Airbus CEO identifies 2 “risky” partners in the A350 XWB. Technical issues in the first one. (1)

Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President & CEO said last week in a meeting with media. "We are satisfied with the past stages but there is more risk of delay than to be in advance”. In that meeting, Brégier talked about three risk sharing partners; the first one, British Rolls Royce, in charge of the engine that is arriving the FAL in few weeks.

The goal is certification by the European aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and risk mitigation.

Airbus has identified another two suppliers (called RSP-risk sharing partners) that gives small signs of concerns.

Spirit Aerosystems. Technical issues.

The complex section 15 centre fuselage, produced by Spirit AeroSystems, is a critical component. Didier Evrard said some months ago "I can't say everything is fully bridged" regarding the production process.

Spirit AeroSystems Inc., the largest U.S. supplier for the A350 structure, is still working to produce parts more efficiently. CEO Jeff Turner said in a recent interview. “It’s not going as well as I’d like”. And last month, during the presentation of the Third Quarter 2012 Financial Results, he clearly stated: “While new airplane programs are always challenging, I am extremely disappointed in our management of the complexity on these programs”.

Spirit and Airbus had said they are cooperating to meet ambitious production targets for the aircraft and Airbus has sent its own teams to help Spirit in difficulty, after introducing a joint improvement program to seek “sustainable improved delivery performance”.

Meanwhile, Spirit AeroSystems is celebrating the completion of the 100th composite forward fuselage section for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Based on the article “L'Airbus A350 proche de son envol “ published in La Tribune