Finnair is not interested on the A350-1000 at the moment.

Finnair will be the first A350 operator in Europe in 2015.

Miika Haario, the A350 fleet manager of Finnair has updated the integration of the A350 and its future missions.

Finnair will receive the first aircraft in mid-2015. All of their 11 ordered aircraft will be delivered before the end of 2017. For 8 options, Finnair does not yet know. “We have 7 A340-300 at this time, the A350 will replace them.”  But Finnair also plans to launch new destinations and grow as a company. Therefore, the A350 is not intended to replace the A330, at least not yet.

Concerning the first destination on which the A350 will be placed, “we do not know yet but it will be one of those currently served by A340; Singapore, Nagoya, Shanghai, Bangkok, Hong Kong”.

When Finnair A350 fleet manager was asked about their interest in the bigger A350-1000, Miika Haario answered that they are not interested at the moment. “ Our orders are on the 900, only 900. We need to see if the traffic increases; only then we would need a larger device and we would of course interested in the 1000. But not at the moment.”

Based on the article “Finnair n’est pas intéressée par l’A350-1000 dans l’immédiat” published in Le Journal de l'Aviation 

ANA or the 2nd battle of Japan between 777X and A350

Boeing said it’s working “very hard” to secure an order from ANA after its decades-long dominance in Japan was challenged last year by a $9.5 billion aircraft deal for Airbus.

“There’s a campaign, and we are busy working very hard to win the battle,” Ihssane Mounir, Boeing’s senior vice president for sales and marketing for Northeast Asia, said in an interview in Singapore airshow.

ANA, the biggest Japanese operator of Airbus planes but whose fleet is dominated by Boeing aircraft, said last year it’s close to a decision on an order for 25 jets, pitting the 777X and A350-1000 against each other.

Airbus won firm contracts for 18 A350-900 aircraft and 13 larger A350-1000s, plus options for 25 more planes from JAL. The break in a country with one of the largest wide-body fleets came after Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner was delayed for years during development and then grounded for three months worldwide last year.

Based on the article “Boeing woos ANA after JAL chooses Airbus” published in Bloomberg

Qatar Airways: “A350 is ahead of schedule”

Airbus may be able to deliver the A350 before deadline as the manufacturer is ahead of schedule in testing, according to Qatar Airways CEO, the plane’s biggest and launch customer.

The A350 is due for delivery to Qatar Air in December/2014, Akbar Al Baker, the airline’s chief executive officer, said in Singapore. Qatar Airways has ordered 80 of the plane.

Based on the article “Airbus May Deliver A350 Ahead of Deadline, Qatar Airways Says” published in Bloomberg

Who is the first woman onboard the A350?

Sylvie Loisel-Labaste is the first pilot-woman at Airbus: "I entered at Airbus in 2000 as a flight test engineer. My first position as engineer was at the centre of test-flights in Bretigny sur Orge. Later at Istres I did the school for reception flight-testing personnel and I was the first woman in the EPNER to be graduated.”

Sylvie Loisel-Labaste was in the flight-crew of the first flight of MSN4 last 26/Feb

After her training in the ENAC in Toulouse, Sylvie has followed all the steps as a pilot; in 2003 she qualified to fly all Airbus aircraft. “Since November 2006 I fly the A380, an easy-to-fly aircraft. It is exciting to develop this aircraft by improving every day.”

This young mother of 3 children tries to find a balance between family life, work and life for herself (his favorite sport is swimming): "I am very helped by my husband, and I try to arrange my schedule to be more time with my children; the weekend is sacred.”

Sylvie onboard the A380

Sylvie is focused on a specific area of competence: avionics. She was flying A340-500 (the first woman crew member for a First-Flight at Airbus) and A380 prototypes before joining the first flight of the A350 MSN4 last 26/Feb/2014. She is part of the team that work out the reliability on the auto-pilot, the "third man" onboard, on which the crew relies heavily.

She loves flying her small single-engine aircraft, this time at the controls and not only as flight engineer.

What´s going on with the MSN1 A350 prototype?

A350 MSN1 is currently grounded for the installation of the production-standard electrical power center and system, incorporating nickel-cadmium batteries in place of the Lithium-ion power.

Registered with number F-WXWB, its last flight was on 31/January and it has accumulated more than 145 flights with more than 600 hours.

The aircraft will resume testing in comming days in March after one month being upgraded with some FTI removal and installation.

Two months later, in May, MSN5 will supplement that effort, “so we will have 2 aircraft on which to do the certification” said Fernando Alonso, Airbus senior VP Flight and Integration Tests.

Based on the article “Airbus hails mature A350” published in Flight International.

A350 recurring costs higher than planned. Why? (2/2)

The €434m charge reflects extra work on late design changes, as well as costs associated with improvements to capabilities in the supply chain, both outside and inside Airbus.

The challenges of an industrial ramp up are beginning to kick in and more supplier issues are emerging. “We are stepping up the industrial ramp-up” said CFO Harald Wilhelm, chich has led to “higher costs” than expected.

According to Wilhelm, additional work for late design modifications are partly to blame, but he also pointed at “some manufacturing disruption” at Premium Aerotec. The Airbus Group subsidiary, based in Augsburg (Germany) builds the A350´s fuselage sections 13/14 and the panels for section 17/18.

Premium Aerotec is in the throes of transitioning to a new technology while setting up its corporate structures. And, like other A350 risk sharing partners and suppliers, it faces a steep ramp-up.

According to industry sources, Premium Aerotec is due to deliver 20 shipsets in 2014, 43 in 2015, 82 in 2016, 116 in 2017 and 139 in 2018. This reflects Airbus´ target to gradually raise A350 output to 2 units per month by end of this year to 10 units per month by 2018.

The charge on the A350 reflects a “reassessment of actual and estimated unit cost”, Airbus said. Improvement actions have been launched to converge on costs targets” it adds.

Based on the article “Airbus Boosts A320 Output, Takes Large A350 Charge” published in AviationWeek.

A350 recurring costs higher than planned. How much? (1/2)

Rising costs have led Airbus to take a €434 million one-off charge against the A350 program in the Q4/2013. Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm, presenting Airbus Group´s 2013 financial results in Toulouse, underscored Airbus´ confidence that it will deliver the first A350 before the end of 2014.

However, Wilhelm said a “bottom-up program review” concluded that A350 recurring costs would be higher than previously thought.

Tom Enders, Airbus Group Chief Executive added that he could give no guarantees that this would be the last charge against a program that “remains challenging”.

Based on the article “A350´s costs rise with €434m charge” published in Flight International.