The XWB-84 (the designations reflect maximum thrust in thousands of pounds) exclusively powers the A350-900, which entered service with Qatar Airways at the beginning of the year, with Vietnam Airlines becoming the second operator in recent weeks.
Source: Airbus
Rolls-Royce is currently producing 2 XWB-84s a week –although this has been raised to 4 to test the robustness of the production process and supply chain, said Tim Boddy, head of marketing for the program.
Source: Manuel Belleli
Both suppliers and final assembly line, he said, coped well with the exercise.
He expects output to rise to 5 a week by the end of 2017 –including by then one example of the -97 variant– and to reach 7 a week across the 2 variants by 2020.
Now what to do with all those engines? Airbus ain't using them! ;-)
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ReplyDeleteWith less than one aircraft a month, you are right Ace.
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