOW A321neo. The A321LR is replacing the 757 in the middle of the market. The A321LR will have the Cabin Flex layout and was to be first delivered in Q4 2018.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Certification is aimed for the second quarter of 2018, with a programme including tests with one, two, three, or no additional centre tanks and a transatlantic flight on 13 February.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Test flights included a Leap-powered, long range flight by great circle distance, flown in near 11 h and the equivalent of 162 passengers over including headwinds, with five crew and 11 technicians.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Airbus announced its joint FAA/EASA certification on 2 October 2018, including ETOPS up to 180 min allowing any transatlantic route.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: As original launch operator Primera Air ceased operations, the first will be delivered to Israeli carrier Arkia, while 120 orders have been secured from about 12 operators: Norwegian, TAP Air Portugal, Air Transat, Aer Lingus, Air Astana, Air Arabia and Azores Airlines will receive theirs from 2019, and Jetstar and Peach in 2020.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: On 13 November 2018, Arkia received the first A321LR, featuring 220 seats in a single-class and to be deployed to London, Paris, Barcelona for up to 5h sectors, or to Zanzibar and the Seychelles, saying it is the first narrow-body more efficient than the 757-300 it operates.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In April 2019, JetBlue announced its intention to use the A321LR on routes to London from Boston and New York City; the airline has converted 13 of its orders for the A321neo to the A321LR to serve these routes. The airline started its service from New York-JFK to London Heathrow on 11 August 2021, and to London Gatwick on 29 September.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In January 2018, Airbus stated that it was studying an A321LR variant with a further increased MTOW needing a strengthened landing gear. With a lower-density cabin it was expected to fly almost .


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: It would cover more of the market segment likely to be targeted by the Boeing NMA. The proposed A321XLR with a range extended to would be launched in 2019 to enter service in 2021 or 2022. Integrated in the fuselage to save weight, the centre fuel tank would be enlarged. , about 200–300 nmi of the targeted range increase had already been secured; additional work would be needed to achieve the remaining 200 nmi.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: In October 2018, the A321XLR was proposed to Air Transat and AerCap: Air Transat could reach Southern European destinations such as Split, Croatia from Montreal and Toronto. In November, Airbus indicated that the A321XLR would have a MTOW of over and more range than the A321LR with the same wing and engines, increased fuel capacity and strengthened landing gear. In January 2019, Air Canada expressed interest in using narrow-body aircraft for transatlantic routes and was considering options including the A321XLR and the Boeing 737 MAX.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: The A321XLR was officially launched at the Paris Air Show on 17 June 2019, with deliveries expected from 2024. Its design offers of range and features a new permanent Rear Centre Tank (RCT) for more fuel, a strengthened landing gear for a MTOW, and an optimised wing trailing-edge flap to preserve take-off performance. The RCT will hold of fuel, the equivalent of four current ACTs, while it weighs like one and takes up the space of two; a forward ACT can also be fitted if necessary.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: As the sharklets lowered take-off and landing speeds, the switch from a double-slotted to single-slotted inboard flap will reduce complexity, weight and drag, and the FMS can set intermediate flap positions; the revised design could be applied to other A321neo variants.


title: Airbus A320neo family

text: Orders from several lessors and airlines were announced at the show, starting with Middle East Airlines, which ordered four A321XLRs, making it the launch airline customer. Air Lease Corporation ordered twenty-seven A321XLRs alongside twenty-three other A321neos and fifty A220-300s. IAG quoted a $142 million list price as it committed to 28 aircraft, including eight for Iberia, six for Aer Lingus, plus 14 options. Qantas Group placed an order for 36 XLRs, to be operated on routes between Australia and Asia, and is also set to be one of the launch customers. American Airlines converted 30 A321neo orders to XLRs and ordered an additional 20 XLRs. Indigo Partners also placed an order for 50 XLRs for its airline divisions and Frontier Airlines ordered 18, bringing the total number of commitments announced at the show to 243.