Airbus has received validation in November 2007 for the external noise values of the A380 powered by Engine Alliance GP7200 engines from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). External noise certification is part of the process for the joint EASA and FAA type certification for the GP7200-powered A380, which is scheduled in December 2007.
At the Dubai air show earlier this month the A350 XWB halted the Boeing 787’s inexorable advance through Airbus’s widebody customers when Emirates chose the new Airbus instead of its US rival to replace its huge fleet of A330/A340s and 777 Classics.
The proposed all-cargo version of the Airbus A350 XWB will offer Boeing MD-11F levels of payload and volume, but development is unlikely to begin until work on all the passenger models is completed.
Boeing’s first 787, Dreamliner One is tentatively scheduled to pass the power-on milestone in late January and be flight-ready by late February, Flightglobal.com affiliate Flightblogger reports.
A Boeing spokeswoman responds: “We have not talked about specific milestones yet on our way to first flight, which we anticipate to happen around the end of first quarter 2008. [...]
