Happy New Year 2016

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2016

 

 

Source: Jujug Spotting

 

Last delivery of 2015. 3rd A350 to Finnair.

Finnair has received today their 3rd A350.

MSN20 delivery makes the 15th A350 delivered (14th this year).

With register number OH-LWC (test registration F-WZFO) she was airborne on 7th of November. She was the 19^th A350 to fly.

During this period of time of almost 1,5 months, there were performed 1 flight test on 12/Dec and 2 Customer Acceptance flights on 19/Dec and 28/Dec.

The month that was spent since the first flight (7/Nov) until the second flight (12/Dec) could be linked to some cabin interior missing components or reworks required.

Today´s delivery flight AY8961 to Finnair´s hub at Helsinki completes A350s deliveries in 2015.

This is the 3^rd of 19 A350 XWBs on order for Finnair which is the first European operator.

The aircraft is configured in a premium three-class layout, with 297 seats, comprising 46 Business Class, 43 Economy Comfort and 208 Economy.

The aircraft will join the airline’s all-Airbus fleet of 47 aircraft in operation, today comprising 2 A350s, 30 A320 Family aircraft and 15 A330/A340s.

All pictures. Source: Jujug Spotting

4th TAM A350-900 with LATAM livery and 3 classes cabin lay-out.

Within the 1^st A350 delivery ceremony on 18/Dec, TAM announced that their 4^th A350-900 to be delivered in Jun/2016 (6 aircraft are planned to be delivered in 2016) will be the 1st aircraft of its fleet equipped with a Premium "Economy Plus" class.

This aircraft will be the 1^st true LATAM A350, which will carry a new livery to reflect the unified brand.

The aircraft will be configured in a premium three-class layout, with 339 seats, comprising 30 Business Class, 63 Premium Economy Plus and 246 Economy.

The first 3 A350-900s of TAM have a cabin configuration with 348 seats;  30 forward-facing business class seats in “Premium Business” cabin and 318 in Economy.

The Business class seats are arranged in a 2-2-2 layout and they can convert into a fully-flat bed.

TAM Airlines is scheduling the last delivery of their 21+6 A350-900 & A350-1000 in 2021.

All pictures. Source: Airbus

Based on the article “TAM Airlines aura six Airbus A350-1000 et une classe Premium” published in Air Journal.

Finnair sales & leaseback 2 A350s with GECAS.

Finnair has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with GE Capital Aviation Services Limited (GECAS), on the sale and leaseback of 2 Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

Source: A380_TLS_A350

The financing will cover Finnair’s 7th (MSN51) and 8th A350 (MSN97) deliveries, which are currently scheduled to enter the Finnair fleet in July/2016 and February/2017, respectively.

The value of the transaction at present foreign exchange rates is approximately 265 million euro.

The lease period is 12 years, and it includes extension options.

Finnair has ordered a total of 19 new A350-900 XWB aircraft in the fleet or on order.

Source: Airbus

According to the currently anticipated delivery schedule, Finnair will have 5 A350-900 aircraft at the beginning of the Q2/2016, 7 by the end of 2016, 11 by the end of 2017, and 19 by the end of 2023.

Source: Airbus

Disclosures on financing arrangements for the A350 aircraft will be made as those agreements are finalized.

Source: Airbus

Finnair’s fleet consists of both owned and leased aircraft.

Based on the article “Finnair sells and leases back two Airbus A350-900s with GECAS” published in Airlinewire.

"Made in Poland" sheet-metal parts for A350 from 2016.

Nimrod Group is progressing with recruitment of staff and the final preparations for the opening of a new industrial plant in Poland.

The new factory will support the ramp-up of the A350 producing sheet metal parts for Stelia Aerospace Tier1. Azura Polska site is located in Łódź.

Nimrod Group, a French tier2, announced last September their intention to open a new facility in Poland after receiving the invitation from Airbus Group Poland “to support long-term industrial strategy” linked to the discussions concerning the H225M Caracal helicopter offsets.

The 1st long-term agreement with Stelia Aerospace is a contract of more than 3 million hours of work, ensuring a stable and technically advanced jobs in Azura Polska until at least 2024.

Azura Polska site is planned to generate 200 to 300 new direct jobs and the initial investment of 1 million€ has been already completed including purchasing of equipments and machines that will be installed at the factory starting in January/2016.

Based on the article “Azura Polska rozpocznie produkcję części do samolotu Airbus A350” published in BiznesAlert.

TAM replaces 6 A350-900s with bigger A350-1000s.

The LATAM Airlines Group revealed last week a partial conversion of its order of Airbus A350-900; 6 of 27 ordered A350-900s have been replaced by 6 A350-1000.

Within the 1^st A350 delivery ceremony on 18/Dec, LATAM announced that they had converted "in September of this year" 6 orders for the largest model, the A350-1000, "by reason of its superior ability".

José Zaidan Malus, Vice President of fleet and engines of LATAM, explained that "we are always very attentive to the context, adjusting the fleet renewal plan in order to obtain an optimal allocation of aircraft for each market.”

The entry into service of the A350-900 is scheduled 25/January from the base of TAM Airlines at Sao Paulo-Guarulhos to Manaus-Eduardo Gomes Airport on 1 of the 3 daily flights.

She will flight in March to Miami and on 4/April to Madrid.

All pictures. Source: Airbus

Based on the article “TAM Airlines aura six Airbus A350-1000 et une classe Premium” published in Air Journal.

Airworthiness Directive for A350: failures on inboard aileron EHAs.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is giving operators of the Airbus A350 until 11/Jan to begin daily post-flight checks of the aircraft’s 2 inboard ailerons to verify that the electro-hydrostatic actuators (EHAs) that drive the roll-control surfaces are working properly.

The AD (Airworthiness Directive) issued by EASA requires repetitive post-flight checks (activation) of each inboard aileron EHA and, in case of failure, replacement of the affected EHA with a serviceable one.

 

The interim action required by the AD (Airworthiness Directive) specifies that since 28/Dec until 11/Jan and, thereafter, during each flight day, but not exceeding 2 flight cycles, it is needed to accomplish a post-flight activation procedure on each inboard aileron EHA in accordance with the instructions of Airbus AOT A27P007-15-00.

Source: Moog

If, during any EHA activation the message “F/CTL INR AILERON ELEC ACTUATOR” is triggered, before next flight, it will be mandatory to accomplish the troubleshooting procedure on the affected EHA in accordance with the instructions of Airbus AOT A27P007-15-00.

If the failure remains, before next flight, it will be needed to replace the affected EHA with a serviceable one.

Source: Flight International

 

But why? What is the reason behind this AD (Airworthiness Directive)?

Several on-ground failures were reported on A350 aircraft of inboard aileron electro-hydrostatic actuator (EHA), manufactured by Moog.

Source: Airbus

Concurrent with these failures, a Dispatch Message (DM) “F/CTL INR AILERON ELEC ACTUATOR” was displayed.

Further analysis and testing by Airbus determined that in such cases the switch from damping to active mode did not occur, preventing the activation of the EHA.

This failure corresponds to a scenario called ‘’spurious damping’’ and can be detected only when the EHA is activated.

As a consequence, the EHA will not be able to take over in case of adjacent servo control failure or yellow hydraulic failure.

This condition, if not detected and corrected, and combined with other failures could result in loss of control of inboard aileron potentially resulting in inability to ensure sufficient control on the roll axis of the aeroplane.

Airbus issued Alert Operators Transmission (AOT) A27P007-15-00 to provide post-flight EHA activation instructions.

 

Based on the article “Airbus A350 Receives First Airworthiness Directive” published in Aviation Daily.