Plane Nation

Airbus has opted to develop its A350-800 as a shrink version of the -900, an adjustment aimed at simplifying the program.

Airbus will invest more than €400 million (£358.9 million) in the UK in the next 12 months as it prepares to start production on its latest aircraft, the A350XWB. Airbus has started work on constructing a 46,000 sq m factory at its site in Broughton, North Wales, and is recruiting suppliers to the project.

Airbus has rolled out its second complete carbon-fibre test barrel as part of its development programme for the A350 XWB fuselage design.

Airbus’s bigger A350 aircraft has won almost 500 orders, 10 of them at the Paris Airshow, forcing Boeing to turn its attention to the market for bigger planes with more than 300 seats. The Chicago- based company is considering an upgrade of its 15-year-old 777 aircraft. Airlines say it should spend billions on a new [...]

At the new ground breaking cerimony of the A350 assembly plant a model was revealed showing the final outline of the new plane.  An Airbus computer graphic shows the same design.

Today, Airbus started construction work on the final assembly line for the A350 XWB, the new highly efficient wide-body aircraft scheduled to enter service in 2013.
The 74,000 m2 factory will house the first stages of final assembly for the A350 XWB: the joining up of the fuselage and wings. Aircraft testing and cabin equipping will [...]

A350 family nears 500 orders as Airbus confirms Etihad deal.  Etihad’s order – which includes six A380s and 20 A320s – accounts for 51 of the 84 aircraft booked during the month.
It takes to 75 the number of orders for Airbus’ largest version of the A350 family, for which Emirates, Qatar Airways and Asiana Airlines are also [...]

Hong Kong’s business aviation operation C Jet is set to become the first customer for a VIP version of the Airbus A350 XWB, having also just ordered an Airbus Corporate Jetliner. Hong Kong’s C Jet to be first VIP A350 customer Hong Kong’s business aviation operation C Jet is set to become the first customer for a VIP version of the Airbus A350 XWB, having also just ordered an Airbus Corporate Jetliner.

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.