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A350 XWB Aft
Fuselage Delivered To Final Assembly Line By Shane Nolan |
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April 26, 2012 - Airbus has delivered the aft fuselage
for the A350 XWB static test airframe to the final
assembly line in Toulouse (France). This final section
of the fuselage will be assembled with the front and
centre fuselage sections which were joined up in early
April.
Assembled at Airbus’ site in Hamburg (Germany), the 20
meter long carbon fiber aft fuselage is made up of the
rear fuselage barrel, produced at Airbus’ Getafe plant
(Spain), two lateral aft fuselage panels made by Premium
AEROTEC (Germany) plus the upper and lower aft fuselage
panels manufactured by Airbus in Stade (Germany).
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The Airbus
A350 is a family of long-range, wide-body jet airliners under
development by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The A350
will be the first Airbus with both fuselage and wing structures
made primarily of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer. It will carry
270 to 350 passengers in three-class seating, depending on
variant.
The A350
was born as an A330-derived minimum-changed competitor to the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the larger Boeing 777, but was
unanimously rejected by prospective customers. Airbus was forced
to redesign the initial proposal, but airlines voiced for a
complete overhaul. The eventual proposal incorporates major
changes, which Airbus says will be more fuel-efficient, with up
to 8% lower operating cost than the Boeing 787.
The
redesigned A350 was marketed by Airbus as the A350 XWB, where
the XWB stands for Extra Wide Body. The launch customer for the
A350 is Qatar Airways, which ordered 80 aircraft across the
three variants. Development costs are projected to be 15
billion. The airliner is scheduled to enter airline service
during the first half of 2014. As of 20 January 2012, 561 orders
had been placed for the new aircraft.
When
Boeing announced its Boeing 787 Dreamliner program, it said the
lower operating costs of this aircraft would make it a serious
threat to the Airbus A330. In public announcements, Airbus
initially rejected this claim, stating that the 787 was itself
just a reaction to the A330, and that no response was needed for
the 787. Airlines pushed Airbus to provide a competitor, as
Boeing had committed the 787 to have 20% lower fuel consumption
than the Boeing 767. |