The Airbus A350 Thread

I prefer airbus. I fly a lot and seem to find airbus quieter than boeing.
My seat preference is on record with the airlines so i am virtually always in the same seat on various flights.
 
As an European man and fairly frequent flyer, I hope Airbus comes on top. Boing reminds me of Sony. Yeah, they are great but they were even greater in the 20th century.
 
SAA urged to consider its Airbus options

By: Kim Cloete

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus says local carrier South African Airways (SAA) will need to move faster if it wants to order Airbus’ most modern jetliner, the A350 XWB.
Airlines from around the world, including British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Air France, have already placed a total of 700 orders for the new aircraft. The first delivery will be made to Qatar Airways by the second half of next year.
SAA still needs to make a decision on whether or not to order the Airbus A350 and is presently deciding between the Boeing 787 and the A350.

Reuters on Monday quoted SAA acting CEO Nico Bezuidenhout as saying that the carrier would spend between $4-billion and $7-billion on 25 to 30 new long-haul aircraft and that it was mostly looking at the Boeing 787 and the A350.
“There’s a huge demand for this aircraft, as it’s a real game-changer. We’re pushing SAA to move faster, as we have a limited production capacity,” Airbus Africa VP of sales Hadi Akoum told journalists in Cape Town.
He said that if SAA ordered now, Airbus could only deliver the A350 aircraft in 2020 because of its mounting order book; however, SAA may be able to lease the A350 by 2016.
Among African airlines, Ethiopian Airlines had already ordered 12 A350’s with Afriqiyah Airways having ordered ten, Libyan Airlines four and Tunisair three.

Airbus media relations VP Stefan Schaffrath said Airbus was considering adding another module to its assembly line in Toulouse, France, to help cope with the demand.
The A350 is a twin-engine long-haul jetliner with between 250 and 375 seats. Airbus says the aircraft has been engineered to use 25% less fuel and provide an equivalent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
Production of the first A350 XWB began last year ahead of its flight test and certification programme.
Akoum said the Airbus 350 was ideally suited to emerging and high-density routes and would be able to fly for 15 to 16 hours nonstop. He considers it an excellent performer for high-altitude airports in hot climates, such as Johannesburg, where a particularly powerful engine is needed for take-off.

SAA already has a fairly extensive Airbus fleet. In February 2011, SAA began operating the Airbus A330-200. It had bought six of the jetliners to replace six leased A340-200s.
Schaffrath said Airbus viewed Africa as an exciting market, with great potential, adding that eight of the 20 biggest growth routes were connections with Africa.
Airbus has added 12 African and Indian Ocean airlines to its regional operators base since 2011. There are 190 Airbus aircraft in service with 25 carriers in the region.
 
'Airbus A350 to make maiden flight next week'

FRENCH aerospace giant Airbus's new long-haul carrier, the A350, should make its maiden flight at the end of next week unless bad weather or unexpected problems crop up, sources say.
"The final ground trials went very well. Weather permitting, it should fly next week," said one of the sources, tipping a Saturday flight.
Pascal Verneau, the chief engineer for flight tests, said "personally, I am hoping the first flight takes place before Bourget."
The Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport opens on Monday, June 17.

It comes as the plane manufacturer revealed a revised seating option for the A380 which could fit up to 600 people.
Verneau said a couple days of engine testing plus two tests reaching takeoff speed remain.
The maiden flight should last around four hours, he added, with the A350 flying over the Pyrenees mountains or the Brittany region depending on the weather conditions.
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Airbus officials downplayed the possibility the A350 could make an appearance at the Paris Air Show.
Airbus hopes the 314-seater will compete with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner by being both lighter and more fuel-efficient than previous models.
The first deliveries of A350s to airlines are scheduled for the end of 2014.
So far, Airbus has received orders for 616 of the aircraft.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if SAA has the A350 earmarked to replace the A340s still in their fleet. Of course, with the current waiting list, it could be a while... (EDIT: unless they are able to lease from ILFC again, they'll be receiving 14 A350-900 models reasonably early; SAA, if it could get its hands on these, would be able to replace the A340-300s).
 
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Airbus Sets Date for A350 Flight as Boeing Rivalry Intensifies

Airbus SAS’s new A350 plane is scheduled to perform its maiden flight in two days’ time, as the European manufacturer seeks to gain a larger slice of the lucrative wide-body market still dominated by Boeing Co (BA).

The A350’s first take-off from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France, will occur at 10 a.m. on June 14, “based on current visibility of the program,” the manufacturer said yesterday. The flight test teams are carrying out final checks on the aircraft before giving the final go-ahead.

A first flight would come days before the Paris Air Show, the most coveted industry event of the year and a regular place of showdowns between Airbus and Boeing as they angle for orders. Airbus has spent 11 billion euros ($14 billion) developing the A350, the company’s most advanced airliner yet, with composite materials and swept wings to rival Boeing’s wide-body jets.

“It’s a great coup de theatre,” said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners in London, who has followed the industry for 30 years. “It’s bound to be good for sentiment and for internal morale. It’s just a step on the way but an important milestone nonetheless.”

The flight will kick off 12 months of tests required for certification. While a first flight this week would show Airbus has improved its timing from previous programs, manufacturers often encounter complex issues even after a maiden voyage. Boeing’s Dreamliner entered service more than three years late, and Airbus’s A380 double-decker also suffered delays.

Paris Limelight
Getting its A350 airborne will help Airbus grab the spotlight as Boeing seeks to use the Paris expo to build interest in an updated 777, the Chicago-based company’s largest twin-engine jet, and revitalize the 787 program. That plane was grounded for three months earlier this year amid battery flaws.

The long-range A350 is designed to take on both Boeing models, with the 314-seat A350-900 -- the first to fly -- and the smaller A350-800 competing with the 787 and 777-200, and the A350-1000, seating 350, challenging the 777-300ER.

The A350 is more critical to the future success of Airbus than is the A380. The superjumbo has garnered 262 orders since the plane first went on offer in 2000. By comparison, the A350 has already racked up 613 orders even before first flight.

The first flight, which typically lasts several hours, will kick off 2,500 hours of airborne tests. The initial crew will include two pilots and four engineers in a plane packed with computer equipment to monitor performance and gather data.

The aircraft will be flown off the runaway at Toulouse/Blagnac airport, where Airbus is based, with the flight-control computers disconnected, in what is known as “direct law,” to allow pilots full handling of the aircraft.
Click to expand...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...body-jet-to-make-first-flight-on-june-14.html
 
Airbus A350 to make Maiden Flight on Friday

French aircraft maker Airbus on Tuesday said its new long-haul carrier, the A350, is scheduled to make its maiden flight on Friday after having successfully passed a series of tests.

The company said in a statement the flight would take place at 0800 GMT at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in southwestern France, "weather conditions permitting."

Flight test teams were however carrying out a final round of controls before giving "their final green light".

Airbus hopes the 314-seater will compete with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner by being both lighter and more fuel-efficient than previous models.

The first deliveries of A350s to airlines are scheduled for the second half of 2014. So far, Airbus has received 613 firm orders for the aircraft.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mv
Date : 11 Jun 2013 21:43
 
Airbus's new A350 plane is due to take off on its much-anticipated maiden flight Friday, a milestone for an aircraft the firm hopes will help close the gap with rival Boeing in the lucrative long-haul market.

Weather permitting, the next-generation plane will lift off from the southwestern city of Toulouse at 0800GMT with six people on board -- a British and a French test pilot, a flight engineer and three other engineers at the back.

The test flight of the long-haul plane -- more than half of which is made of composite materials -- comes just days ahead of the Bourget air show where Boeing and Airbus traditionally vie for the spotlight over plane orders.

"All recent programmes before it, both by Airbus, Boeing and others, have had reasonably horrendous technical problems and delays," said Nick Cunningham, an aviation analyst at the London-based Agency Partners.

"So every time you hit a milestone (such as a test flight), it's good news because it means that you've missed an opportunity to have another big delay."

If the maiden flight is successful, Airbus will enter a test flying period it hopes will last less than 18 months, and plans to deliver its first A350 at the end of next year.

The A350 will complete Airbus's long-haul stable, which includes the A380 super jumbo, and will gradually replace the older A330, a plane that has generated almost half of the firm's revenues in recent years, Cunningham said.

The extensive use of carbon-based composites means the new plane will be lighter and deliver fuel economy -- much like its rival, Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

Despite dethroning Boeing in the medium-hall segment, Airbus still needs to catch up with its rival in the long-range market, where the US firm dominates with its 777 and Dreamliner, despite the latter's recent technical problems.

Initially meant as a direct competitor to the Dreamliner, Airbus has now positioned the A350 between Boeing's popular 777 and the new 787, hoping to eat away at both planes' markets.

--- Boeing seeks avoid shadow ---

The test flight may cast a big shadow over Boeing at the Bourget air show, which kicks off on Sunday.

The US company is hoping to use the event to prove its Dreamliner is well and truly back on track after recent lithium battery problems forced planes already in operation to be grounded for months.

Christophe Menard, aerospace and defence analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Paris, said that despite delays on the A350, Airbus was getting the plane out faster than Boeing managed to do with its Dreamliner.

"If the plane flies well Friday, then it clearly means that they are more in command of their development process than Boeing," he said.

Richard Aboulafia, a US-based aviation analyst, added Airbus could argue that "Boeing's ability to execute is questionable" and that the A350 "is a better bet in terms of timing and availability."

Still, the 787 is ahead of the A350 in term of orders -- 890 versus 613. At the end of May, Boeing had delivered some 57 Dreamliners.

And even if Friday's flight goes to plan, the A350 then enters the test flying phase where anything could still go wrong.

"The risk is they find other things that they hadn't expected... They start building aircraft before they finish certifying and testing, so if you run into any issues, it gets very expensive as you have to fix the ones you already built," said Cunningham.

"That's the problem that Boeing has been having with the 787 and it's an issue that Airbus themselves had with the A380, so it's a nail-biting time over the next year."


Source : Sapa-AFP /mom
Date : 13 Jun 2013 04:42
 
so when is Vodacom investing in one as a corporate jet. R2.5b is a smattering of the profits to invest ....
Ockie will be over the moon and it will make it easier for MyBB meets ...
 
Airbus A350 poised for Maiden Flight on Friday in Toulouse

European airplane manufacturer Airbus is set to test its new mid-size, long-range A350 jet at the French home of Airbus in Toulouse on Friday.

The A350 is designed as a competitor to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

It is scheduled to take to the skies for its maiden flight at 0800 GMT.

The test comes three days before the start of the biennial Paris Air Show, where Airbus and Boeing traditionally do battle for aircraft orders.

The A350 uses light carbon-composite materials instead of aluminium, allowing airlines to make savings on fuel. It will have a capacity of between 270 and 350 passengers and is scheduled to enter service in late 2014.Authors: Gerd Roth, Clare Byrne


Source : Sapa-dpa /mom
Date : 14 Jun 2013 07:09
 
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