A350 Formation Flight prior to Type Certification

All 5 aircraft in the Airbus A350-900 test fleet have taken part in a formation flight, ahead of certification of the type.

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Using the callsign ‘Carbon’, the aircraft departed Toulouse’s runway 14R at about 10:30, led by the first cabin-fitted airframe MSN2.

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The formation subsequently joined up and performed several east-west flights parallel to the Pyrenees mountain range.

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Based on the article "A350s fly in formation ahead of certification" published in FlightGlobal.

Airbus not convinced on the real market demand for a 400-seat A350-1100.

Airbus COO-Customers John Leahy said he is not convinced Airbus may have to stretch the A350 further beyond the -1000 version. “It is not obvious to me that we need 35 more seats,” Leahy said in an interview at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) Europe conference in Istanbul.

Source: © Airbus

Leahy claims that Boeing’s main motivation to stretch the Boeing 777-9X—compared with the Boeing 777-300ER—was to reduce unit costs rather than real market demand for a 400-seater.

He also argues that the -1000 will have a 15% trip cost advantage over the -9X. “I don’t know that I want to give that up. The added seats will be marginal,” he said, referring to the low fares for which he believes the capacity can be sold. “I think we might be better off staying where we are.”

Source: © Airbus

Some observers have argued that Airbus would have to build a larger version of the A350 to be able to compete with the largest Boeing twin.

Based on the article “Airbus To Look At Higher A350 Rates” published in Aviation Week

Airbus COO-Customers says A350 ramp-up is too conservative.

Leahy is more concerned that Airbus may not deliver as many A350s as the potential demand for the aircraft, because of its conservative production ramp-up. “We are being prudent, but it bothers me,” he said. However, he indicated that Airbus might soon decide to produce at higher rates. “I believe this will be decided sometime next year,” he said.

Source: © Airbus

Airbus is currently moving from a rate of two to three per month, a move it plans to complete by year-end. By the end of 2015, Airbus plans to build 5 aircraft/month, but output will be expanded to 10 aircraft/month by 2018.

Source: © Airbus

Based on the article “Airbus To Look At Higher A350 Rates” published in Aviation Week

Aerolia´s Meaulte site will be re-designed considering Lean Principles to assure A350 ramp-up.

The Project 3X has been launched for Aerolia´s Meaulte site, deeply modifying how the site will look for the 20 years to come.

“To ensure the high rates (3X is named by rate targets of 3 SAs a day, 3 LRs a week, 3 LAs a month) in an efficient and sustainable way, we chose to optimize our production flows rather than favouring flexibility as we did in the past” explained Olivier Canal, Meaulte Master-Plan Manager.

To this end, all the activities of each program will be co-located within a single building. Production lines will be organized as per the “pull” principle. Each one will perform the whole assembly of a work-package model, s11, s12 or bottom structures, from the first sub-assemblies. Each workstation within these lines will adopt the takt-time. 

The production time will therefore smothered between the different stations, so as to provide for maximum productivity, by removing the waiting times and reducing the risks of blocking one element.

Based on the article “Project 3X, a whole set of perspectives” published in Aerolia Magazine.

The A350, a hub in the sky.

Honeywell Aerospace and Thales In-flight Entertainment & Connectivity announced this week at APEX 2014 that they will provide "the same connectivity experience in-flight as they would have at home or work" by integrating Honeywell's JetWave hardware with Thales' cabin network solutions on the new Airbus A350.

Honeywell considers modern planes "a hub in the sky, connected to a broader end-to-end system." This connectivity solution will provide access to real-time TV channel viewing, live chatting, video streaming and more.  

Jack Jacobs, VP Marketing and Product Management, Honeywell Aerospace said:

"Passengers want the freedom to stay connected in the air while traveling over land or sea. Honeywell JetWave hardware enables aircraft to connect to [Inmarsat's Ka-Band global high-speed broadband] GX Aviation, which will truly enhance their in-flight service offerings."

Source: © Airbus

Dominique Giannoni, CEO, Thales In-Flight Entertainment & Connectivity said:

"GX Aviation provides consistent, global and high data rate bandwidth. Combined with Thales in-flight entertainment and connectivity offerings, airlines will be able to offer to their passengers an unmatched in-flight experience onboard Airbus A350XWB with quality and reliability."

Inmarsat has the satellites that provide the broadband GX network. Honeywell builds the JetWave antenna that receives the satellite signal. Thales cabin network solution gets the signal all sorted out and translated into information which you them stream to your seat back video screen or portable electronic device (PED).

This collaborative offering will deliver data rates to the aircraft at up to 50Mbps, and is expected to reach the market next year.

Based on the article “The New Airbus A350 Will Be Ready For All Your Streaming Needs” published in FlightClub

How much fuel can the A350 hold?

The A350 XWB is what Airbus says an “eco-efficient aircraft”. A350 XWB “burns 25% less fuel than the previous generation of comparable long-range twin-aisle aircraft.”

The fuel consumption is typically an airline’s largest cost. The new-generation Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines are key for this high efficiency, as well as the optimized weight, aerodynamics and advanced systems.

Source: © Airbus

But when talking about the usable fuel capacity, how much fuel can the A350 hold in their tanks?

A350-900 has a capacity for 138.000 litres (36,456 US gallons.) that implies 108,3 Tns (238827 lb) with typical density of 0.785 kg/l considered. 

Source: © Airbus

The A350-1000 has more capacity: 156.000 litres (41,211. US gallons)

Rolls said a year ago that “initial results from testing of the Trent XWB-84s delivered to Toulouse for installation on the first A350-900 show fuel-burn performance meets specification and is slightly improved over that seen on earlier flight-test units.”

But considering the fuel burn a critical performance discriminator between A350 and it´s competitors, both Rolls and Airbus has declined to give specific numbers and they only remark that “the A350-1000 will have up to a 25% fuel-burn-per-passenger advantage over the current Boeing 777-300ER, and up to an 8% operating cost advantage for the other versions over the initial Boeing 787”.

Source: © Airbus

The Trent XWB’s main selling point is its efficiency, burning fuel at 2,000⁰ C, Rolls-Royce says that the XWB has a 16% advantage over the first Trent engines of 1995 and is 10% more efficient than the previous generation of engines. Rolls estimates it will give customers US$2.5 million in fuel savings per plane, per year.

Based on the article “A350 Trent XWB Fuel Consumption Improves In Tests” published in Aviation Week. 

A350 program: focus not only on the schedule but in lowering recurring costs. Development of a A350-1100 “might be explored”.

At a Bernstein Research conference, Airbus Group CEO Tom Enders confirmed that the A350 program is on track for certification and first delivery on the schedule set 2 years ago. 

“We have not seen a commercial aircraft program stay this close to schedule during the last 20years, which demonstrates how far the company has come in its product development processes since the A380” Enders emphasized.

The ramp-up challenge has the simultaneous objectives of managing schedule and lowering recurring costs. While additional charges or schedule changes are acknowledged as a possibility, there is no change in the company’s outlook for the production ramp at this stage.

Airbus expects A350 margins to ultimately be as good as on the company’s current mature programs.

While development of a second stretch A350-1100 might be explored by engineers, management is not considering it at this stage. The focus remains on getting the A350-900 completed and development of the A350-1000.

After an extensive review, Airbus saw the A330neo as a necessary step. The A330neo launch decision required assessing the risk of cannibalization of the A350-900 in detail. Airbus was convinced that this would not be a major problem and that the two airplanes could be complementary.

All pictures from here.

Based on the article “Odds and Ends: Tom Enders at Bernstein” published in Leeham News and Comment