Addendum
Airbus’ A350-1000 completes maiden flight
December 1st 2016
In comments typical of the combatant relationship between the world’s top two aircraft manufacturers, Airbus president and CEO, Fabrice Brégier, told Orient Aviation at the ceremony to mark the A350-1000 maiden flight in Toulouse last month that the new aircraft “has killed the B777-300ER”. Read More » He added Airbus remained committed to a production ramp-up of the A350 XWB family to at least 50 a year. “Our goal is to have a backlog that supports production of 10 A350s a month,” Brégier said. “I think the percentage of -1000 versus -900 orders will increase.” Until now, Airbus has delivered 35 A350s to airline customers.
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Issues with the A350 cabin interiors supply chain had eased, the Airbus CEO said. “I am more confident we can meet this number than I was as the end of June,” Brégier said on November 24, the date of the maiden flight. But he conceded the following weeks would be “a hell of a challenge”.
When asked about the recent B787 sales successes in Mainland China, Brégier said Airbus has had much interest in the A350 from Chinese carriers, but the “initial challenge” was early production slot allocation. “We were successful with Hainan and China Eastern. I believe the A350 will lead the Chinese market in the end,” he said. Hainan Airlines subsidiary, Hong Kong Airlines, has 15 -900s in its books and China Eastern Airlines ordered 20 -900s last April.
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Guests from Singapore Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, Vistara, AirAsia X, AerCap, Etihad Airways, China Airlines, Japan Airlines, Emirates Airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Thai Airways International, Qatar Airways and Qantas Airways attended the ceremonies surrounding the four hour flight over southern France. ANA, Qantas, Emirates, Vistara and Tianjin Airlines have not officially ordered the A350, but Tianjin has said the A350 is part of its fleeting plans.
The -1000 is the largest variant of the A350 XWB family and also is the largest twin engine aircraft in the market. The test flight aircraft was powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines (97klb).
Launch A350-1000 customer, Qatar Airways, is scheduled to receive its first -1000 in the second half of next year. Airbus has 195 orders from 11 customers for the -1000, compared with 599 for the -900 and a remaining 16 for the -800. Asia-Pacific -1000 customers are Asiana Airlines (10), Cathay Pacific Airways (26), Etihad Airways (22) Japan Airlines (13) and Qatar Airways (37). By Dominic Lalk in Toulouse.
| Airbus announces job losses as company’s integration continues The Airbus Group announced on November 29 that it would cut its 136,000 workforce by a progressive reduction of 1,164 positions. The job cuts “will mainly effect support and integrated functions as well as the CTO (Chief Technology Office) organisation”, Airbus said. The merger would conclude the company’s headquarters move from Paris and Munich to Toulouse, which would be accompanied by the transfer of 325 positions, the manufacturer said. “At the same time, Airbus Group intends to create up to 230 new jobs “to secure critical skills needed for the company’s way ahead in the era of digital transformation”. The group hopes to have an agreement with workers on the job cuts by mid next year. Voluntary departures, redeployments and early retirements will be part of the measures to be discussed the company said. Airbus will complete its integration in 2017, when “Airbus Becomes One” in a process that began in 2012. |
