Second launch of A350

The board of directors of the European aircraft manufacturer EADS last Friday authorized its civil division Airbus to begin a production program for the new family of long-range A350 XWB aircraft. The fate of the project came into question in May this year when Airbus management admitted that the previous basic version of the airliner (simply called the A350) did not meet market requirements. By July, the designers presented the main characteristics of the improved version of the A350 XWB, in October its full-scale development was approved by the Airbus board of directors, and now the parent company represented by EADS (which owns 100% of Airbus shares) allowed the start of the project.

EADS expects that, thanks to its technical excellence, the A350 XWB will become one of the main tools with which European aircraft manufacturers will conquer the global civil aviation market for several decades to come. True, on December 1 it was first announced that the transition to a new version would delay the project even more than independent observers had expected. The “old” A350 project envisaged the start of commercial deliveries of the aircraft in 2010. After the May announcement of design problems, experts predicted that deliveries would be delayed by two years. But now the EADS board of directors has announced that the airliner will enter commercial service even later - in 2013.

The A350 XWB family, as conceived by the developers, will include three basic passenger models: the A350-800, designed to carry 270 passengers and a flight range of up to 15,750 km, as well as the 314-seat A350-900 and the 350-seat A350-1000, both of which are the latter with a slightly shorter flight range - 15,400 km. The A350 XWB family will also include the ultra-long-range A350-900R, which will have an even longer flight range, and the freighter A350-900F. Airbus's recent forecast for the global air transport industry estimates demand for passenger and cargo aircraft in this category at approximately 5,700 units over the next 20 years.

Mikhail KUKUSHKIN