Another key contributor to the reduced fuel consumption of the A350 XWB installed in the MSN1; winglets..

The A350 XWB winglets have been painted in Toulouse and installed on MSN1, revealing for the first time the full shape of the 32-metre A350 XWB wing.

The A350 XWB winglets have been designed to achieve the best aerodynamic performance and are a significant contributor to the reduced fuel consumption of the aircraft. Manufactured in composite by FACC, they are 2.3m wide at the basis and 2m high. They are pre-fitted by FACC so that only mechanical assembly remains to be done in the FAL.

The complete wing cannot fit into the Beluga and that´s the reason the installation needs to be performed in the FAL, where the winglets are fixed to the wing with about 80 fasteners all around the winglet.

The winglets are painted before installation on the aircraft allowing the Customer an early visual identification of the aircraft (as with the Vertical Tail Plane). For MSN1, the winglets have been customized with Airbus colors in the same facility where A320 sharklets are painted.