FLUG REVUE December 2005: Airbus launches A350

December 2005

A350 LAUNCHED

By Sebastian Steinke

Gustav Humbert, the new President and CEO of Airbus, opened his press conference on 7 October with a self-critical look back at the long drawn out A350 concept definition phase, which had been under way since mid-2004. “Many people thought it was taking too long, but at least it has turned into a beautiful baby.”

Airbus A350

On 6 October, the EADS Supervisory Board and BAE Systems had finally decided to go ahead with the launch of the A350 programme. In taking this decision at a time when the A380, A380F and A400M programmes are in full swing, Airbus has responded relatively quickly to Boeing's ultra-efficient 787 with a new aircraft family of its own.

“This is one of the most successful programme launches in the history of Airbus,” said Humbert. “We already have 140 firm commitments and we are expecting this to rise to around 200 firm orders by the end of the year, only three months after the programme launch. The Boeing 787 programme has been under way for 18 months, but has still only managed 260 orders. We have not allowed ourselves to be put off, but we are profiting from the results of the A380 development. And we have been listening to our customers. The A350 is bigger, it flies further and has lower operating costs than the 787.”

The A350, he explained, was not intended to be a successor to the A330, but an extra product for customers who wanted to complement the A380 with a smaller “sister ship” the size of the A330-200 with greater range. Airbus COO John Leahy promised that the A330 would continue to “be built for at least ten years, side-by-side with the A350.”

The Euro 4.35 billion aircraft programme will initially consist of two family members, the A350-800 and the A350-900. The 58.8m long A350-800 will carry 253 passengers in three classes over a distance of 16,300km. According to John Leahy, it will be able to fly non-stop from Paris to Hawaii. On the other hand the A350-900, a stretched version extending to 65.2m, will accommodate 300 passengers and have a range of 13,890km.

As reported in FLUG REVUE 11/2004 and 7/2005, although the original design was closely linked to the A330, Airbus has since transformed the A350 into a significantly more elaborate high technology product. It will feature a new composite wing with a 61.1m wingspan, 362m2 of wing area and metal spars, combined with state-of-the-art low-noise engines from General Electric (the GEnx) or, as recently announced, from Rolls-Royce (the Trent 1700) from 2011. Compared with the rival Boeing 787, both engine variants continue to make use of bleed air as the main source of energy for pressurised cabin, heating and anti-icing.

As John Leahy explains, “We believe it is better to use bleed air than to generate power separately. That would require liquid-cooled heat exchangers, which would raise the maintenance costs by 40 percent in return for only a 1.5 percent reduction in fuel consumption.” This maintenance argument is also used to justify the retention of aluminium in the fuselage area, compared with the composite materials to be used on the 787. As Leahy explains, “The fuselage is forever taking knocks from apron vehicles. Everyone knows how to perform an aluminium repair. With the latest aluminium lithium alloys, we can achieve half the weight saving possible from the use of composites, but with far greater ease of maintenance.” 40 percent of the A350 is composite, 20 percent is aluminium lithium and 10 percent is titanium. Over 90% of the parts are new compared with an A330. Compared with a conventional structure, the A350 will lose eight tonnes of mass through the use of new materials. According to Airbus, passenger seat costs will even be 2 percent lower than those of its rival from Seattle, the 787. The A350-800 and A350-900 will have a maximum takeoff weight of 245 tonnes.

The A350's cockpit, the external shape of which cuts resistance by 2.5 percent, will be technologically similar to the A380 and will be equipped with extra screens for a moving map display and two head-up displays. However, it will be fitted out in such a way that the A330 and A350 can be flown by pilots with a single type rating. John Leahy: “With our electronic flight control system we can even simulate the flight characteristics of the A330.”

Inside the A350 passenger cabin, which has been slightly enlarged due to the use of flattened ribs, Airbus plans to increase the air humidity to 20 percent, that is, five percent more than in the 787 which already has a particularly comfortable design. Again, the internal pressure will defy the Boeing model, with a typical pressure altitude of only 1,830m.

According to Airbus, China will contribute five percent towards the A350 development and production and Russia three percent through its newly founded holding company, United Aircraft Company. Other external risk sharing partners are also involved. Their overall share of the programme will be higher than is the case for the A380 programme. Humbert explains that he will be back in Moscow the following week. “The Russian industry is very competitive. The A350 is a vehicle for globalising the work.” According to Humbert, Airbus plans to open a separate design office in India within 12 to 18 months. This will be in addition to facilities in the USA, Russia and China.

Final assembly of the A350 will take place in Toulouse. Meanwhile Airbus is recruiting 1,200 additional engineers world-wide and will gain additional development capacity now that the main design phases of A380 are over. “The bottleneck of three or four months ago has eased.”

According to Humbert, Airbus could afford to pay all the costs of developing the A350 from its own resources. Nevertheless, the manufacturer has applied for one-third of its development costs to be in the form of repayable loans from European governments, which have already indicated their goodwill.

However, to avoid influencing the European-American negotiations currently under way over subsidies in civil aircraft construction, Airbus will defer taking out any loans until 2006. Meanwhile Boeing is taking advantage of launching finance available in Japan, which has a 34 to 37 percent share of the 787 programme.

The A350 design will be frozen in the first quarter of 2006 so that the first prototype can have its maiden flight in 2009. The first A350-800 is expected to enter into service in the summer of 2010, with the first A350-900 following at the end of 2010. Over the next 20 years, Airbus expects the A350-relevant market segment to total 3,300 aircraft, including 300 cargo aircraft, of which Airbus hopes to win at least one-half with the A330, A340 and A350.

From FLUG REVUE 12/2005

Last updated 10 November 2005

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