A350 Cabin interior unveiled. Plastic pipes with warm water to simulate passengers during tests.

Airbus has unveiled the A350’s development cabin interior installed on board flight-test aircraft MSN2 at the Airbus site in Hamburg.

http://www.airbus.com/galleries/photo-gallery/

MSN2, which made its first flight on 26th February 2014, is the first of 2 test aircraft fitted with a passenger interior and is part of the growing A350 XWB development fleet. Intensive cabin flight and ground tests have already been performed during a 2-week stay of the aircraft in Hamburg in mid-March 2014.

Click on the picture to watch a video

The cabin of this special test aircraft is kitted out with both business class and economy cabins, as well as test equipment to keep a watchful eye on the jet as it goes through its paces.

http://www.airbus.com/galleries/photo-gallery/

Plastic pipes snaking over many of the seats are filled with water and can heated to a variety of temperatures to simulate the cabin environment when hundreds of people are on board for hours on end.

Airbus said the heating systems run from 70 watts to 180 watts, with 90 watts being used to represent the average passenger.

http://www.airbus.com/galleries/photo-gallery/

This bank of monitors located at the front of one of the economy cabins allows Airbus engineers to keep track of pretty much everything that happens on the A350.

Based on the press release “Airbus A350 sets new standards in cabin design & development” and based on the article Airbus A350 cabin, seats revealed” published in Australian Business Traveler

A350 prototype made the North Pole flight test.

The MSN2 flight test prototype made last week, on Wednesday 2/April, a special flight; 13 hours and a half flying as AIB09GG callsign departing from Toulouse at around 7 in the morning and arriving at around 20:30h in the afternoon (local time).

"We must demonstrate that our navigation equipment at the North Pole work", explained Airbus test pilot Wolfgang Absmeier.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/81091669@N04/13152391533/lightbox/

The MSN2 was around 14 hours “to the North Pole and back on the road" he said.

http://www.veooz.com/photos/SH2RsUP.html

Based on the article “Ein Besuch bei den Airbus Flugtestern in Toulouse” published in Aero.de

Airbus will take a decision on A350-800 before summer; 12 orders cancelled.

Leasing company Aircraft Purchase Fleet has canceled an order for 12 A350-800s, the smallest version of the A350 XWB family.

APF is the special purpose company set up for Alitalia Airlines, which is a financial basket case. In this case, the -800s were not upgraded to -900s or -1000s, according to the monthly Airbus Orders and Deliveries tally.

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Airbus has been encouraging customers to opt for larger models of the twin-engine long-range airplane, including the A350-900 now in flight testing and due to enter service this year. The latest in a series of cancellations for the A350-800 shrinks the backlog for this type to only 34 aircraft, including from Hawaiian Airlines and Russia's Aeroflot.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/47086222@N03/13581120553/lightbox/

The A350-800 is due from 2016, although Airbus officials have said they may shift the date until the end of the decade as the company focuses on fielding larger models that also carry a higher price, including the 369-seat A350-1000 scheduled to enter service in 2017.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/47086222@N03/13564854184/lightbox/

Airbus could communicate the decision of going ahead with the A350-800 or with the A330neo (new engines) in Farnborough Air-show next July.

Based on the article “More A350-800 orders vanish” published in Leeham News and Comments and based on the article “Airbus Orders Hurt by Cancellations” published in The Wall Street Journal.

Qatar Airways, launch customer of the A350 XWB: "How are you, my friend?"

As we can see in this video, when Qatar CEO visited the Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Toulouse in February, Airbus CEO was waiting him. "How are you, my friend?" said Bregier.

Click in the picture to watch the video

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bycac/13429186145/

Mr. Akbar Al Baker visited the first series-aircraft that will be delivered to Qatar before the end of the year, the MSN6, which final assembly has started in Toulouse. 

http://www.icandy.pw/News/A350-Launch-Customer/i-T36g5tB

The flight-test prototype MSN4 with Qatar "colors" was also presented to Mr. Akbar Al Baker during his visit.

Picture: Airbus

Didier Evrard, Head of A350 Program participated in the visit giving all kind of details to the CEO of Qatar Airways, who has 80 A350´s in his orderbook. 



Based on the article "A350 XWB programme right on time !" published by Aeronewstv.

A350 cabin interior will be unveiled in Hamburg next Monday

Airbus will unveil its first A350 cabin and seats next Monday at Airbus' new Cabin Design Centre in Hamburg, where airlines with orders for the A350 will choose the fitout for their planes from tip to tail.

This 'one stop shop' facility, includes 'showrooms' for a wide range of pre-approved seating from economy to first class, galleys, toilets and cabin equipment plus cabin design studios.

Qatar will be the A350's worldwide launch customer of an orderbook that currently stands at some 38 airlines and leasing companies with 824 aircraft between them.

Hamburg is Airbus’ global cabin centre of excellence and some of the key suppliers for interior cabin are German as Diehl Aerosystems, Tier 1 and Risk Sharing Partner in the A350 program with 13 work packages.

Based on the article “Airbus to reveal first A350 seats, cabin interiors next week” published in Australian Business Traveller

Japanese titanium forging for the main landing gears of the A350

Kobe Steel and Messier-Bugatti-Dowty have agreed to a contract for Kobe Steel to supply the French company of the Safran Group with titanium forgings for the main landing gears of the Airbus A350 XWB.

The main landing gear parts will be manufactured by Kobe Steel and its group company, Japan Aeroforge Ltd., based in Kurashiki, Japan. Japan Aeroforge is a joint venture established in January 2011 by Kobe Steel and Hitachi Metals Ltd. as the 2 major shareholders, along with several other companies. Equipped with a 50,000-ton hydraulic forging press, one of the largest in the world, Japan Aeroforge manufactures large titanium forgings for the growing aerospace industry worldwide.

http://www.icandy.pw/News/A350-Launch-Customer/i-vG5rqGG/A

Kobe Steel, through the agreement with Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, will be Japan’s first supplier of large titanium forged parts.

For more than 60 years, Kobe Steel has supplied titanium forgings, sheets, and tubes to the aerospace and industrial sectors.

Based on the press release “Kobe Steel to supply forgings for A350 XWB”

A350 XWB cargo doors developed by Eurocopter- Deutschland but manufactured in Korea.

Eurocopter is in charge of all aircraft doors (passenger, service and cargo doors) of the A350 XWB, which represents a further step in the process of generating synergies and applying expertise for composite production methods between helicopter manufacturing and the design of aircraft doors in general.

 The closed 1.5 billion euro contract includes the development, production and delivery of all passenger and cargo doors for the A350 XWB.

Aircraft doors are safety critical components of an aircraft. Due to the demanding certification and safety requirements the doors contain a complex and failsafe mechanism to enable them to be operated under all circumstances. Eurocopter’s Business Centre Airplane Door Systems, based in Donauwörth, Germany, has over 20 years of proven expertise in aircraft doors for A320 family, A330 family and A380 series.

 

Technical know-how combined with an attractive commercial offer enabled Eurocopter to become partner with Korean Air Aerospace Division in the very competitive environment of aero structures.

This confirms that Eurocopter’s Center of Excellence for Airplane Door Systems is on the right track by shifting its focus from traditional metal structures to new manufacturing technologies based on composite materials.

3 doors manufacturing has been subcontracted to Korean Air Aerospace Division in South Korea. Korean Air was from the beginning a valuable partner, that demonstrated its capabilities to support this forward-looking method of production.

 

More than 150 Eurocopter engineers as well as 50 engineers and 80 Korean Air employees have been involved in the conceptual design, development and pre-production phases of this project since it was launched in 1997. An estimated budget of nearly 1.5 billion euros has been set aside to cover the total expenditure on all door systems for the planned family of A350 XWB aircraft, including work subcontracted to Korean Air in South Korea.

 

Korean Air Lines would be interested in buying a larger version of the Airbus A350 XWB, the carrier's president and chief executive said. The airline currently has no A350s on order, although it has ordered 10 787s. But Yang Ho Cho said that Korean Air might be interested in the long-range A350-1000, a stretched version of the A350-900 when it eventually becomes available. "The A350-900 is not the ideal configuration for us yet, so we are waiting for the right aircraft with the right engines, a larger one, the A350-1000," Cho said.