Trent XWB engine ready for first flight

A couple of spare engines are being shipped to Toulouse to support the A350 flight-test programme in case an installed engine is damaged, for example by foreign object ingestion. Rolls-Royce engineers will fly on many A350 test flights to monitor engine performance.

"The engines are ready and capable to go to their limits from day one, should Airbus choose to do so," says Young. "The program - which we're fully supporting with our initial flight-compliant engines - has a very clear aim to make sure that first flight is prior to the Paris air show."

Based on the article “All eyes on XWB” published in FlightGlobal

Airbus adopting a “minimum-change approach”.

Tom Enders says EADS has become more risk-averse following its troubles with Airbus A380 production, instead adopting a “minimum-change approach.”

With this approach, the manufacturer is minimizing airframe and cockpit changes on new aircraft, such as the A350 XWB, and focusing more on “aircraft engines and all the systems that are related to engines,” said Enders. EADS also is increasing its emphasis on reliability, delivering aircraft on time with the promised operational ability.

 EADS CEO Enders jumping from the Airbus Military A400M airlifter when he wasn´t so risk-averse

“That drives us, where we can, to modify existing aircraft, rather than going into all new development with all the risks,” Enders said, citing the Airbus NEO program as an example. An Airbus spokesman at the luncheon noted that the “minimum-change approach” also reduces the time to market, is less labor intensive and uses fewer engineering resources.

Enders is not ruling out a second engine option for the A350 beyond the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB should a manufacturer provide a good alternative, but says the lack of an option is not hurting sales of the aircraft.

Based on the article “EADS Reviewing Revenue Goals” published in Aviation Week

A350 XWB MSN001 leaves hangar for outdoor ground testing

The first A350 XWB – MSN001 – now showing its completed wings, has been moved to its next phase of ground testing, from Roger Béteille A350 XWB FAL “Station 30” to the Clément Ader area “Station 18” in Toulouse. The aircraft is structurally complete and shows the installed winglets, belly fairing panels, main landing gear doors.

The aircraft has recently completed successfully a series of indoor ground tests as well as stability tests on ‘movable’ elements such as rudder, elevators, ailerons and wing spoilers and landing gears extraction/retraction. The next steps which will take place outdoors at the Station 18 ground test station will include three planned families of tests: Fuel tanks testing – including levels, flows, sealing and internal fuel transfer functions; pressure testing of the fuselage; and radio equipment testing.

Airbus to decide in 2013 if adding another assembly line for A350-1000.

Airbus said it’s looking to add another assembly line for the new A350 wide-body plane to meet rising demand as Airlines show no sign of putting orders on hold after Boeing’s battery troubles with the 787 Dreamliner.

With more than 600 orders placed for the A350, due for its first flight this summer before deliveries begin in the second half of next year, Airbus is looking at adding capacity for the largest -1000 variant, chief operating officer John Leahy said.

“I would like to believe that sometime this year we’ll be able to make a decision to do that,” Leahy, who is also Airbus’s chief salesman, said in an interview in Singapore. Production of the baseline A350-900 began in October/2012, with the smaller -800 due to enter service in 2016 followed by the -1000 in 2017.

Demand for new models will continue to be driven by a need to cut fuel bills, Leahy said, adding that Boeing will find a fix for the 787’s glitches, which won’t ultimately impact sales at either manufacturer.

Leahy said that the A350 has been “very popular” in Asia. That’s after Airbus Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier said on 23/Oct he was confident the company could sell 70 or 80 -1000 variants a year as customers upgrade to bigger jets, compared with a previous planning assumption of 40 or 50.

The 350-seat -1000, which has a list price of $332 million, broke a four-year sales drought on 11/July as Cathay Pacific Airways of Hong Kong placed an order for 10 aircraft. The model has accrued 105 firm commitments in total.

Based on the article “Airbus Plans A350 Assembly Boost as 787 Woes Fail to Dent Sales” published in Bloomberg

Competition of Pratt & Whitney against Rolls Royce in the A350-900 engine: too late.

Pratt & Whitney is considering building an engine for the A350 long-haul plane to challenge Rolls-Royce’s monopoly on the new aircraft, people familiar with the plan said.

Pratt & Whitney would offer an engine based on its PW1000G geared turbofan technology, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plan isn’t public. A decision to formally pursue the program may come as soon as this year, one of the people said.

Airbus had originally sought a second engine offering to Rolls-Royce’s TrentXWB on its A350. It had failed to persuade either General Electric, which powers the competing Boeing 777, or Pratt & Whitney, which was tied up developing the geared turbofan. Airlines including Air France-KLM have said they’d welcome a choice because it would give them leverage on maintenance, a major source of revenue for Rolls-Royce.

Airbus would have to sign off on the Pratt plan before airlines could opt for the engine. The company is “happy that the one engine we have on offer has already achieved 617 sales,” spokeswoman Marcella Muratore said. “However we have always said that we would consider other offers if they are competitive in terms of performance.”

“As Pratt & Whitney looks ahead to powering future wide- body applications, we will scale the geared turbofan architecture to the required thrust levels,” the company said. “We continue to keep all airframers informed of our progress on the PW1000G family, including studies with Airbus for potential wide-body applications.”

Managing Resources

Pratt & Whitney’s A350 engine would have to be more than twice as powerful as its existing versions. The company, a subsidiary of United Technologies, has undertaken studies that show the leap can be made even if technical hurdles must be overcome, one person said.

The engine maker remains interested in using its technology to power big jets, Bob Saia, who oversees Pratt’s next- generation products, said in an interview this month. Pratt decided not to compete for a spot on the upgraded version of Boeing’s 777 due around the end of the decade, a program drawing interest from GE and Rolls-Royce, the industry leaders.

Approved Engine

Development of Pratt engines for regional and single-aisle jets is nearing an end, with the turbines in flight testing. That’s freed up resources to pursue a slot on larger airliners.

Rolls has won exclusive rights from Airbus to offer the TrentXWB on the A350-1000, the largest model, while its position on the -900, the first and most popular version, and on the smaller -800, can be challenged.

The unique airline mentioned in this article is Air France-KLM. With an order of 25 A350-900 on stand by since Sep/2011. Air France has been trying to gain rights to maintain engines from Rolls-Royce as part of this long-planned order for A350s. Failure to strike an agreement between the airline, which wants to bolster its technical unit, and the engine maker, which wants to protect its profitable after-sales income, has delayed a deal.

Based on the article “Pratt & Whitney Said to Study Airbus A350 Engine to Rival Rolls” published in Bloomberg.

Air France-KLM postpones again the 25 A350 XWB order signature because there is no agreement with Airbus and Rolls Royce yet.

Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM expects to sign a definitive order for a long-delayed purchase of Airbus A350 long-range jets "during 2013", Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta told a news conference.

Air France Chief Executive Alexandre de Juniac had said last month that it hoped to complete the purchase by the end of March.

"The contract is still being negotiated with Airbus," Spinetta said. "It should be signed during 2013."

Air France-KLM placed the provisional $7 billion order for 25 wide-bodied A350-900 passenger jets in September 2011 at the same time as ordering 25 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, a deal which has since been confirmed.

Air France is under discussions with Rolls-Royce on engine maintenance and under discussions with Airbus on A380 claims to compensate for the loss of profits linked to many A380 delays/cancellations due to technical problems. Air France has not selected the engines for the 787 order signed with Boeing.

Based on the article “Air France-KLM sees Airbus A350 deal this year” published in Reuters

 

Another key contributor to the reduced fuel consumption of the A350 XWB installed in the MSN1; winglets..

The A350 XWB winglets have been painted in Toulouse and installed on MSN1, revealing for the first time the full shape of the 32-metre A350 XWB wing.

The A350 XWB winglets have been designed to achieve the best aerodynamic performance and are a significant contributor to the reduced fuel consumption of the aircraft. Manufactured in composite by FACC, they are 2.3m wide at the basis and 2m high. They are pre-fitted by FACC so that only mechanical assembly remains to be done in the FAL.

The complete wing cannot fit into the Beluga and that´s the reason the installation needs to be performed in the FAL, where the winglets are fixed to the wing with about 80 fasteners all around the winglet.

The winglets are painted before installation on the aircraft allowing the Customer an early visual identification of the aircraft (as with the Vertical Tail Plane). For MSN1, the winglets have been customized with Airbus colors in the same facility where A320 sharklets are painted.