Stelia Aerospace, new name for A350 structure risk sharing partner.

"By creating STELIA AEROSPACE, AEROLIA and SOGERMA are proud to unite their ambitions at the service of their historical customers as well as new ones, the trust of which they will endeavor to gain. With STELIA, its teams and businesses, a new page of aeronautics is opening today", say Cédric Gautier and Jean-Michel Léonard, respectively AEROLIA and SOGERMA CEOs.

A new name for a new company: STELIA AEROSPACE. A midnight blue universe and a logo featuring the infinite symbol, STELIA calls sobriety, dynamism and openness to mind.

A name referring to its roots, starting in S and ending in A, evoking the stars, the shining and distinguishing immaterial reference.

Source: Manuel Belleli

STELIA will be a landmark for its customers. “Because we have our feet firmly on the ground as an industrial company, and our eyes in the stars, STELIA strongly relies on its roots and its ambitions.”

Recognized through its complementary businesses and bearing this development ambition common to both major aeronautical companies, the merger of AEROLIA and SOGERMA will give rise, on 1/January, to the world No. 3 (as regards its turnover) in aerostructures, seats and aeronautical equipment, with 6,100 staff members and 11 sites.

Based on the press release “Aerolia & Sogerma merge into Stelia Aerospace”

A350 first delivery to Qatar re-scheduled for Monday 22/Dec.

Airbus said on Friday 12/Dec that the delivery of the first Airbus A350 to Qatar Airways has been rescheduled for 22/December.

Source: Qatar Airways

The handover of the MSN6 originally scheduled for today 13/Dec had been postponed by Qatar Airways earlier this week, triggering speculation of a repeat of cabin problems which had delayed delivery if its first A380 for 3 months.

But scheduling problems appeared to have played a part.

Source: Manuel Belleli

Airbus said in a media invitation that the delivery ceremony would go ahead in Toulouse on 22/Dec and would include a preview flight.

Airbus has pledged to deliver the first A350 by the end of the year.

Based on the article “Airbus A350 delivery to Qatar rescheduled for Dec 22” published in Reuters.

Finnair will fly the A350 between Incheon (South Korea) and Helsinki (Finland) starting in 2016.

A350-900 is expected to fly between Incheon and Helsinki starting in 2016.

Finnair is one of the first airliners to adopt Airbus A350 jets, which are known to use 5% less fuel and emit 20% less carbon compared to other ordinary planes.

‘‘Going green has become a mandatory thing for Finnair,” said Kati Ihamaki, vice president of Finnair’s sustainable development unit. The company’s environment department (arguably the first in the world)  was established in 1987. “About 95% of our corporate customers put eco-friendliness as their evaluation criteria for tendering. Therefore, it is more than a branding tool for us to become eco-friendly,” she said. 

Source: Publico.pt

In 2011, Finnair became the first carrier to launch regular flights between Helsinki and Amsterdam using biofuel.

“Because we are a flight company, every drop of fuel we save is directly linked to our profit. Therefore, it is natural that we seek fuel-efficiency,” she said. Fuel accounts for about 40% of the airlines’ costs.

Source: Airbus

“We also think that this will lead to sustainable management because our eco-friendly approach in business also helps us grab new business opportunities in the green energy industry,” Ihamaki said.

Based on the article “Finnair to halve carbon emissions by 2050” published in The Korea Herald

Why A350 first delivery to Qatar has been postponed? When it will be delivered?

“A couple of minor issues to be fixed quickly with some more tests and flights than planned. 2 or 3 additional flights will be needed”. This is the official answer from Airbus.

Source: Airbus

A350 Head of Program Didier Evrard has a “high level of confidence” that Airbus will be able to deliver the first A350-900 to Qatar Airways before the end of the year.

Evrard said at the company’s global investor forum he had been “perhaps a little too optimistic” when the delivery ceremony for Qatar Airways was scheduled for 13/December. The event was cancelled 3 days away from the planned event with no reasons given. 

Source: publico.pt

According to Evrard, the aircraft was handed over from production to the delivery center on 3/Dec and usually 10 days are sufficient to finalize the handover to a customer. However, “a couple of minor issues” have been detected over the past few days that required “some more tests and flights than planned.”

Source: Airbus

Evrard said Airbus had already carried out 3 extra acceptance flights and still had 2 or 3 more to do “to ensure everything had been properly tested and that Qatar Airways is satisfied with the aircraft. We can understand that they are very careful.” He also pointed out that the carrier is “a very demanding customer.”

Source: publico.pt

The first aircraft for Qatar Airways flew for the first time in mid-October and received certification for a special configuration and Category IIIb autoland capability only last week.

Airbus CEO Fabrice Bregier stated earlier that he, too, is “pretty optimistic” Airbus can meet its target of handing over the first A350 in 2014. 

Source: publico.pt

The first A350-900 could leave Toulouse as early as Sunday or Monday based on the article “Le premier A350 de Qatar Airways devrait être livré rapidement” published in Les Echos.

"We will take delivery of our aircraft imminently" said Akbar Al-Baker to journalists in Doha, speaking only of a "small problem" to solve by Airbus. On the side of Airbus CEO Fabrice Brégier and Director of the program, Didier Evrard, were also rather optimistic. If everything goes well, the first A350-900 could therefore leave Toulouse as early as Sunday or Monday.

Based on the article “Airbus Still Plans To Deliver First A350 To Qatar Airways In 2014” published in Aviation Week and based on the article “Le premier A350 de Qatar Airways devrait être livré rapidement” published in Les Echos.

Last-minute “surprise”: 1st A350 delivery to Qatar Airways postponed. No reason, no due-date known.

Delivery of the first Airbus A350-900 to launch customer Qatar Airways has been postponed indefinitely for unspecified reasons.

The MSN6 aircraft was due to be handed over to Qatar Airways this Saturday 13/Dec in Toulouse followed with a formal ceremony scheduled to take place on 15/Dec at Doha's Hamad International airport.

In a statement, the airline says the delivery has been postponed but does not explain the reason: "Qatar Airways announces that the Airbus A350 aircraft ceremonial transfer of title has been postponed until further notice."

It adds: "With the imminent launch of the new Airbus A350 programme, both entities are committed to introducing the A350 very soon."

Airbus does not elaborate on the situation either, saying: "We are working very closely with Qatar Airways to meet our common goal to deliver their first A350 XWB very soon."

Meanwhile, Airbus CEO Tom Enders told investors at an event in London on Wednesday, “The plane is ready, it’s on the tarmac, I’m confident delivery will be very soon.”

News of the delay caused a stir in the aviation industry, and the price of Airbus shares fell 10.4% in Paris today, but experts say that the move does not signal larger problems with the A350.

Source: Airbus

While the airline did not cite a reason for the postponement, Jason Rabinowitz, a research manager at Routehappy.com who specializes in commercial aviation manufacturers, said that he doubts the delay means that the A350 has engineering issues. “It’s par for the course with Qatar at this point,” he said. “The delay isn’t totally shocking. Qatar is a very exacting airline when it comes to minor details. This wasn’t a technical or engineering issue -- it was most likely due to the interior.”

Source: Airbus

This isn’t the first time Qatar has refused delivery of a new Airbus plane. The airline delayed delivery of its first Airbus A380 by 3 months earlier this year due to concerns about the interior.

It’s unclear whether the delay will change the inaugural flight date planned for 15/Jan between Doha and Frankfurt, but Rabinowitz expects the matter to be resolved quickly. Both Airbus and Qatar have signaled as much, he said. And Qatar has not announced a change of date for the plane’s inaugural service.

Based on the article “Qatar Airways A350 delivery suffers last-minute delay” published in FlightGlobal and based on the article “Qatar Airways Refusal Of First Airbus A350: Looks Bad But No Cause For Concern, Expert Says” published in International Business Times.

Painting the first A350 XWB for Qatar Airways. Video.

Qatar Airways has released a video where it is shown how the MSN6 Airbus A350 XWB receives its livery at the Airbus paint shop. 

The Oryx logo on the tail and Qatar on the fuselage are painted with perfection on this aircraft.

Click the image to show the video.

Automotive techniques to secure A350 ramp up 2/2.

Airbus is transforming their supply chain with automotive techniques to secure the series production drumbeat of the A350 ramp-up.

Source: Airbus

Airbus is gradually changing its business model, even at the risk of displeasing some airlines, by moving towards less customisation, especially in the choice of cabin layout. 

It has altered the way it deals with scrap by asking some suppliers to pre-machine parts and sharing more information with them to avoid sending shocks through the supply chain: a tool used by the car industry to manage its much higher volume.

"In automotive you find a lot of visibility and predictable demand for the supply chain to enable them to have a very high utilisation of capacity and adapt early on," Richter said.

Both Boeing, with its 787 Dreamliner, and Airbus, with its A400M military transporter, have had costly slowdowns in the past blamed on inadequate oversight of outside suppliers.

Source: PAG

Of 3.000 suppliers on the A350, only about 200 are so-called Tier 1 firms dealing directly with Airbus.

Richter said there were few points of vulnerability or "hot spots" in the supply chain and parameters like on-time delivery, missing parts and quality had all improved "significantly".

"With that strategic preparation, we are pretty confident we can imagine the exceptions and the weak partners but these will be very limited," he said in the interview.

Even before the first A350 delivery due next month, Airbus is running its supply chain at the equivalent of 2-5 jets a month, half way towards an assembly goal of 10 a month by 2018.

Still, the margin for error is tight. "You are running at near red-line capacity and if there is anything that throws things off, it can have a cascading effect through the supply chain," said former McKinsey & Co aerospace head Jerrold Lundquist, managing director of Lundquist Group.

Furthermore, the next 3 years will be crucial for Airbus, during which the A350 will be on a financial tightrope and the A320 must continue to finance the rest of the group.

With the A350 ramping to peak output quickly, any delay in reducing costs through experience could affect multiple planes.

"A large part of the learning-curve challenge is getting carbon-fibre production of the airframe and assembly up to speed in synchronisation with the supply chain," Richter said, adding the problem was "understood and intensively managed."

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Based on the article “Insight: Airbus deepens carmaker thinking to drive jet output” published in Reuters.