Description
Overview:
The Airbus A350 “XWB” is an Airbus large carrier and long-haul Aircraft. This aircraft is a by-product of the Airbus A330 and A340 family. Initially called A350, aircraft’s design was reconsidered in July 2006 to expand the fuselage as compared to the A330, A340 and its major competitor the Boeing B787. Accordingly, it was named the A350 XWB, for eXtra Wide Body (“extra-large fuselage”).
The Airbus A350 XWB is the newest member of the Airbus family.
Its first test flight took place on June 14, 2013 in Toulouse Blagnac. The A350 was awarded ETOPS370 certification before its first delivery on October 15, 2014. On January 15, 2015, the A350 carried out its first commercial flight from Doha to Frankfurt.
Commercial Features:
The A350 initially competed with the Boeing B787 and the Boeing B777. However, it also competes with the A330. Airbus did not wish to overshadow the new versions of the A340, beyond the growing disinterest of the airlines for four-engine aircraft with less than 400 passenger carrying capacity. It is destined to replace the A330 and A340 family: the Airbus project is expected to propose three main versions of the A350 with five variants.
Technical Features:
The A350 is partially built with polymers, which greatly increased the aircraft’s design costs. Moreover, this postponed the aircraft’s launch from 2011 to 2014. Today, the aircraft is offered in two versions: the A350-800 and the A350-900. These two versions closely resemble the A330, since both aircraft have the same aluminum structure and the same size, except for the 900 version which is 1.60 meters longer than the A330-300. For its propulsion, the A350 is powered by General Electric and Rolls-Royce engines.
