Airbus A350 XWB news

[sn26567]

The A350 MSN03 arrived at Iqaluit, Canada for few days of cold weather trails. This will include 'cold soak' down to minus double-digit temperatures.

[Kapitein]

Airbus has painted one of it's A350-800 in a partly QR livery

[RoMax]

Airbus has painted one of it's A350-800 in a partly QR livery

Small correction it's one of their A350-900's (the first base type).

[sn26567]

Airbus has painted one of it's A350-900 in a partly QR livery

It is MSN004, the latest A350, unveiled for the visit of Qatar CEO in Toulouse: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=52254

[Kapitein]

Airbus has painted one of it's A350-800 in a partly QR livery

Small correction it's one of their A350-900's (the first base type).

My mistake

[sn26567]

A new backlash for the A350-800: Libyan Airlines (4 aircraft) and ILFC (6 aircraft) have each converted their orders for the Airbus A350-800 to the larger -900, with Libyan Airlines ordering an additional pair of A350-900s under its revised agreement.

This means that the backlog for the A350-800 is now down to 46. Will Airbus go ahead with its construction?

[RoMax]

This means that the backlog for the A350-800 is now down to 46. Will Airbus go ahead with its construction?

Last statement I heard from Airbus was something like they would want to adjust the A350-800 (and move it backwards in the planning, behind the A350-1000) to make it more attractive and that in the meantime they are not really selling it, even stimulating airlines to shift to the -900 (altough I found that a bit a strange statement, even though they plan to change it and and move it backwards, if you still want to build it, you want to keep customers I would think, even though an adjusted design might not fit the existing customers).

I also already forgot US Airways shifted to an all -900 order last year. I wanted to give them as an example of an airline I don't see continueing with the -800 (too much overlap with AA fleet plans, extra -900's is a much better fit for their combined fleet).

[sn26567]

A350 Test Progress Exceeds Expectations

The Airbus A350 flight test program is going much better than expected, according to the company’s Senior Vice President Flight and Integration Tests Fernando Alonso. The two test aircraft flying are accumulating around 100 flight hours each per month.

Airbus has taken MSN3, the second test aircraft, to the Singapore Air Show where it will participate in the flying display for the first time. MSN1 and MSN3 logged a combined 1,025 flight hours and 505 cycles as of February 10. That puts the A350 close to half way through its test program which is aimed at 2,500 hours. Airbus plans to deliver the first aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2014­ to Qatar Airways.

Most of the work (669 hours and 382 cycles) has been done by MSN1. The first A350 to fly is currently on the ground for several weeks for previously planned software and systems upgrades while MSN3 has done hot and high and cold weather trials in Bolivia and Canada. It made a stop in Doha for a presentation at Qatar Airways before coming to Singapore. In Doha, two Qatar Airways pilots flew the aircraft and two Singapore Airlines pilots have been allowed to fly the A350 just before the opening of the show.

MSN3 will return to Toulouse on Thursday. The flight is planned to last 14.5 hours – the longest ever done by the aircraft. It is likely to be preceded by one of the shortest ever flights (not counting touch-and-gos) because the aircraft has to be repositioned from Changi airport to the air show tarmac, for which it will have to land at the adjacent military runway.

Two more test aircraft, MSN2 and MSN4 are going to fly before the end of February. MSN2 will have the first full cabin installed. MSN5 is planned to fly in May.

All the configurations of the aircraft – flaps and slats settings for various flight phases amongst others – are now defined and frozen. Certification testing involving airworthiness authorities has begun.

Following the Bolivia and Canada trials, the A350 will undergo another round of extreme temperature tests in May, but this time it will use the McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The hangar will be cooled down to temperatures of around -40 degrees Celsius and heated to reach +45 degrees Celsius. The hangar has been used by many previous programs including, most recently, the Boeing 787.

Source and more details in Aviation Week.

[sn26567]

Qatar Airways first A350 due in December, New York first destination

Qatar Airways will deploy its first A350-900 on short-haul training runs within the Gulf region in the fourth quarter of this year before deploying the aircraft internationally.

Specialist blog, A350blog, reports the Qatari national carrier will operate the A350s first on long-haul services to New York JFK before redeploying the aircraft on European routes.

The launch customer for the type, Qatar Airways says it expects to take delivery of its first of 80 A350-900s in December though it is believed that Airbus Industrie could pre-empt that date.

Source: ch-aviation

"before redeploying the aircraft on European routes": a chance to see the Qatar A350 in Brussels!

[sn26567]

Airbus CEO Tom Enders has announced that the A350 MSN5, the last of five test aircraft, will fly in May.

[sn26567]

The test cabin interior of the A350 XWB has been revealed today in Hamburg:

[sn26567]

Airbus has confirmed that its new A350 aircraft can be set-up in a "high-efficiency" configuration of 10-across in economy.

The manufacturer admitted that, although it would prefer airlines to go with a nine-across seating configuration, guaranteeing passengers a seat width of 18 inches, one airline has already ordered the 10-across variant.

[Passenger]

Airbus has confirmed that its new A350 aircraft can be set-up in a "high-efficiency" configuration of 10-across in economy.

The manufacturer admitted that, although it would prefer airlines to go with a nine-across seating configuration, guaranteeing passengers a seat width of 18 inches, one airline has already ordered the 10-across variant.

Maybe it's time now to give Cattle Class an official booking code in the GDS?

[sn26567]

Alitalia cancels its A350-800 order

Alitalia has reportedly cancelled an order for twelve A350-800s placed with Airbus Industrie by subsidiary Air One in June 2008. The European manufacturer's order book for March shows the order, which was absorbed by Alitalia's special purpose leasing division Aircraft Purchase Fleet Limited's (APFL) following Air One's merger with Alitalia in 2009, has now been removed.

Libyan Airlines was the most recent cancellation for the -800 variant when it converted its order for four of the type into A350-900s.

As its stands, of the remaining thirty-four -800s on backlog, Aeroflot has eight, Asiana Airlines has eight, Hawaiian Airlines has six, Yemenia has ten followed by lessor Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) with two.

Source: ch-aviation

It looks like Airbus will soon have to cancel the A350-800 programme because of the cancellation of all remaining orders. One more reason to soon decide on the A330neo to bridge the gap between the existing A330 and the A350-900.

[RoMax]

The manufacturer admitted that, although it would prefer airlines to go with a nine-across seating configuration, guaranteeing passengers a seat width of 18 inches, one airline has already ordered the 10-across variant.

No suprise...certain airlines will always push for a more efficient configuration if possible. The difference with Boeing of course is that basicly every airline goes for the more efficient configuration because it's either a quite spacious or a quite thin configuration instead of Airbus having a 'standard' 18"-configuration.
But what will be the seat width on a 10-abreast A350? The same or smaller than a 10 abreast on 777 or 9-abreast on 787?

[Desert Rat]

787 9-abreast = 16.8-16.9 inches
350 9-abreast = 18 inches
350 10 abreast = 16.7 inches...pretty similar to the 787.

[RoMax]

787 9-abreast = 16.8-16.9 inches
350 9-abreast = 18 inches
350 10 abreast = 16.7 inches...pretty similar to the 787.

The 787 with 9-abreast ranges from 16.8 to 17.3 depending on the seat type and aisle width. Most airlines vary between 17 and 17.2 I believe.
The 777 seat width can be up to 19" on for example Singapore Airlines (of course with 9-abreast), while 10-abreast is mostly about the same as the 787 in 9-abreast (so mostly between 16.9 and 17.2).

But it seems indeed the difference will be minimal.

[MD-11forever]

Bad news for Airbus and the A350:

Airbus Suffers Worst Order Loss as Emirates A350 Deal Scrapped

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus Group NV suffered its biggest-ever order cancellation as Gulf airline Emirates scrapped a deal for A350 planes valued at $16 billion, hurting efforts to break Boeing Co.’s dominance in wide-body aircraft.
Emirates will drop 50 A350-900s and 20 larger -1000s, Airbus said today. The deal was announced in 2007 and the planes were due for delivery from 2019, shortly before Boeing’s new 777X, for which the Dubai airline is the No. 1 customer.
The world’s largest carrier by international traffic reviewed its requirements after last year topping up orders for the A380 superjumbo, adding 50 more to become by far the largest operator. The surprise decision on the A350 comes with the jetliner program just months away from commercial entry.

[flightlover]

Bad news for Airbus and the A350:

Airbus Suffers Worst Order Loss as Emirates A350 Deal Scrapped

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus Group NV suffered its biggest-ever order cancellation as Gulf airline Emirates scrapped a deal for A350 planes valued at $16 billion, hurting efforts to break Boeing Co.’s dominance in wide-body aircraft.
Emirates will drop 50 A350-900s and 20 larger -1000s, Airbus said today. The deal was announced in 2007 and the planes were due for delivery from 2019, shortly before Boeing’s new 777X, for which the Dubai airline is the No. 1 customer.
The world’s largest carrier by international traffic reviewed its requirements after last year topping up orders for the A380 superjumbo, adding 50 more to become by far the largest operator. The surprise decision on the A350 comes with the jetliner program just months away from commercial entry.

Maybe a good moment for SN (LH) to start bargaining? Would be a massive step forward

[sn-remember]

I can't help feeling a bit disappointed by the way Airbus set their strategy regarding the 350 future developments ..
It seems that EK were questioning the A350 deal already since a couple of years and the decision of Boeing to launch the 777-9X was aiming to better satisfy the needs of operators such EK that require range and more global capacity (DXB-LAX, 400 pax, generous cargo hold)
Why did Airbus never envisaged a double stretch of the 350-900 that would certainly better have suited such an important client and maybe jeopardize Boeing's case to launch the 777-X program ?
Probably a missed opportunity IMHO ...