The Wall Street Journal reported that Airbus is talking with customers about the prospect of a stretch of the Airbus A350-1000 (commonly referred to as the A350-1100) while The Seattle Times reported there are no customer talks.
Source: Airbus
Leeham News asked John Leahy, COO-Customers of Airbus about the A350-1100 on the sidelines of the closing Air Show press conference.
“We look at a lot of things,” Leahy said. “We’ve been looking at it but it’s not obvious yet it makes a lot of sense.”
“It would have 40 more seats and it might have a bigger fan on the engine. But the real question is, are we chasing something that’s not there a demand? “
“We’re now looking at, is the market shifting in their direction? If it is, then we should be looking at a straight stretch of the A350-1000.
The debate is still going on. I think we will have something by the end of this year or the beginning of next year as to whether we would do it or not.”
There is a large product gap between the A350-1000 and today’s A380. If Airbus stretches the A380to seat 50-100 more passengers as part of a neo package, this gap would increase, making the A350-1100 more desirable to fill this gap.
Leahy said a decision on the A380neo will likely come by the end of this year or early next yearalthough there are market expectations that a decision would come at the Dubai Air Show in November.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAirlines are not ordering 777-9X "because there is no demand".
ReplyDeleteThis Aircraft is a non runner, Boeings 777-9x will start to be delivered in 2120,thats only 6 years away. It will carry 400 passengers, have a range of 8000 miles and a much bigger cargo space. The A350-1100 would be a new Aircraft with larger wings and body with different engines and with less range and cargo capacity.It would take Airbus over ten years to get it in the delivery stage,so no its not worth it. As for no sales to the 400 seat market, the 777-9x has already 243 sales and thats without Clarks (Emirates) order of 150 to replace all of Emirates old 777 stock. As it gets nearer to being produced the orderes will increase. Boeing has already said it up rate production to 125 per year-that will please Ceo's of Airlines.
ReplyDeleteThe A350-900 has taken over ten years to get to the delivery stage and even now its struggling with only 4 delivered since last December! So dont hold your breath.
The A350 has an indeed long development time, but the your statements about production ramp are absolutely nonsense.
DeleteJust to compare 787 vs. A350 some milestones:
Roll out 1st frame: 7-07 vs. 12-12
1st flight: 12-09 vs. 07-13 (22 months less for A350)
1st delivery: 9-11 vs. 12-14 (4 months less for A350)
1st service: 10-11 vs. 1-15
5th ac del: 3-12 vs. 6-15 (1 month more for A350)
15th ac del: 7-12 vs. est. 11-15 (1 month more for A350)
So the A350 has a quite similar ramp like the 787 since 1st delivery and is 2nd to none compared to 1st frame out of FAL.