A350 Certified with Ni-Cad batteries. Return to the lithium-ion technology agreed.

The global 787 fleet was grounded from January to April last year after 2 lithium-ion batteries burned out in separate incidents in Japan and the United States.

Source: Airbus.

Airbus had intended to use lithium-ion batteries for the A350 –due to weigh less than traditional power packs-, but switched back to traditional nickel-cadmium in the face of the 787 problems to prevent its own schedule slipping.

Evrard said Airbus had agreed with EASA how to return to the lithium-ion technology and that this would happen in 2016, probably targeted for MSN21 of Qatar Airways.

"We have flown the lithium battery for all development aircraft except the MSN5 and we have accumulated experience in flight," he told reporters, adding he was "absolutely" certain they would be safe. “From the very beginning we were fully aware of the conditions of use, and how we could mitigate any risks to zero.”

Source: Airbus

Japan's transport authority said last week it was unable to find the root cause of the overheating of a battery on a 787 owned by ANA Holdings in January/2103. Boeing said its reinforced battery system ensures the safety of the 787 Dreamliner.

Based on the article “Airbus wins European approval for its new A350 jet” published in Reuters.

A350 first aircraft for Qatar Airways roll-out and 2 months for Entry Into Service.

The first A350 XWB for Qatar Airways is progressing towards delivery before year end, probably on the first days of December. The exact delivery date will be determined jointly with the carrier in the coming weeks. 

Source: Airbus.

The aircraft equipped with Rolls Royce Trent XWB engines rolled out of the Airbus factory in Toulouse fully painted, prominently bearing Qatar Airways’ livery.

Source: flickr

Following the recent EASA Type Certification, the Qatar Airways A350-900 is now entering into its final stage of production during which Airbus and the airline teams are actively working together in order to ensure a seamless hand-over process. The remaining steps up to delivery comprise notably the cabin completion as well as ground and flight tests.

Source: Airbus.

The MSN006 is now “ready to be transferred to the flight-test team,” Evrard said. Airbus is working on familiarizing Qatar Airways with the aircraft. Evard said that will require “a number of flights,” but it is difficult to predict just how many flights or hours. But he said, “If I were a golf player, I would say we are on the green.” 

Based on the article "The Way Forward" published in Aviation Week.

Delta evaluating A350-900 for replacing old Boeing 747s and 767s. Low prices and availability will be key.

Delta Air Lines has narrowed down its options for a planned widebody order to either the Airbus A350-900 or the Boeing 787-9, said chief executive Richard Anderson.

Source: Florent Peraudeau

“We’re in the process of either choosing a 787-9 or an A350-900. The important thing about that is that fleet is going to unlock the longer haul markets.”

Delta began evaluating options for an up to 50 widebody aircraft order to replace the 16 Boeing 747-400s and majority of the 58 Boeing 767-300ERs in its fleet in April. 

Source: Clement Alloing

Only aircraft currently offered by Airbus and Boeing were being considered; the Airbus A330-200/300, A350-900/1000 and Boeing 777-300ER and 787-8/9/10.

Source: Rami-kahanna-Prade

Delta is expected to make a decision in the fourth quarter and announce an order before the end of the year.

Based on the article “Delta focused on A350-900 and 787-9 for widebody order” published in FlightGlobal.

Carbon fiber supplier Hexcel invests for the A350 XWB ram-up.

Hexcel is investing $250 million on a new carbon fiber plant in France, with part of the production going into the A350 XWB.

The new site in Roussillon will include new precursor and carbon fiber lines along with quality control laboratories and offices.

The 37-acre site at the Osiris Chemicals Industry Platform is close to the existing Hexcel weaving and prepreg manufacturing facilities near Lyon, France.

The plant will be Hexcel’s first precursor plant in Europe and its first carbon fiber capacity site in France, the company said.

Source: Airbus

“The state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities that we will build demonstrate our commitment to technology expansion around the world to provide an efficient global supply chain in support of customer programs,” Hexcel CEO and President Nick Stanage said.

Construction will begin in mid-2015. It is expected to employ 120 people when fully operational in early 2018.

Based on the article “New Hexcel plant will supply carbon fiber for Airbus A350 XWB” published in Plastic News

Emirates will revisit A350 cancellation decision next year, only after obtaining real fuel consumption data.

Emirates aims to launch a competition between the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 during 2015 once it has obtained detailed performance and in-service data for the two twinjets.

The airline will re-evaluate the A350-900 and -1000 alongside the 787-9 and -10 following its decision in June to terminate its original contract placed in 2007 for 70 A350 XWB aircraft.

Source: © Airbus

Emirates Airline president Tim Clark says the decision to cancel the original A350 order was driven by Airbus’s move 3 years ago to revamp the A350-1000 around a more powerful engine. “It’s a different aeroplane to the one ordered,” says Clark.

“We needed a fresh contract. This was a beast that needed to have its contractual terms aligned with what it was and will be,” Clark said during World Routes in Chicago. “They didn’t match, and Airbus knew they didn’t match as it would have been kicking up merry hell about us walking away from the contract.”

Source: © Airbus

Clark said he told Airbus that he would be “happy to sit down again” to revise the contract. However the expansion of the 787 family to include a second stretched variant, the -10, means that Boeing’s Dreamliner has entered the equation.

“The 787-10 didn’t exist when we signed for the A350. Now it does,” says Clark. “So we will launch a campaign that will look at both the 787-9/10 and the A350-900/1000. And we’ll see who comes up with the best deal, not just at the front-end price but also the operating economics. And then we’ll decide how many and when.”

Source: © Airbus

Clark said that the shorter-range 787-10 has a lower empty weight than the A350-900, which could be an advantage in the evaluation: “The A350-900 is full of fuel tanks because it can fly from the Gulf to New York nonstop, but the 787-10 isn’t designed to do that. It’s designed to take the same number of passengers over much shorter missions, which for us is fine,” he says. “And it’s possibly cheaper because it’s not so heavy.”

But Clark is not prepared to start evaluating either type until he has seen the A350-900 and 787-9 “operated in anger”. He says he wants “real hard operating numbers in terms of fuel burn etc” and to ensure that the in-service technical performance is satisfactory.

Source: © Airbus

“That will come during the course of the next 6 months or so we’ll probably re-open talks some time next year,” he said.

Based on the article “Emirates to re-evaluate A350 alongside 787 next year” published in FlightGlobal

A350 waiting ETOPS certification

Although the A350 is ready for service, it will not be able to fly on the longest oceanic routes for which it was designed until Airbus also receives clearance for extended operations, which its executives expect to happen within days or weeks.

A350 Chief Engineer McConnell believes it may take several more weeks to get the initial Extended Twin Operations (ETOPS) clearance. He said ETOPS will be “perfectly adequate” for the needs of the operators.  A European safety official said the aircraft would be authorized to fly on virtually any world route.

Airbus is also waiting for certification from the FAA, but question marks remain over how quickly and extensively the U.S. regulator will grant extended operations after problems with the entry to service of the 787.

The ability to fly long routes over water is determined by the amount of time an aircraft is allowed to operate on one engine in the event that the other engine fails.

The EASA certification document indicates that there will be an ETOPS 180 minutes approval and a separate approval for ETOPS beyond that limit, neither of which has been issued yet. Industry sources said Airbus had asked European authorities to clear the A350 to fly for up to 370 minutes on one engine, exceeding the so-called ETOPS limit of 330 minutes on the 787.

 All pictures are © Airbus

Based on the article “Airbus wins European approval for its new A350 jet” published in Reuters.

A team of 40 EASA-engineers & test pilots has actively participated in the A350 Certification campaign.

When handing over EASA type certificate to Airbus, Patrick Ky, EASA Executive Director said: "We dealt with a very mature aircraft.

Airbus and EASA have learnt from experience and have established pragmatic working methods which have proved to be the recipe for the successful type certification and the way forward for future certification programs. I wish a long and safe journey to the A350 program throughout its life in service".

During the certification campaign, EASA has established 16 technical panels composed of 40 engineers and test pilots, covering the full range of the program from structure to avionics and from cabin safety to flight tests.

EASA flight test teams have actively participated in more than 250 hours of flight testing.

Nearly 700 certification documents were reviewed and accepted by EASA.

More than 60.000 hours were logged by EASA staff or experts from European National Aviation Authorities to enable the certification of the A350.

All pictures are © Airbus

Based on the EASA press release.