Vietnam Airlines receives 1st A350

Vietnam Airlines has received its 1st Airbus A350 on 30/June, becoming the 2nd customer, after Qatar Airways, to take delivery of the type.

Source: Jujug Spotting

The carrier is taking the A350-900 through leasing company AerCap.

The handover ceremony with Vietnam Airlines, the lessor AerCap and engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce has been celebrated in Toulouse headquartes of Airbus.

The aircraft, MSN14, will carry the registration VN-A886.

Vietnam Airlines has 10 of the type on order, and is taking another 4 from leasing firms. 

Source: Jujug Spotting

1st commercial flight on A350-900 will be on Friday 3/July from Saigon to Hanoi at 11:35 AM.

Vietnam Airlines is offering free round-trip flights to Platinum and Gold members of the Golden Lotus Plus (GLP) program and other partners.

Based on the article "Vietnam Airlines receives 1st A350" published in FlightGlobal.

Airbus looking at the market to decide launching the A350-1100.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Airbus is talking with customers about the prospect of a stretch of the Airbus A350-1000 (commonly referred to as the A350-1100) while The Seattle Times reported there are no customer talks. 

Source: Airbus

Leeham News asked John Leahy, COO-Customers of Airbus about the A350-1100 on the sidelines of the closing Air Show press conference.

“We look at a lot of things,” Leahy said. “We’ve been looking at it but it’s not obvious yet it makes a lot of sense.”

“It would have 40 more seats and it might have a bigger fan on the engine. But the real question is, are we chasing something that’s not there a demand? “

“We’re now looking at, is the market shifting in their direction? If it is, then we should be looking at a straight stretch of the A350-1000.

The debate is still going on. I think we will have something by the end of this year or the beginning of next year as to whether we would do it or not.”

There is a large product gap between the A350-1000 and today’s A380. If Airbus stretches the A380to seat 50-100 more passengers as part of a neo package, this gap would increase, making the A350-1100 more desirable to fill this gap.

Leahy said a decision on the A380neo will likely come by the end of this year or early next yearalthough there are market expectations that a decision would come at the Dubai Air Show in November.

Based on the article “Odds and Ends from Paris Air Show” published in Leeham News.

6 additional seats in A350 with new rear-galley Japanese option.

Airbus and JAMCO have signed an agreement for the development, manufacture, supply and support of a new aft galley and lavatory module option for the A350 XWB aircraft Family.

The new galley arrangement, which will accommodate up to 16 trolleys and 2 lavatories integrated into the rear fuselage section, will become available from 2018 to airline customers as a ‘supplier-furnished-equipment’ (SFE) offering.

With this SFE contract, JAMCO becomes a ‘Tier1’ cabin supplier and risk-sharing partner to Airbus. 

The new module is called “ICE Rear Galley”, in which the acronym “ICE” means “Increased Cabin Efficiency”.

This cross-product brand addresses the Airbus concept of packaging a selection of complementary cabin enablers to add more seats and reduce seat-mile costs, without reducing the seat-pitch comfort level for passengers.

Yoshihisa Suzuki, JAMCO’s President & CEO said: “This ICE Rear Galley project will be a very important opportunity for both Airbus and JAMCO to further develop our partnership for future.”

Fabrice Brégier, Airbus’ President & CEO said: “The A350’s customers will now be able to choose a new design for the cabin’s rear galley. This will allow them to include as many as 6 extra seats on their aircraft, while maintaining the same level of passenger comfort.”

As with the A350’s existing ‘V-shaped’ galley standard offer, this new option by JAMCO is compatible with the overhead cabin crew rest compartment in the rear fuselage.

The ICE Rear Galley option will be retrofitable on the A350-1000 from entry into service, and for the A350-900, structural provisions will be introduced for retrofit. All the other A350 XWB galley suppliers remain unchanged throughout the rest of the aircraft.

Based on the press release “Airbus and Jamco to introduce new rear-galley option for A350 XWB”

Big order pending. Emirates to decide between 787-10 and A350 by November. Reliability (2/2)

Emirates CEO Tim Clark said that while he’s satisfied the 787-10 will be very reliable in service, because it’s a simple stretch of the already reliable 787-9, he doesn’t yet have the same comfort with the new Airbus jet, only 4 of which have been delivered so far.

Source: Manuel Belleli

On the other hand, those 4 A350s in service were delivered to his Gulf neighbor, Qatar Airlines chief executive Akbar Al Baker, who has been lauding the plane to Clark.

“Mr Akbar has been trying to get me to go look at his aeroplane,” said Clark. “He says it’s such a good aeroplane, the best one he’s had.”

Source: Airbus

“We’ll put all that into the pot and just see what the assessment is,” Clark said.

The industry expects Emirates to announce its choice at the Dubai Air Show in November, but Clark said the order may wait until Dubai’s new airport in Dubai is more developed and the carrier has evaluated whether it will hold onto the 777s due to come off lease in the next few years.

The competition remains open, with both Airbus and Boeing now enticed to sweeten their offers to close the deal.

Based on the article “Big order pending, Emirates has issues with Boeing’s 787-10” published in The Seattle Times

Big order pending. Emirates to decide between 787-10 and A350 by November. Engine thrust (1/2)

Boeing's largest Dreamliner, the 787-10, is pitted against the Airbus A350-900 in competition for a big order of around 50 aircraft from Emirates.

Emirates CEO Tim Clark is evaluating the 323-seat Dreamliner that’s due to debut in 2018 against the already-in-service, 325-seat Airbus A350-900 for Emirates’ medium long-haul flights of 8 to 10 hours.

Boeing is hoping to win a big order for its largest Dreamliner, the 787-10, as soon as November from giant Gulf carrier Emirates. But there’s a problem.

British-born Emirates CEO Tim Clark, speaking to a small gathering of journalists at the Paris Air Show, said the 787-10 is a “spectacular aeroplane” but that “yes, there are issues.”

Clark said the problem for Emirates is that the Dreamliner engines lack the ideal thrust range the carrier is looking for. He said that when temperatures at the Dubai airport soar past 43ºC (110ºF), as they have in the past week, it creates adverse operating conditions that demand higher power.

“That makes life difficult” for the 787-10, whose engines generate about 76.000 pounds of thrust. Clark said his team estimates that up to 84.000 pounds would be needed to assure take-off with full loads all year round.

“On the A350-900, we don’t get those kind of operating conditions restrictions,” he added.

Clark readily concedes that few other airlines, if any, have such a requirement and that neither Boeing nor the 787-10 engine-makers are going to essentially develop a new engine just for Emirates. “They’ll probably say, Look, that’s it,” he said, calling that a “perfectly reasonable stand.”

The A350-900 is a heavier airplane, he said, designed to fly nearly 1.000 miles further than the 787-10, which has a range of about 8.000 miles that’s enough to do the required missions.

Based on the article “Big order pending, Emirates has issues with Boeing’s 787-10” published in The Seattle Times

TAP order of 12 A350 could be cancelled by new shareholders.

The contract signed by TAP President Fernando Pinto in 2007 for the purchasing of 12 Airbus A350 could be rejected by the new shareholders of the company.

The proposal of Neeleman and Pedrosa includes a statement where it assumes the "sale or transfer" of the TAP´s slot for these aircraft.

Source: Airteam

The new shareholders want to promote a "change of the A350 for A330", and to have some cash input selling the A350 slots reserved as well as getting back all the capital invested by TAP with the contract signature.

First A350 deliveries for TAP´s order of 12 are scheduled in the first quarter of 2017.

TAP was the 4th company and the 2nd in Europe, soon after Finnair signing for A350s. This position is relevant for the new shareholders.

Based on the article “Neeleman e Pedrosa admitem vender lugar da TAP na compra dos A350” published in Dinheiro Vivo.

Aeroflot discussing with Airbus A350 model-mix & delivery dates while cancelling 787 order.

Aeroflot has cancelled its order for 22 Boeing 787s, the carrier's deputy general director for strategy and alliances Giorgio Callegari confirmed at Paris Airshow.

Source: Pascal Maillot

"We have exercised our option to terminate the contract on the 787," he said.

The airline executive said the decision was based on analysis of "capacity at the airport [Sheremetyevo]" and the "sustainability of the fleet development –sustainability in terms of the right mix of widebodies and narrowbodies and network development".

Callegari said Aeroflot did not incur a financial penalty from Boeing for cancelling the order. The decision, he added, "was not a one-day process, but taken in due course and discussed with the relevant stakeholders and counterparts".

Aeroflot is also reviewing its order for 22 Airbus A350s, but Callegari rules out any possibility of these being cancelled.

Instead, he said, the on-order mix of 8 A350-800s and 14 A350-900s is "something that we are looking at".

The delivery dates for the A350 order are also "part of the discussions". But while the airline "does have a date in mind... we are not disclosing it", added Callegari.

Based on the article “PARIS: Aeroflot cancels 787 order” published in Flight International.