Finnair will use the A350 XWB to establish Helsinki as a bridge to Northeast Asia from Europe.

Finnair is looking at adding routes to Chinese cities not currently connected to Europe as it takes delivery of the region’s newest wide-body jet fleet.

Source: Airbus

Finnair, which will become the 1st European carrier to deploy the Airbus A350 in October, is “not that concerned” about recent economic turmoil in China, CEO Pekka Vauramo said in an interview.

“We really feel being a 1st mover has benefits,” he said.

“There are some mega-cities there where we could add frequencies. We could also look into cities in China or South Korea that don’t have many connections, or don’t have any.”

Of Finnair’s 1st 5 A350 destinations, 3  -Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong- are in China, alongside Bangkok and Singapore.

Source: Airbus

The carrier will take delivery of 19 of the twin-engine jets through 2023 to add capacity and replace 7 four-engine Airbus A340s used on intercontinental trips.

Vauramo said Northeast Asia remains Finnair’s “sweet-spot” even after the market suffered setbacks including the Japanese earthquake, curbs on flights through Siberian airspace, a weakening yen and now the devaluation of the yuan.

Source: Jujug Spotting

The carrier’s strategy centers on establishing Helsinki as a bridge to northeast Asia from Europe, exploiting its position on the shortest great-circle routes between the regions.

“We are of course in many different markets in Asia and that’s one part of how we can manage this,” he said.

Based on the article “Finnair Examines New Layer of China Routes as A350s Arrives”published in Bloomberg.

Sabena Technics approved for A350 MRO.

Independent MRO Sabena Technics has gained Part 145-approval from the French Civil Aviation Authority covering the A350.

The certification enables Sabena to provide airframe MRO services on the all-new widebody from its site in Bordeaux, where it is modifying A380s passenger doors (after finishing wing-rib modifications) on the manufacturer's behalf.

Alain Leboucher head of sales, airframe services at Sabena said: “We have been studying the aircraft and its connectivity systems so we could come up with solutions especially designed for A350 operators.”

Source: Airbus

"Strong experience" with Airbus types at the site has been central to the extension of existing capabilities to the A350.

Sabena Technics' services for the A350 will cover airframe maintenance, "advanced" composite repairs, modifications and airworthiness management, says the MRO provider.

Based on the article “Sabena Technics receives A350 approval” published in mro-Network 

Qatar Airways will fly with A350s to Germany in coming months to get premium travellers.

Qatar Airways will upgrade all its German services to Airbus A350s as more jets are delivered.

The carrier is capitalising on a near 2-year lead over Germany’s Lufthansa in receiving the industry’s newest wide-body model.

Qatar deployed the A350 on Doha-Frankfurt trips earlier this year and will make the switch on its 2daily Munich services in October and November, with Berlin to follow, said Frederic Gossot, country manager for Germany and Austria.

“Germany is a very important market, the 2nd-biggest in terms of revenue in Europe after the UK,”said Mr Gossot.

“Our business class has been growing strongly.”

Source: Airbus

While Qatar was the first A350 customer, Lufthansa will not get its first plane until November/2016.

The Qatar A350s have 36 business berths, versus 22 on the Boeing 787-8s it has used for Frankfurt and Munich flights, so that the upgrade will add 784 premium seats a week to the 2 destinations.

Qatar is already at the 35-weekly flight limit of its air-service agreement with Germany, although it could choose to spread the services across five destinations rather than the current three.

Based on the article “Qatar Airways to put Airbus A350s on all German routes” published in The National’s Business.

Automated Flex Track driller on Spirit´s A350 fuselage manufacturing.

To join the upper and forward lower shell (Section 15) composite fuselage panels of the Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, Spirit contracted AIT to develop the world’s first automated Flex Track driller with fastening technology.

The driller/fastener developed is able to precisely drill, countersink, feed the fastener, apply sealant, and install the fastener at the point of use, reducing the manual labor involved in previous technology generations while also improving hole quality.

AIT’s driller/fastener is installed at Spirit’s Saint-Nazaire, France, facility to join the Section 15 panels.

This is the 1st production Flex Track with full-size fastening machine developed and implemented.

The 180kg machine is programmable 4^th axis and the collar is installed by an operator on the opposite side of the skin.

Based on the article “Spirit A350 Flex Track Driller With Fastening Technology” published inAdvanced Integration Technology.

Trent XWB-97 engine for A350-1000 status and roadmap.

Rolls-Royce will build 8 XWB-97 development engines in total and has run 5 of them.

The test program has just passed the 1.000 cycle milestone with the company claiming “good results so far” and “high confidence in achieving all our targets”.

Source: Airbus

On 25/June, the engine completed a 150h endurance test that included more than 16h at maximum take-off thrust and 42h 30min at maximum continuous thrust.

Meanwhile, development engine S/N20023 is at the company’s Stennis test facility in the USA preparing to have its ability to handle fan flutter and cross-winds scrutinised.

Source: Rolls Royce

Another engine at Stennis –S/N20026– will be used for cyclic testing, while a rebuild of development engine S/N20021 is taking place after that example underwent bird ingestion and rain and hail tests.

The flight testing on Airbus’s MSN1 A380 is designed to fine-tune powerplant integration and “de-risk” the flight test program on the A350-1000, expected to begin around Q3/2016.

Source: Airbus

Testing in 2016 and 2017 will focus on “maturity testing” including further thermal endurance and cyclic tests, to “ensure the final refinement of the product”.

Later this year, the company will achieve another first when the Trent XWB-97 takes to the air on the A380 flying testbed.

Based on the article “Rolls-Royce readies for Trent XWB-97 flight test on A380” published in Flight International.

Qatar Airways’ A350 Economy Cabin awarded by the Australian Business Traveller.

Qatar Airways, crowned Airline of the Year at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2015, won 2 awards at the recent Australian Business Traveller Awards.

The Doha-based carrier’s superjumbo A380 Lounge was named “Best Inflight Lounge” and the airline also picked up the “Best Economy Class” accolade for its A350 Economy Class cabin. 

  

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to have received these 2 accolades for our flagship A380 and A350 aircraft, particularly so for the A350 which only commenced operations just 7 months ago.”

“These awards bear testament to our commitment and dedication to delivering a high quality travel experience for all passengers who fly with Qatar Airways, across all classes of travel.”

“Whether you are travelling with us in the Premium Cabins or in Economy Class, our 5-star service offering remains consistent.”

 

Qatar Airways’ A350 Economy Class cabin was named Best Economy Class as it “cleverly marries the overall sense of space in the Airbus A350 cabin with an economy seat that’s a generous 18 inches wide, with ample room around the knees for even the tallest traveller,” said David Flynn, editor of theAustralian Business Traveller.

 

In addition to wider seats in Business and Economy Classes, the state-of-the-art aircraft is also quieter and features advanced air conditioning technology coupled with mood lighting to reduce passenger fatigue after a long flight.
 

Based on the article “Qatar Airways picks up two awards for flagship A380 and A350 aircraft” published in Travel Daily News

Airbus confirms A350-900LR plans, for the longest non-stop commercial air service.

Airbus is working on a new variant of its A350-900 wide-body that would allow Singapore Airlines to restore nonstop U.S. flights and regain the record for the world’s longest airline sector.

Source: Airbus

Airbus is working on changes to the cabin layout that would reduce its weight and allow Singapore Airlines to reach New York economically by 2018, said Kiran Rao, the planemaker’s Executive Vice President for Strategy and Marketing.

Source: Airbus

Rao said the A350 should be able to make the trip with 25% less fuel burn than older models, at the expense of a less dense layout than the usual 325-seat, 3-class A350-900, which could be available “an awful lot quicker than Boeing.”

Source: Airbus

Several other airlines have expressed an interest in such a variant, Rao said, while declining to identify them.

“I can’t go into details on the type of layouts they’re looking at but it would be a premium service,” he said.

Source: Airbus

When Singapore Air last flew to the New York area directly it did so with just 100 business-only seats on a four-engine Airbus A340-500, an arrangement that ultimately proved non-viable.

The route, to Newark in New Jersey, was the longest non-stop commercial air service ever offered at 15,344 kilometers (9,536 miles).

Based on the article “Airbus Plans Long-Range A350 to Fly Singapore-NYC Direct by 2018”published in Bloomberg.