Natural Ice campaign will also test another crítical behaviour of the A350 XWB

Natural Icing trials main objectives are to assess wing anti-ice behaviour and to check aircraft behaviour with natural ice (mainly in the empennage).

There are planned around 5 flights and other complementary tests with wing anti-ice inactive. And Airbus will compare the natural ice accreted with artificial ice shapes that were tested in December, in order to confirm that are far less critical.

With the complementary tests to be done with wing anti-ice inactive, the objective is to compare the Handling Qualities issues, if appear.

But when the flight crew looks for natural ice conditions, they would find thunderstorms. Side results in the Natural Ice tests of A380 done in May/2006 were that more than 100 lightning strikes were assessed in one flight, with no issues declared. So a real lightning strike test with the MSN1 is expected during Natural Ice Test campaign.

MSN2 and MSN4 will join the A350 flight-test program in February

If 2013 was the year of 2 very important first flights, 2014 will have to be an important year of execution: Airbus has committed to delivering the first A350-900, Boeing will hand over the first stretched 787-9, and the first Bombardier CS100 is still officially due for entry into service.

Airbus is facing a crucial 12 months as it enters the second half of the A350-900 flight-test program. Two aircraft, MSN1 and MSN3, are currently performing the tests, which Airbus says have been mostly successful so far. Following an initial phase of handling tests, Airbus has continuously moved into the part of the campaign that is addressing a long list of items required for certification.

Three more aircraft are to join the flight-test program—MSN2, MSN4 and MSN5—the first two in February and the last in May. Airbus expects the aircraft to receive its type certificate at the end of August or in early September, a little more than 14 months after first flight.

Qatar Airways will then take delivery of the first aircraft in the fourth quarter.


Based on the article “Certification Nears For Three Airframers’ Programs” published in Aviation Week

No orders for A350-800 since 4 years and indications that the A330 boom may not continue.

Airbus is proud that its A330 has been selling so well in recent years, and in fact has outsold the 787 since its launch. But in spite of the launch of the 242-ton version that increased its range, and a regional variant optimized for shorter-haul efficiency, there are indications that the A330 boom may not continue. From January to November 2013, Airbus sold just 48 of the type, compared to the 164 Boeing garnered for the 787.

If that trend continues, Airbus may not only face serious questions about the future of the A350-800, but may also have to take a close look at what it could do to refresh the A330 further. Some of its customers, most notably Air Asia X, have been asking for a re-engined version (A330neo). Since the market success of the A320neo, the concept has gained traction to the extent that Emirates now wants the A380 to be re-engined; so it is clearly an option for the A330, although Airbus has been trying to play down that idea so far.

Based on the article “Certification Nears For Three Airframers’ Programs” published in Aviation Week

A350 XWB Family orders status.

Airbus currently holds 814 firm orders for the A350, the bulk of which (549) are for the baseline A350-900. Meanwhile, Airbus is shifting engineering resources to the stretched A350-1000, due to enter service in 2017. There are 186 firm orders for the -1000, which has seen a notable pick-up in demand. Airbus has pushed back entry into service of the -1000 by almost two years to allow more time for Rolls-Royce to upgrade the engines as demanded by key customers, mainly Persian Gulf carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

The future of the smallest version, the A350-800, appears to still hang in the balance. Airbus is officially committed to building the aircraft—the backlog has shrunk to 79 units—but the manufacturer is now hearing from customers that it should seriously consider stretching it to counter the threat posed by the newly launched Boeing 777X. While Airbus is unlikely to make a formal decision next year, 2014 will be a crucial time to prepare for that step.


Based on the article “Certification Nears For Three Airframers’ Programs” published in Aviation Week

A350 XWB double stretch decision is linked with the smaller variant A350-800 future.

Air Lease Corp. Chairman and CEO Steve Udvar-Hazy believes any Airbus decision to further stretch the A350 will hinge on its ability to get rid of the current backlog of the A350-800, which has been shrinking. One major trigger is the recent decision by American Airlines to upgrade the original order of 18 A350-800 (done by US Airways) to bigger A350-900.

Airbus officially still plans to build the A350-800 variant, but has been quietly trying to convince customers to move to the -900 and -1000. Chief Operating Officer-Customers John Leahy on October/2013 indicated for the first time that Airbus is studying the possibility of stretching the A350 further beyond the -1000 to counter the 777-9X.

Udvar-Hazy does not expect any quick decision on the matter and questions whether it would be absolutely necessary for Airbus to proceed with another stretch. “They have an acquisition price advantage,” he said, referring to the A350-1000 compared to the 777X. And while the -1000 may not have the same range, it would still be able to perform 90% of the flights possible with competing aircraft, Udvar-Hazy argued.


Based on the article “Udvar-Hazy Says Boeing Must Compromise On 777X Performance Requirements” published in Aviation Week

A350 third prototype MSN2 rolls out of paint hangar with special black&white 'Fiber Carbon' livery.

Airbus has rolled-out its 3rd A350 XWB flight-test aircraft, MSN2, from the paint shop in Toulouse. As well as featuring a distinctive “Carbon” signature livery to reflect its primary construction from advanced materials, this aircraft is also the first of 2 A350 flight test aircraft to be equipped with a full passenger cabin interior.

The 5th and last A350 flight-test prototype MSN5 will have the same black&white crosshatch livery and will also be fitted with a cabin layout.

MSN2 will join the A350 XWB flight test fleet in the coming weeks and will be the first A350 to transport passengers when it undertakes the Early Long Flights (ELF) later in the year.

The MSN2 is the first A350 prototype with the cabin fitted and it has been registered as F-WWCF.

more pictures in http://twitter.com/Frenchpainter

In the upper side of the aft section of the fuselage it can be watched the radome for the satellite based broadband system (a directional antenna is installed in German pre-FAL under the radome). With this system, the passengers will have access to the wifi system within the fuselage for internet connections through smartphones and tablets.

53% of the A350 XWB’s airframe is made-up of carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) including Airbus’ first carbon-fiber fuselage.

Based on the press released “A350 MSN2 rolls out of paint hangar with special 'Carbon' livery”

After the Type Certification and Entry Into Service of the A350-900 in 2014, Airbus will focus on the improvement of the A350 family with the A350-1000 as first priority and the Regional variant study. Decision on the possible double stretched A350-1100 model and the smaller A350-800 will be analyzed in 2014 too.

European aerospace group EADS pledged to shun risky investments and new plane programs as it looked to bury the ghost of troubled projects and promised investors a smoother ride in coming years. “We will not allocate resources to areas where growth is difficult to access,” said EADS strategy chief Marwan Lahoud.

The head of its Airbus civil planemaking division, Fabrice Bregier, said that after stabilizing production problems on the A380 and the A400M military airlifter -which had caused the company significant headaches in recent years- flight testing and development of the A350, were progressing well ahead of first delivery planned in the 4th quarter of 2014.

“We are on track. You know the risks, but the risks are reducing,” Bregier told an investor forum in London on 12/December.

After it delivers its first all-new passenger jet in a decade, Airbus will focus on enhancements to existing models.

“Nobody sees brand-new developments in the next 10 years or even more,” Bregier said. “The focus is on the improvement of our (in-production) series programs and there is still a lot to be extracted from them.

“The good news for you is that it is much less risky to improve existing platforms than develop brand-new aircraft”.

He did not say what impact this would have on research spending but said the company would also pursue new technology.


Based on the article “Airbus to focus on current products and reduce risk” published in Reuters