Airbus has started joining the first 21 m long front fuselage section for the A350 XWB.  This phase will continue over the coming weeks, and once completed, the front fuselage will be transported to the A350 XWB Final Assembly Line in Toulouse. It will be the first major section of the A350 XWB to enter the final assembly line.

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Last week Airbus delivered their 7,000th aircraft and today Boeing delivered their 7,000th 737 to Dubai-based flydubai. The airplane is flydubai’s 14th Next-Generation 737-800 with the new Boeing Sky Interior.

The Boeing 737 is the best-selling commercial jetliner of all time with total orders exceeding 9,300 airplanes, including orders for the new 737 MAX.

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Airbus delivered today its 7,000th aircraft, an A321, to US Airways – the airline that operates the largest fleet of Airbus aircraft in the world – from the Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany. This milestone comes just two years after the delivery of Airbus’ 6,000th aircraft which underlines the continued vibrancy of the commercial aviation sector and the market’s clear vote for eco-efficient aircraft.

The 1,000th Airbus delivery was an A340-300 that went to Air France in 1993, nineteen years after the first Airbus aircraft was delivered – an A300B2 also to Air France, in 1974. The 2,000th delivery was six years later in 1999. It took half that time, just three years, to get to the 3,000th delivery in 2002 and three more years to reach 4,000 deliveries. The tempo went up another notch taking Airbus only two years to hand over its 5,000th aircraft, an A330-200 to Qantas in December 2007. The 6,000th Airbus was an A380 which was delivered to Emirates in January 2010.

“It’s particularly fitting that our 7,000th aircraft is an A321 going to US Airways. The airline not only operates the largest fleet of Airbus aircraft in the world; with over 220 A320 Family aircraft flying in US Airways colours today, they also operate the largest fleet of our best-selling, eco-efficient A320 Family,” said Tom Enders, Airbus President and CEO. “This milestone is a tribute to the hard work and commitment of Airbus teams around the world. We have improved efficiencies company-wide and this has enabled us to deliver record numbers of latest generation aircraft at continually increasing rates, with an environmental footprint ever decreasing.”

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• November 27, 2011 -- Production of the Airbus A340 has ended

Production of the Airbus A340 four-engine commercial jetliner has ended, making it Airbus’ shortest-lived production model. The aircraft entered service in 1993, but soon began losing favor with carriers due to the economic factors associated with feeding fuel to and maintaining four engines. Demand for the A340 also took a major hit with the expansion of extended operations or ETOPS. As regulators increased the amount of time twin-engine aircraft were allowed to fly away from suitable landing sites under more lenient ETOPS regulations, four-engine aircraft lost a key competitive edge. And, Thursday, Airbus confirmed that it had sold zero A340s over the past two years. Meanwhile, some twin-engine jets from competing manufactures have done quite well.

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• November 27, 2011 -- Assembly of the first A350 XWB’s 32 m long carbon fibre composite wings has begun

Assembly of the first A350 XWB’s 32 m long carbon fibre composite wings has begun at Airbus’ recently-opened North Factory in Broughton, UK.

Pre-assembly of ribs, upper and lower covers and fixed leading and trailing edges already has taken place. These components will be moved into the main assembly jigs for full wing box integration.

Most of the A350 XWB wing is made of carbon composite, including the upper and lower wing covers, stringers, front and rear spars.

Airbus notes that the advanced structural design and superior wing aerodynamics are significant contributors to the aircraft’s 25% fuel-saving performance.

The A350 XWB is scheduled to enter into service in 2014.

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U.S. airlines must adjust fuel-drain systems in 258 Boeing 747s at a total cost of $10.2 million to prevent leaks that could result in fires, regulators said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it will propose the action in the Federal Register tomorrow after receiving a report of fuel leaks in the leading edge of a wing in a 737 plane. The affected 747s have a similar design, the FAA said.

Airlines have five years to complete the adjustment from the time the FAA makes its proposal final, according to the notice posted today. Airlines have 45 days to comment.

The FAA said it issued a directive in 2009 to address the fuel-drain issue in 757 aircraft and is considering rulemakings for 737 and 767 planes.

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• November 6, 2011 -- ANA Boeing 787 Dreamliner experienced a hydraulic valve failure

Boeing 787  Dreamliner experienced its first operational problem on Sunday, five days after its global debut on regular domestic routes in Japan, it was learned Monday.
All Nippon Airways’  flight 651 departed from Tokyo International Airport at Haneda and was scheduled to arrive at Okayama airport at 8:50 a.m. Sunday (11:50 p.m. Saturday GMT). But it failed to make a landing as planned because of a sign in the cockpit indicating that the main landing gear’s hangar door would not open automatically, informed sources said.
After the aborted landing attempt, the captain operated the main landing gear manually and the plane landed safely some 20 minutes behind schedule, the sources said.
None of the 249 passengers and crew members were injured.

After the landing, ANA found a problem with the hydraulic valve that operates the hangar door and exchanged it with a new one.

Incoming search terms:

• 787 dreamliner experience (1)
• boeing 787 hydraulic (1)

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A Qantas Airways  Airbus A380-800, registration VH-OQC, operating as Flight QF-31 from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) was forced to make an emergency landing at Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday, November 4, 2011 at 1:15 p.m. GST because of an engine problem, according to reports published on that date by The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Malaysian Star, Reuters, Aviation Safety Network, AV Herald, and other news sources.

The flight crew had to shut down the number 4 outboard right hand Trent 972 engine, manufactured by Rolls-Royce,  due to an indication of low oil quantity.

The Airbus A380 jet with 258 passengers and 25 crew members, descended to 28,000 feet, and then was placed in a holding pattern at 10,000 feet for about one hour, before safely landing on the 14,583-foot Runway 30L, about 2-1/2 hours after the engine shutdown.

Last Friday’s incident occurred exactly one year after the midair blowout of a Trent 900 engine aboard Qantas Flight QF-32,  VH-OQA, on a trip from Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) to Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD) in Sydney, Australia.

That plane was forced to make an emergency return landing in Singapore, while showering debris onto houses and a shopping mall below the flight path in neighboring Indonesia.

The engine explosion also caused serious and multiple structural and mechanical damage to the aircraft.

An investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) eventually traced the problem to a manufacturing defect in the Trent 900, which also occurred to other Airbus A380 aircraft that were operated by Singapore Airlines (SQ) and Lufthansa (LH).

Qantas is claiming that this most recent problem is “one-off” and “completely unrelated” to the engine blow-out last year that caused the entire Qantas fleet of Airbus A380-800 planes to be grounded.

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• a380 plane crash (1)
• airbus emergency return (1)

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Airbus reported on Oct. 24 that it has started assembly of the first A350 XWB’s horizontal tailplane (HTP) in Getafe, Spain. Joining of the two lateral boxes will produce the 17m/56-ft span primary structure of the HTP.

Structural assembly will continue over the coming weeks, followed by installation of the unit’s electric and hydraulic systems. Once the assembly and equipping work is finished, the HTP will be flown by Airbus’ Beluga transport aircraft to the final assembly line in Toulouse, France.

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• airbus a350xwb news (1)

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Rolls-Royce introduced the first of a two-phase performance improvement for the Trent 900 engines that power the Airbus A380 airliner. Turbofans now delivered to A380 operators have a 1-percent improvement in specific fuel consumption, compared with the initial units. Second-phase improvements due to enter service during 2013 will deliver a further 0.8-percent reduction in fuel burn.

In an October 21 press briefing, Trent 900 program director Rosie Toogood explained that all the improvements introduced focus on improving air flow and cooling of the engines. The first performance improvement package includes new elliptical leading edges (ELEs), tighter low-pressure tip clearance and a new hard coating for the high-pressure compressor drum. The second performance-improvement package, which is in its final stages, will cover the following elements: optimized fan blade tip clearance, better cooling of the turbine case, improved sealing for the low-pressure turbine, ELEs for the engine section stators, reprofiling of engine frames and upgrades to the air system.

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