A350-900 development is “on track but there are a lot of challenges” with the ramp-up.

A350 Head of Program Mr. Evrard said the development of the A350-900, the first version of the current 3-member A350 family, is on track, but he acknowledged that there are "a lot of challenges."

Airbus expects to be producing 1 aircraft a month by next January 2014, increasing to 3/month by early 2015 and gradually ramping up to 10/month by 2018. Airbus may consider higher rates after that, Evrard said, though no decisions on that have yet been made.

The Airbus officials stressed, however, that the ability of suppliers to keep up with its plans is critical for the success of the A350 program.

Evrard said Airbus has encountered relatively minor issues during flight testing over the past 4 months, including some software glitches that were quickly ironed out.





Based on the article “Airbus Mulls an Extra Stretch for A350 Jetliner” published in The Wall Street Journal