Plane Nation

PARIS - Airbus kicked off a $13.2 billion plan Monday to build its A350 XWB wide-bodied jet, which is designed to compete with Boeing’s successful 787
and boost the fortunes of the troubled European planemaker. CEO Louis Gallois told a news conference that the A350 will be funded through the savings
generated by a painful cost-cutting plan, from cash flow and from Airbus’ partners. The cost-saving plan was announced in the wake of delays to the
A380 superjumbo and management turmoil that has shaken the company and its parent, the European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. EADS approved the
A350 plan on Friday. No timetable was released, and it remained

Airbus is studying a bigger version of its largest A350 XWB variant, the -1000, to
improve its competitiveness against the Boeing 777. But the manufacturer may be
forced to delay the formal launch of the entire A350 XWB family as it battles with the
more pressing problems that surround the A380. As unveiled at the Farnborough air
show in July, the A350-1000 will seat 350 passengers in a three-class configuration -
around 15 fewer seats than the largest 777 variant, the -300ER - with service entry
set for 2014. But according to airline sources, Airbus is studying a larger A350-1000,
partly due to pressure from Lufthansa, which is evaluating the A350

Singapore Airlines ordered 20 new Airbus A350 XWB planes today, making it the first carrier to commit to the revamped aircraft unveiled by the European
manufacturer earlier this week. The Asian carrier also said it would exercise its options to pick up nine more of Airbus’ double-decker A380s - the model
that led to a high-level management shakeup at Airbus and its parent company European Aeronautic Defence & Space last month when the company warned of
delivery delays. The contract for all 29 planes is worth around $7.5 billion, the Asian carrier said. Airbus unveiled a $10 billion revamp of the A350 jet at the
Farnborough International Airshow on Monday in response to airline

The A350 XWB (extra wide-body) is Airbus’ response to market demand
for a medium capacity long range wide-body family. Available from 2012,
it will have an entirely new, uncompromised, 21st Century design with a
new and wider fuselage for extra space and passenger comfort. It will
also be extra efficient, extra environmentally friendly and quiet, as it will
feature all the advanced technologies available in the first part of the 21st
century, bringing the A380 experience to a new level. Conceived from
the outset to form a complete family of airliners, three basic passenger
versions are being offered. They include the -800, -900 and the -1000
accommodating between 250

As reported by Airbus, the new A350XWB model will be 12.5 centimeters
wider than the previous draft and carry 314 passengers. It will also make
extensive use of carbon-fibre composites and fuel-efficient engines.
Airbus intends to begin development in October, and the plane is
expected to enter service by mid 2012.

Airbus will expand its offering of two new mid-sized planes to three in order to catch up with surging rival Boeing Co., industry sources said on Friday. Worried
that its pair of proposed A350 models aimed at competing with the Boeing 787 due in 2008 will do little to slow sales of Boeing’s larger 777, France-based Airbus
will add a third, larger model. “They are definitely looking at doing three,” one industry source said, adding that the new planes were likely to be named the
A350-800, A350-900 and A350-1,000. There was a chance Airbus could go with the name A370, he added. A second source confirmed the story

EXECUTIVES of Europe’s aircraft manufacturer Airbus were engaged
this weekend in another crisis. They had hoped to unveil the design of
their new A370 aircraft this week on the eve of the Farnborough Air
Show. The “launch” of the new plane, which is even more critical to the
company’s future than its troubled A380 super-jumbo, had been pencilled
in for 14 July until British partner BAE Systems announced it was
triggering a full audit of the Toulouse-based European planemaker. On
Friday, the launch of the mid-sized jet was suddenly suspended to allow
new chairman Christian Streiff to “review” the troubled project, so Airbus
claimed.

European aircraft maker Airbus, which faces delays to production of the
A380 super-jumbo, may also be forced to delay the launch of its long-haul
A350 jet, London’s Times newspaper said Friday.The new setback was
because Christian Streiff, expected to be confirmed as the new Airbus
chief executive, needed time to approve the venture, the newspaper said
citing sources close to EADS, which owns 80 percent of Airbus.The
group has been busy redesigning its A350 model, a new mid-sized airliner
that has been poorly received by potential clients.According to The
Times, sources close to the European Aeronautics Defence and Space
Company have warned that Streiff may not make a decision

General Electric yesterday estimated it could cost the company up to $1
billion to design a new engine to power the potential next iteration of the
Airbus A350, and the company is still weighing whether it wants to make
the significant investment. GE-Aviation CEO Scott Donnelly said on the
sidelines of a Wings Club speech in New York that GE was in talks with
Airbus about the A350 and a possible new engine, but that no decision
had been made. He said GE “would love to be on the plane,” but he had
to weigh that desire against the large economic investment in a new
powerplant. Donnelly said the motor on the new engine would

Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 series is only engine currently offerable to
customers for revamped widebody twinjet family Airbus is trying to
convince General Electric to develop an engine that it can offer on the
revamped A350 family, which is now being proposed to potential
customers powered only by versions of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000
engine. Airbus is declining to confirm details of its studies into the revised
family ahead of next month’s Farnborough air show, at which time it
hopes to “clear up the confusion” surrounding the status of the new
twinjet, says the company’s chief operating officer customers John
Leahy. However, he tells Flight International that Airbus is “a little
disappointed with GE’s response” to