31+25 A350 XWBs ordered by JAL makes this agreement “significant”; 1st order of JAL with Airbus, 1st order from Japan for the A350 XWB and largest order of A350 in 2013. A huge win for Airbus.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has signed a purchase agreement for 31 A350 XWBs (18 A350-900s and 13 A350-1000s), plus options for a further 25 aircraft. This is JAL’s first ever order for Airbus aircraft. It is also the first order Airbus has received from Japan for the A350 XWB. JAL and Airbus aim for entry into service from 2019, with the airline’s A350 XWBs gradually replacing its ageing fleet approximately over a 6 year period.

“We will utilize the A350 XWB to maximum, which offers high level of operational efficiency and product competitiveness, while positively catering to new business opportunities after slots at airports in Tokyo are increased,” said Yoshiharu Ueki, President of Japan Airlines. “In addition to improving profitability with advanced aircraft, we always aim to deliver unparalleled services to customers with the latest cabin and steady expansion of our route network.”

"Japan Airlines is well known as one of the most preferred airlines in the world providing its passengers with an excellent flight experience. We sincerely welcome Japan Airlines as a new Airbus customer and feel honored by this first ever order from Japan for our all-new A350 XWB,” said Fabrice Bregier, President and CEO of Airbus. "It fills us with pride to see a leading Japanese airline start a new chapter with us. This highlights a very bright and flourishing future for both of us, JAL and Airbus.”


This will make JAL the 6th largest A350 Order after Qatar(80), Singapore Airlines(70), Emirates(70), Cathay Pacific(46) and United(35).


Based on the press release “Airbus and Japan Airlines sign their first ever order” published by Airbus.

A350-800 not to be canceled as Aeroflot and Airbus have signed the order agreement comprising 22 A350 XWB aircraft… and 8 of them are A350-800, with deliveries between 2018 and 2023.

A previously undisclosed price tag for the contract to supply 22 Airbus A350 airplanes for Aeroflot totaled $3.1 billion, a news report said last Friday.

Aeroflot signed a contract with Airbus in 2007 to purchase 18 A350-800XWB and 4 A350-900XWB planes for an undisclosed sum.

The planes were initially set to be supplied between 2014 and 2017, but according to presentation materials obtained by Interfax, the terms have now been changed to years 2018 through 2023.

An industry insider said that the contract has changed to include more planes of the 900 series. Under the new agreement, the airline will get 8 Airbus planes of the 800 series and the rest will be of the 900 series.

Another large contract concluded by Aeroflot in 2007 will give the airline 22 Boeing B787 Dreamliner airplanes starting in 2016.

The company's fleet is currently balanced between Boeing and Airbus-made planes. However, Aeroflot plans to include 126 planes from Russian producers, such as the Sukhoi SuperJet-100 and MS-21, by 2020.


Based on the article “Aeroflot Paid $3,1Bln for Airbus A350 Order” published in The Moscow Times

Qatar Airways CEO: “We think that the seat-mile cost efficiency of the A350-1000 will do a better job than the 787-9”

Qatar Airways is growing frustrated by the ongoing teething problems being suffered by its 787 fleet, warning Boeing that future orders could be in doubt unless remedies are quickly found.

The Doha-based airline has firm orders for 30 787s, of which 6 have been delivered, and holds 30 additional purchase rights. It aims to take all its 30 firm orders as 787-8s and is considering firming up the purchase rights as the larger -9 variant. But chief executive Akbar Al Baker says this will depend on how quickly Boeing can address the frustrations with its in-service fleet.

Qatar is closely following the A350 XWB development

The outspoken CEO, who has previously been critical of problems with the airline’s 787s, says there are “still issues and Boeing is aware of that. And they need to resolve these issues very quickly because Qatar Airways is getting very frustrated with them.”

“There are so many teething problems... although it is not anything major that would require us to ground our aircraft, it is enough to give us grief on our dispatch reliability,” says Al Baker.

Qatar Airways is considering whether to take up its 30 purchase rights as the stretch 787-9, but the ongoing 787-8 issues are playing into its -9 evaluation, which also includes the A350.

Qatar has 80 A350s on order, of which 42 are -900s and 38 -1000s. The airline is due to receive its firstA350-900 by the end of 2014.

“We will either make a decision to take the -9, or take additional A350-1000s. And we have to decide soon,” Al Baker says. “They are different sizes, but we think that the seat-mile cost efficiency of the A350-1000 will do a better job.”

The decision about which aircraft to order will be driven by “how the problems are fixed and how we are convinced that we have confidence that the problems will be fixed. With the amount of problems they’re having with the 787-8, we don’t know if this will be translated into the -9.”

Al Baker says the airline still plans to take its 30 firm orders as 787-8s, but warns that “it all depends on how much pain we are prepared to sustain”.



Based on the article “Al Baker fires off warning to Boeing about continuing 787 problems” published in Flight Global

Airbus will duplícate the A350 HTP boxes assembly line in Puerto Real by 2015

Airbus approved the investment to add a new building to it´s Puerto Real site, where the A350 XWB Horizontal Tail Plane (HTP) boxes are assembled.

As confirmed by Jesús López Medina, Airbus Puerto Real Director, the factory will be expanded with a building of around 3,000 square meters.

click the picture to watch a video

Jesús López Medina explained that the A330 assembly line will be moved to the new building, allowing the duplication of the current A350 HTP boxes assembly line. In Puerto Real site, Airbus also assemblies some workpackeges for the A380.

The duplicated line for the A350 assembly need to be setup for the beginning of 2015.

For the head of Airbus in Puerto Real, "this decision is important; Airbus has seen that it is something necessary, that these components are not going to be subcontracted”

“This year we will be delivering to Getafe site between 8 and 9 aircraft, but the coming year we have to deliver the double. We have to expand the factory because the production of the A350 is growing. This year, at the Puerto Real plant we have allocated between 25 and 30 people, of these, 18 are operators and 5 design engineers. The plant not only wins in workload with white collars, but we provide autonomy to solve needs to make modifications in drawings, etc., without having to go to Madrid. The Airbus management gives autonomy to this factory, which is a qualitative growth".



Based on the article “Airbus ampliará su planta de Puerto Real para asumir el A350 y el A330” published in Diario de Cádiz.

First VMU test could be completed last week in an airport close to Paris.

The first VMU test could be performed last 26/Sep in an airport around 30 km south or southeast of Paris. It could be at Brétigny sur Orge (LFPY) or at Melun Villaroche Aerodrome (LFPM).

The A350 first prototype MSN1 took off from Toulouse at 04:28 UTC early in the morning (06:28h local time) as AIB57WB after 4 days of no test-flights, used in the Flight Line to prepare all the special equipment required for the VMU test. The aircraft landed back in Toulouse 6 hours later at 10:14 UTC (12:14h local time).

Brétigny-sur-Orge Air Base

Brétigny-sur-Orge Air Base (LFPY) is a French Air Force base. The base is located approximately 17 miles (27 km) south of Paris. Today, the base is a modern, fully equipped NATO base. The base has a new 3km runway recently marked with an excellent concrete surface.

Melun Villaroche Aerodrome

Another possibility is the Melun Villaroche Aerodrome that is located in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. The airport has two paved runways: 10/28 measuring 1,975 by 45 metres (6,480 ft × 148 ft) and 01/19 measuring 1,300 by 30 metres (4,265 ft × 98 ft).

The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile, the French air accident investigation agency, has facilities at Melun Aerodrome.

flying on 26/Sep/2013

SNECMA (SAFRAN) has a large manufacturing plant to the south of the airport.

This aerodrome is best known for the numerous tests of aircraft prototypes that have occurred until the early 1980s, especially those of several military aircraft such as the Dassault Mystery; Mirage, and VTOL designs. It was also a test center for SNECMA.

Many World War II relics can be found at the airport, abandoned taxiways with aircraft hardstands are evident with deteriorating concrete. A munitions storage area remains to the east of the north-south runways in a wooded area along with what appear to be old concrete hangar foundations, buildings, and other wartime concrete taxiways.

In few days we will know where the tests were done, with spectacular pictures taken by Airbus.

Design of the engine for A350-1000 on track. Drawings release & parts manufacturing phase starts after CDR maturity gate passed by Rolls-Royce.

Rolls-Royce and Airbus have completed a critical design review (CDR) for the Trent XWB-97 engine destined for the A350-1000.
The XWB-97 is designed to generate the higher thrust needed by the A350-1000 without any increases to the size of the nacelle used on the A350-800/900, and without impacting the specific fuel consumption or on-wing life of the engine. To solve this conundrum, the larger engine incorporates a higher flow-capacity fan to pump more air, a larger core to increase flow and higher-capability turbines to extract power for the fan.

Prototype demonstrations to prove key technology for these improvements also are underway at INTA (the Spanish space agency) in Spain, using a modified XWB-84, and the design groups at the CDR meeting viewed data from these tests as part of development review.

“Some key milestones are coming,” says Trent XWB’s program director Chris Young. Development activity is rapidly accelerating on the new engine as the first Trent XWB continues in flight testing. “We still have a lot of people working on the 84K [XWB-84], but now we have passed the crossover point where there are more people working on the XWB-97.”

Prior to the joint review with Airbus last week, R-R had “just completed the CDR for the 97K engine. It’s a really important milestone because it is the one that says you are good to start machining and to start releasing the drawings to get into final manufacturing. After that is when parts start coming in to stores at the end of the year and early next year. That clears the way for the start of assembly and first test in the middle of next year,” Young explains.

Following the completion of a PDR-preliminary design review for the XWB-97 in January, Young says “there is real raw material coming together for forgings and castings.” These include the completion of rough machining of the first variable stator vanes, initial machining of the intermediate pressure (IP) compressor sixth-stage disc, and trials of the linear friction stir weld process on the IP compressor first-stage blisk. The cone for stage six of the high-pressure (HP) compressor rear drum assembly and other core parts of the first engine are also underway.

Baseline development engine ESN20001 has begun runs of XWB-97 development materials and tip clearance control systems. Tests will evaluate new shroudless HP turbine blades and seal segments. “So we are trying to prove that when the turbine runs into the ceramic seal it will last forever, even though it has had a rub,” says Young.
A second run early in 2014 will include tests of a “full standard of shroudless turbine with tip clearance and cooling,” he adds.

The engine is scheduled to be flight-tested on the Airbus A380 flying testbed at the end of 2015, and will power the A350-1000 for its maiden flight in 2016. Entry-into-service is targeted for mid-2017. Meanwhile, the XWB-84 version continues in flight test on the A350-900 prototype, which it has powered without incident since the first flight on June 14.



Based on the article “Rolls-Royce Reaches Critical Design Review Milestone For A350-1000 Engine” published in Aviation Daily

Airbus and Boeing have similar joint ventures in China with the same company AVIC to manufacture composite parts for A350 and for all Boeing models.

Airbus is looking to deepen its ties with China despite wider industry concerns surrounding technology transfer to the emerging aerospace power.

Chinese production of components for the A350 is already under way at the Harbin Composite Manufacturing Centre (HMC), a joint venture between Airbus (20%) and local partners (80%).

First elevators manufacturing is on progress in HMC and it aims to be the sole producer of rudders, section 19 maintenance doors and belly fairing parts for the A350 by 2017.

Jose Antonio Veroz, the plant´s general manager, says that there are no plans to increase the list of A350 parts made at the site. “There is no additional workload of the A350 planned for China now” he says, noting that the facility is specifically sized to cope with the production demands of the new widebody.

Although he concedes that costs of Harbin will initially be higher than elsewhere, these should decrease as the facility becomes more efficient. Airbus´s business case “is not built in the short term”, he says.

Airbus has stipulated that the factory can only carry out work for its programs. However, this restriction may be loosened if opportunities become available. “In the future if it´s beneficial to us and our partners and it makes commercial sense to develop parts for other manufacturers, including Comac, there is a possibility” says HMC´s head of international co-operation Gao Zheng.

Airbus China COO González Ripoll adds: “Airbus is in China to stay. Our wish is to have long-term partnerships with the Chinese. We are looking for such opportunities”

Boeing Tianjin Composite joint venture with AVIC, located in Tianjin, has 1000 employees and manufactures interior parts and composite structures. 737 horizontal stabilizers are also manufactured and assembled in China (by SAMC) in a 10-year contract until 2021.

Boeing has no intention of setting up a final assembly line in China –as Airbus has done in Tianjin for A320- according to Boeing China president Marc Allen. “We´re not going to do a me-too!” he says, even if there is a need to ramp up production rates in the future. “Will we do a big thing here in the future? Yes, absolutely. But not that.”

“We will help Chinese suppliers expand through raising their capabilities. That way, if we up our production rates, the impact reaches right into China”.

Boeing is the world´s largest purchaser of aerospace components out of China ($1,5 billion in hardware and services since 1980). Chinese components are flying on 7000 Boeing airliners worldwide.



Based on the article “Airbus seeks to bolster Chinese links” published in FlightGlobal and based on the article “Boeing- No final assembly in China” published in ShowNews – Aviation Now.