278t/300pax variant A350-900 for Philippine Airlines for non-stop Manila-New York route.

Philippine Airlines –which has ordered up to 12 A350-900s- is set to receive a higher-weight version of the A350-900 designed to provide enhanced capability on particular long routes.

The aircraft will have a “slightly increased” maximum take-off weight of 278t.

Airbus´s formal specifications for the A350-900 identify 3 current weight variants for the twinjet type; 268t, 272t and 275t maximum take-off weights.

Source: A380_TLS_A350

The type´s fuel capacity is listed by Airbus as 138.000 litres, common to each weight variant.

Airbus said that the enhancement to 278t for Philippine Airlines will allow it to operate non-stop year-round on the Manila.New York route, with a full passenger load.

Manila, with high average daytime temperatures although its coastal location means it is situated at relatively low altitude, is 13.700km (7.400nm) far from New York (great-circle distance).

Philippine Airlines has stated that the A350-900 will be fitted with 300 seats but has to disclose full details of the passenger cabin configuration.

Source: Airbus

Phillipine Airlines is set to take delivery of its first A350 by the end of 2018.

The weight change is the only amendment to the A350 specification for the carrier. It has not indicated whether any other airlines hve requested the same enhancement.

Based on the article “Higher-weight A350-900 to go the distance for PAL” published in FlightGlobal.

A350s for Iran Air will be “85% financed by Europeans”.

Managing Director of Iran Air Farhad Parvaresh said 80 – 85% of the contracts for the delivery of Airbus A350 XWB to Iran will be financed by the Europeans.

Source: Hamid Forootan

Speaking to reporters at the time of the landing of the first A350 XWB at Mehrabad Airport, Parvaresh noted that based on the contract which was signed, 16 A350-1000s will be delivered as of 2021 according to the schedule.

Source: Hossein Esmaeli

He also said that in case the conditions for deliveries (initially 16 A350-1000 aircraft planned) were not mature enough, they could be substituted with A350-900 or other models.

Source: Hossein Esmaeli

Iran Air and Airbus signed an agreement for 118 aircraft last month.

Source: Hossein Esmaeli

Parvaresh said that the deal is “the start of re-establishing our civil aviation sector into the envy of the region”.

Based on the article “Iran Air chief: 85% of A350 Airbus delivery contracts to be financed by Europeans” published in The Iran Project.

Airbus has started working in the A350-1000 stretch variant with key airlines.

Airbus plans to offer airlines an update by the Farnborough Air Show in July on its potential plans to come out with a bigger variant of the A350 wide-body jetliner so it can better challenge the order success of Boeing’s enlarged 777X.

 

Source: Airbus

The aircraft, a longer version of the A350-1000 --itself already a so-called stretch model-- would be offer more seats in 3-class configuration than Boeing’s 777-9, Airbus’s chief salesman John Leahy said.

 

While A350-900 (325 seats) and A350-1000 (366 seats) is sufficient to combat existing 777 variants and the upgraded 777-8, Airbus doesn’t currently have a twin-aisle model to offer the capacity of Boeing’s 777-9, a maximum of 425 people.

Source: @RayanDkhilFLY

 

Airbus is studying whether there is a big enough market at 30 to 40 seats larger than the current A350-1000, Leahy said.

 

“We’re starting to conclude that perhaps there is such a market and now we’re talking to key airlines about what we might be able to do in that market but no final decision has been made,” Leahy said.

 

“We’ll certainly be able to give you an update at Farnborough.”

 

Source: @azuan1880

Leahy said the new variant would have more seats than the 425 seats maximum capacity of the Boeing 777-9.

 

Leahy said that the Rolls-Royce Plc engines now offered for the A350-1000 would be sufficient to power a larger variant, though would likely need some thrust added.

Source: Airbus

 

“There will not be a brand new engine," Leahy said.

 

"We might increase the thrust of it, but it will be the same engine technology if we were to do the airplane. We study a lot of things of which some end up in the market and some don’t."

 

Based on the article “Airbus Targets Farnborough Show for Update on Bigger A350-1000” published in Bloomberg.

 

A350 more news in Twitter

These are other A350 News published during last weeks on my twitter.
Follow me on @A350Blog to watch all tweets in real time.

Cathay Pacific´s A350 cabin only for 280 passengers.

The 1st of Cathay Pacific's new Airbus A350 jets is expected to take wing in March (could probably be delayed to April), with new design seats fitted from tip to tail.

 

 

Each of the airline's 20 A350-900 jets will carry 280 passengers split between business class, premium economy and economy.

Cathay will be the operator with lowest passenger capacity and with 3-class interior (Qatar has 283 seats with 2-class cabin).

 

Source: Australian Business Traveller.

 

38 business class seats will take pride of place at the pointy end of Cathay's A350.

They'll be based on the airline's current highly-regarded business class and in the same 1-2-1 layout – but with an updated design which CX is carefully positioning as a 'refresh' to improve the existing seat, based on extensive passenger surveys and in-person workshops.

Travellers can expect to see improvements in storage space (one of the items delayed in the FAL), the ability to slide the meal table forward and back, and a degree of tilt for the large HD video screen.

 

There's also a compact premium economy cabin of 28 seats in a 2-4-2 arrangement.

This will sport an all-new design with a padded swing-up legrest be built into every seat.

There's also tipped to be a little more legroom due to a slightly greater distance between each row of seats.

Cathay has also added a handy 'tablet tray' beneath each seat's inbuilt screen onto which passengers can perch a tablet or even a large-screen smartphone for watching BYO inflight video.

Source: Jujug Spotting

 

The rest of Cathay Pacific's A350 will be given over to 214 new economy seats ranked in a 3-3-3 grid, which also boast a similar tablet/smartphone ledge below their larger video screens.

The Airbus A350 will also be fitted with inflight Internet, which is a first for Cathay Pacific's international fleet and an overdue catch-up to competitors such as Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Etihad.

 

 

Based on the article “Inside Cathay Pacific's all-new Airbus A350” published in Australian Business Traveller.

A350 assembly-line´s Spanish supplier Aritex purchased by a Chinese company.

Some Chinese companies leaded by Han´s Laser are purchasing the Spanish supplier Aritex, specialized on assembly lines and automated tooling and equipments.

Aritex (and Loxin) is part of a Spanish company Comsa linked to construction and which is divesting within its commitment with banks to reduce debt.

The Chinese company Han´s Laser (along with a few partners) plans to buy, through Hong Kong SPV, the 95% of Aritex Cading.

The operation will round 50 million euros and the Chinese company will absorb the current debt of Aritex.

Aritex, with headquarters in Badalona (Spain) is working for Airbus, Boeing, Comac and other aerospace companies with facilities and offices in USA (Seattle and Wichita), Mexico (Puebla), Brazil (Sao Paulo), Germany (Heilbronn) and China (Shanghai).

 

 

Within the A350 XWB program scope, Aritex is the supplier that has developed and installed the following projects for Airbus:

• Vertical Tail Plane (VTP) assembly line at Stade and Horizontal Tail Plane (HTP) assembly line at Puerto Real. The workstation and tool unit allows the correct assembly of the VTP or the HTP from the start to the end of the process.

 

• Wing Stringer Production and Positioning Cell at Illescas. Fully automated cell for the integration of stringers for wings (left and right) of the A350.

 

• Double assembly line for the Keel Beam of the A350XWB at Nantes. These bivalent design lines allow the assembly of the two versions of the product (-900 and -1000). The lines combine different vertical, horizontal and subassembly stations, which enables optimization of the necessary useful space.

 

 

 

Based on the article “Una empresa china planea la compra de Aritex a Comsa por 50 millones” published in Expansion.

Virgin Atlantic will confirm in coming weeks the decision to order 12 A350-1000s.

Based on the Aviation Daily article mentioned below, Virgin Atlantic has ordered 12 Airbus A350-1000s.

                                                                       

The airline has ordered 12 A350-1000s, with six A350s to be obtained directly from Airbus or through lessors.

The airline will not confirm the deal, but it is understood that company staff were told of the plan on 12/Jan.

Source: airliners.net

“We are currently evaluating our future leisure fleet requirements to ensure that any new aircraft we introduce will provide the best possible outcome for our customers and our business,” Virgin Atlantic said in a statement.

“We will make an announcement once we have completed this process and can confirm a decision,” it added.

Airbus also would not comment on the deal.

Virgin Atlantic plans to use the A350s to replace its fleet of Boeing 747-400s, which operate on leisure routes to U.S. and Caribbean holiday destinations from London and U.K. regional airports.

The 747s are due to exit the fleet before 2020.

The airline is in the process of replacing its Airbus A340-300 and A340-600 fleets with the Airbus A330-300 and the Boeing 787-9.

Based on the article “Virgin Atlantic Orders A350-1000s” published in Aviation Daily.