AIRBUS | A350 News & Discussion

[Wezza]

Originally Posted by KB

The result of copy + paste

Ahhhh

[future.architect]

A350XWB, shaping up to be a tremendous plane!

Airbus' German plant produces largest A350 panel

German manufacturing operation Premium Aerotech has produced the largest carbonfibre fuselage panel for the Airbus A350 twinjet.

The aerostructure will be located on the starboard side of the aircraft and become part of the primary forward fuselage section 13-14.

Airbus says the panel is 93m² (1,000ft²) in area and was created at Premium Aerotech's Nordenham production facility. The section includes cut-outs for the second right-hand passenger door and lower-deck cargo door.

"[We] opted for large fuselage panels for the A350 design as they can be tailored in terms of their thickness according to the different loads required at each part of the airframe," it states.

"This approach enables Airbus to optimise the airframe overall which results in enhanced performance, greater robustness and less weight."





It will perform ultrasonic inspection, trimming and drilling of the carbonfibre panel over the next few days before it is mated with other forward fuselage components.

Nordenham has already cured the crown panel for the forward fuselage while the centre fuselage crown has been completed at the US-based Spirit AeroSystems site in Kinston.

A350 production progress has included initiation of manufacturing for lower wing covers and rear fuselage barrels at Illescas in Spain, as well as upper wing covers at another German plant in Stade. A French plant at Nantes is creating the centre wing box and keel beam, while a landing-gear test facility has opened in the UK at Filton.

[bucuresteanu]

Originally Posted by future.architect

^

acording to wikipedia:

A350-800: $208.7 million
A350-900: $240.6 million
A350-1000: $269.6 million

787-8: US$161.0–171.5 million
787-9: US$194.0–205.5 million

So the a350's are a bit more expensive than the 787. But then again, the a350 is larger than the 787.

i have seen an article listint the sale price of 787 at $80 to $100 million .Actual sold price.

[ironalbo]

when will be flying the first a350??

[KB]

in about 2yrs time

[Qtya]

A350-1000 needs more thrust to meet performance: Udvar-Hazy

By Jon Ostrower
The largest member of the A350 family, the -1000, will not meet its advertised performance goals until 2020 or 2021 without the help of more thrust, fuel and maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), says Air Lease Corp CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy.

"It doesn't have enough thrust," he says on the sidelines of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The 350-seat A350-1000, which is due for entry into service in 2015, is slated to have the same Trent XWB baseline engine as the smaller A350-900, but uprated to 93,000lbs (414kN) of thrust to fly 14,800km (8,000nm).

Udvar-Hazy, however, doubts today's specifications for the 73.9m (242ft 5in)-long jet will enable the aircraft to meet its mission, requiring a significant boost to its performance.

"Maybe there will be two versions of the -1000," he says, "The initial version, like on the A340-600 the initial version that had some performance limitations, and after a few years they'll figure out ways to get more thrust, weight, max takeoff weight and more fuel capacity, So there could be a -1000 'Super', but we're looking at 2020 or 2021."

Airbus vice-president of marketing, Andrew Shankland, defends the A350-1000, saying the Trent XWB engine is "certainly sufficient" to power the aircraft. However, he adds there are always "discussions with customers regarding potential changes to any aircraft in the future when you haven't yet hit the detailed definition phase".

The -1000 competes directly with Boeing's 365-seat 777-300ER, which features a 351,500kg (775,000lb) MTOW and 115,500lb (514kN) GE90-115BL engine, providing the aircraft a range of 14,690km (7,930nm).

Udvar-Hazy also says slippage to the overall A350 programme has provided Boeing with "breathing room" to consider its options on how to upgrade the 777.

"I don't think the pressure is as great today on the 777 new derivatives as there may have been, say, a year ago. It's pretty common knowledge that the A350 is not 100% on schedule."

Airbus maintains that the A350-900, -800 and -1000, will enter service in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively. The final assembly timeline for the first model, however, has shifted to the close of 2011, compressing its flight test campaign.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...dvar-hazy.html

[future.architect]

Originally Posted by bucuresteanu

i have seen an article listint the sale price of 787 at $80 to $100 million .Actual sold price.

I've seen that too. Apparently Boeing now needs to sell 1500 in total to break even. Textbook example of terrible management.

[KB]

Airbus installs first A350 nose landing gear for testing

Airbus has installed the first nose landing gear for its composite A350 XWB airliner in its landing gear systems test facility in Filton, U.K., the company announced Monday.

The “landing gear zero” test facility “is part of a series of integration test benches specifically developed to test the A350 XWB systems in order to ensure that the aircraft meets the highest standards of in-service reliability from day one,” Airbus said. The European plane maker also has a “cabin zero” facility for testing integration of cabin systems into the cabin structure and “aircraft zero” (generally known as an “iron bird”) for testing integration of the hydraulic, electric and flight-control systems.

Liebherr Aerospace built the nose landing gear installed last Thursday. Airbus said it plans to install main landing gear supplied by Messier-Dowty and start preliminary testing of all three landing gear legs “in the coming weeks,” with full integration testing starting late this year.

The A350 is Airbus’ answer to Boeing’s composite 787 Dreamliner and will compete against the 787 and larger 777. It is scheduled to enter service in late 2013.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/...r-for-testing/

[future.architect]

Airbus resists pressure to scale up A350-1000

Airbus is not intending to change the size of the A350-1000 as it heads towards definition freeze for the twinjet by the end of this year, although it has yet to confirm the extent to which it might adapt the aircraft to better compete with the Boeing 777-300ER.

Overall configuration of the A350-1000 was validated in November 2010, including the type's fuselage size. Sources close to the programme indicate that there are no plans to change the aircraft's basic dimensions. The A350 will typically seat 350 passengers against the 777-300ER's 370.

But there is still a lack of clarity as to whether Airbus is to tweak the thrust requirement for the type.

Industry sources familiar with the situation say that Airbus insists it is "not changing the size of the aircraft", but "recognises that an increased thrust may result in slightly higher fuel burn".

If Airbus changes the thrust, and this leads to a larger fan size on the powerplant, says the source, the aircraft would also "probably" need a re-optimised pylon.

Rolls-Royce, which is supplying the Trent XWB engine for the A350 family, has declined to comment beyond supporting a statement in March, by Airbus vice-president of marketing Andrew Shankland, that the Trent was sufficient to power the twinjet.

Airbus's efforts to keep definition freeze on schedule come as Emirates is looking at a possible switch of A350-900s to the -1000, although the Dubai-based carrier says that the type - as it stands - does not compare to the 777-300ER, and that Airbus should be considering a higher take-off weight and greater thrust.

Last year's validation of the A350-1000 airframe, says Airbus, means the aircraft "has the capability to meet the performance targets and guarantees".

Airbus adds that it is "progressing well" with the A350, with a technology insertion programme for the -1000, which was created with "the objective of further optimising the airframe and performance while keeping a high level of commonality".

Qatar Airways is the launch customer for the A350-1000, with service entry intended in 2015. The carrier has 20 on order, as does Emirates. Another 35 have been ordered by Etihad Airways and Asiana.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...a350-1000.html

[Lapsa]

The Tam order 27 Airbus A350-900.

[KB]

PICTURE: First A350-900 main gear delivered for testing

Manufacturer Messier-Dowty has delivered the first Airbus A350-900 main landing-gear to the undercarriage test facility at the airframer's UK site at Filton.
The delivery follows the Filton plant's receiving the A350's first nose-gear last month, built by Liebherr.

Both will be mounted in a rig for integration testing which will begin towards the end of 2011, says Airbus.

"These tests will be carried out to demonstrate reliability and maturity, and will also provide evidence for certification, especially regarding the extension-retraction, braking and steering systems," it adds.

[ALLAN92]

good

[future.architect]

The a350-1000 is said to be getting a more powerful engines and a bigger wing, this will allow it to fly 500nm further.

The 93,000lb Trent XWB engine, recently called "certainly sufficient" to meet the mission requirements of the 350-seat A350-1000, appears set to get a 5000lb thrust boost to better compete with Boeing's 777-300ER. That jump to 98,000lbs - which Steven Udvar-Hazy said was necessary to meet its goals - is aimed at increasing the payload range capability of the -1000 another 500nm from 7,990nm to 8,490nm. Yet, even if the new Trent XWB is only designed to meet the near-8,000nm mission, then the powerplant may begin to accelerate Boeing's -300ER upgrades, and could pose a larger challenge to the 777 family.

Source

The a350's wing will utilise some really advanced composites.

While all the attention at the Paris Air Show will surely be turned to the airlines and the aircraft makers they will be shopping from, a little known technology company called Advanced Composites Group Ltd., may be set to make a big impact on the future of commercial aerospace manufacturing in Le Bourget.

On display for the first time will be parts manufactured for the Airbus A350 XWB composite trailing edge wing panels. While on its surface that may not seem particularly notable in an aircraft that has 52% composite primary structure, each panel is made from MTM44-1, the first application of out-of-autoclave (OoA) composite technology for commercial aircraft structure.

Source

[Pagan95]

First A350 XWB nose section delivered to Airbus
Airbus partner and aerospace structures company Aerolia has delivered the first A350 XWB nose section to Airbus’ facility in St. Nazaire, France.

The A350 XWB nose section comprises three main sub-assemblies: the cockpit plus upper and lower forward fuselage parts, which incorporate door one and the nose landing gear bay. The A350 XWB nose section is made of 40% composites, 55% aluminum/aluminum-lithium and 5% titanium. Once assembled and equipped, the nose section will be joined to the forward fuselage to form the A350 XWB front fuselage, Airbus said.

The A350 XWB, which was initially offered to customers in December 2004, has had a long design phase. After two major redesign efforts, the final design of the lead -900 variant was frozen in 2011 (ATW, Aug. 1). Airbus announced at the Paris Air Show in June that it pushed back EIS for the A350-1000 to 2017 from 2015 and unveiled a modified -1000 model featuring a higher thrust variant of the Trent XWB engine being developed by Rolls-Royce. Additionally, the company delayed A350-800 EIS to 2016 from 2014

http://atwonline.com/aircraft-engine...+Daily+News%29

[future.architect]

^
Great post, I have been meaning to do an update on the A350 for a while but it now seems a good time to do it.


Here we see the nose section on its way to Airbus's Saint-Nazaire site where it will be joined to the forward fuselage which will be delivered to the final assembly line in Toulouse by the end of the year.



Here we see the lower and upper wing covers which Airbus claims are the largest carbon fibre aerospace parts ever produced. They where delivered to Airbus's Broughton plant in Wales where they are being assembled into the wings.


The A350's first centre wing box makes its way to Saint-Nazaire aboard a barge. The wing box joins the fuselage to the wings and will be integrated into the central fuselage section in Saint-Nazaire before being transferred to the FAL in Toulouse.


Here we see the first of the a350's Horizontal tail planes being built in Puerto Real, Spain.

image hosted on flickr

The A350 XWB will begin final assembly this year and should have its first flight in 2012.

[EPA001]

So far, after a slow start with multiple A350-versions, Airbus now seems to have everything on track to quickly counter the B787 threat. Which did Airbus the courtesy of being 3,5 years later to the market then originally envisioned. B787-9 and A350-900 XWB will be out there on the market within 1 year of each other. .

[future.architect]

First forward fuselage nearly ready at Nordenham, Germany:





When the structural assembly is finished in a few weeks, it will be sent to Hamburg for systems installation.

I must say, the windows look huge!

[Space Invader]

Thanks for that future.architect!
A great project, i'm looking forward to see this bird's roll out.

[Леонид]

with which aircraft would this be competing?? 787?? why would airbus design another plane?? would it replace a previous model?

If they have already A340 and A330 .... another one ??

[Fan Railer]

Originally Posted by Леонид

with which aircraft would this be competing?? 787?? why would airbus design another plane?? would it replace a previous model?

If they have already A340 and A330 .... another one ??

you answered your own question: it replaces the A340 and the A330 families while competing with the 787s and the 777s from boeing.