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The Airbus A350 is a long-range,
wide-body A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft and in the largest cases as a jumbo jet, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . ...
twin-engine A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of failure of an engine. Fuel efficien ...
airliner An airliner is a type of airplane for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. The modern and most common variant of the airliner is a long, tube shaped, and jet powered aircraft. The largest ...
developed and produced by
Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...
. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, wh ...
, would have been a development of the
Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...
with composite wings, advanced winglets, and new efficient engines. Due to inadequate market support, Airbus switched in 2006 to a clean-sheet "XWB" (eXtra Wide Body) design, powered by two
Rolls-Royce Trent XWB The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce Holdings. In July 2006, the Trent XWB was selected to exclusively power the Airbus A350. The first engine was run on 14 June 2010, it first flew on an A380 testbed on ...
high bypass turbofan engines. The prototype first flew on 14 June 2013 from
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
, France. Type certification from the
European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Commission with responsibility for civil aviation safety in the European Union. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs inve ...
(EASA) was obtained in September 2014, followed by certification from the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
(FAA) two months later. The A350 is the first Airbus aircraft largely made of
carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
. The fuselage is designed around a 3-3-3 nine-across economy cross-section, an increase from the eight-across A330/A340 2-4-2 configuration. It has a common
type rating A type rating is an authorization entered on or associated with a pilot license and forming part thereof, stating the pilot's privileges or limitations pertaining to certain aircraft type. Such qualification requires additional training beyond ...
with the A330. The airliner has two variants: the A350-900 typically carries 300 to 350 passengers over a range, and has a
maximum takeoff weight The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...
(MTOW); the longer A350-1000 accommodates 350 to 410 passengers and has a maximum range of and a MTOW. On 15 January 2015, the first A350-900 entered service with
Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (, ''al-Qaṭariyya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 internatio ...
, followed by the A350-1000 on 24 February 2018 with the same launch operator. ,
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
is the largest operator with 65 aircraft in its fleet, while
Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...
is the largest customer with 110 aircraft on order. A total of 1,391 A350 family aircraft have been ordered and 658 delivered, of which 657 aircraft are in service with 38 operators. The global A350 fleet has completed more than 1.58 million flights on more than 1,240 routes, transporting more than 400 million passengers with one hull loss in an airport-safety-related incident. It succeeds the
A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel wit ...
and competes against Boeing's large long-haul
twinjet A twinjet or twin-engine jet is a jet aircraft powered by two jet engine, engines. A twinjet is able to fly well enough to land with a single working engine, making it safer than a single-engine aircraft in the event of failure of an engine. F ...
s, the
Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the most-built wide-body airliner. ...
, its future successor, the 777X, and the 787 Dreamliner.


Development


Background and early designs

Airbus initially rejected Boeing's claim that the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, wh ...
would be a serious threat to the
Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...
, stating that the 787 was just a reaction to the A330 and that no response was needed. When airlines urged Airbus to provide a competitor, Airbus initially proposed the "A330-200 Lite", a derivative of the A330 featuring improved aerodynamics and engines similar to those on the 787. The company planned to announce this version at the 2004
Farnborough Airshow The Farnborough International Airshow is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in ...
, but did not proceed. On 16 September 2004, Airbus president and chief executive officer Noël Forgeard confirmed the consideration of a new project during a private meeting with prospective customers. Forgeard did not give a project name, and did not state whether it would be an entirely new design or a modification of an existing product. Airline dissatisfaction with this proposal motivated Airbus to commit €4 billion to a new airliner design. On 10 December 2004, Airbus' shareholders,
EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...
and
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
, approved the "authorisation to offer" for the A350, expecting a 2010 service entry. Airbus then expected to win more than half of the 250-300-seat aircraft market, estimated at 3,100 aircraft overall over 20 years. Based on the A330, the 245-seat A350-800 was to fly over a 8,600 nmi (15,900 km; ) range and the 285-seat A350-900 over a 13,900 km (7,500 nmi; ) range.
Fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency (or fuel economy) is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical energy, chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or Mechanical work, w ...
would improve by over 10% with a mostly carbon fibre reinforced polymer wing and initial
General Electric GEnx The General Electric GEnx ("General Electric Next-generation") is an advanced dual rotor, axial flow, high-bypass turbofan jet engine in production by GE Aerospace for the Boeing 747-8 and Boeing 787, 787. The GEnx succeeded the General Electri ...
-72A1 engines, before offering a choice of powerplant. It had a common
fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...
cross-section with the A330 and also a new horizontal stabiliser. On 13 June 2005 at the
Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...
, Middle Eastern carrier
Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (, ''al-Qaṭariyya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 internatio ...
announced that they had placed an order for 60 A350s. In September 2006 the airline signed a memorandum of understanding with
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
(GE) to launch the GEnx-1A-72 engine for the new airliner model.
Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...
sought a more improved design and decided against ordering the initial version of the A350. On 6 October 2005, the programme's industrial launch was announced with an estimated development cost of around €3.5 billion. The A350 was initially planned to be a 250 to 300-seat twin-engine
wide-body aircraft A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft and in the largest cases as a jumbo jet, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is ...
derived from the existing A330's design. Under this plan, the A350 would have modified wings and new engines while sharing the A330's fuselage cross-section. For this design, the fuselage was to consist primarily of aluminium-lithium rather than the carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) fuselage on the Boeing 787. The A350 would see entry in two versions: the A350-800 with a range with a typical passenger capacity of 253 in a three-class configuration, and the A350-900 with range and a 300-seat three-class configuration. The A350 was designed to be a direct competitor to the Boeing 787-9 and 777-200ER. The original A350 design was publicly criticised by two of Airbus's largest customers, International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). On 28 March 2006, ILFC President Steven F. Udvar-Házy urged Airbus to pursue a clean-sheet design or risk losing market share to Boeing and branded Airbus's strategy as "a Band-aid reaction to the 787", a sentiment echoed by GECAS president Henry Hubschman.Gates, D
"Airplane kingpins tell Airbus: Overhaul A350"
. ''
Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...
'', 29 March 2006
Hamilton, S
"Redesigning the A350: Airbus' tough choice"
. Leeham Company
In April 2006, while reviewing bids for the Boeing 787 and A350, the CEO of
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
(SIA) Chew Choon Seng, commented that "having gone through the trouble of designing a new wing, tail, and
cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...
, irbusshould have gone the whole hog and designed a new fuselage."Michaels, D. and Lunsford, J.L
"Singapore Airlines Says Airbus Needs to Make A350 Improvements"
. ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', 7 April 2006
Airbus responded that they were considering A350 improvements to satisfy customer demands. Airbus's then-CEO Gustav Humbert stated, "Our strategy isn't driven by the needs of the next one or two campaigns, but rather by a long-term view of the market and our ability to deliver on our promises."Associated Press
"Airbus Considering Improvements to A350"
. Seattle Times, 10 April 2006.
As major airlines such as
Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...
and
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
selected the 787 over the A350, Humbert tasked an engineering team to produce new alternative designs. One such proposal, known internally as "1d", formed the basis of the A350 redesign.


Redesign and launch

On 14 July 2006, during the
Farnborough International Airshow The Farnborough International Airshow is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in ...
, the redesigned aircraft was designated "A350 XWB" (Xtra-Wide-Body). Within four days, Singapore Airlines agreed to order 20 A350 XWBs with options for another 20 A350 XWBs. The proposed A350 was a new design, including a wider fuselage cross-section, allowing seating arrangements ranging from an eight-across low-density premium economy layout to a ten-across high-density seating configuration for a maximum
seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
of 440–475 depending on variant. The A330 and previous iterations of the A350 would only be able to accommodate a maximum of eight seats per row. The 787 is typically configured for nine seats per row. The 777 accommodates nine or ten seats per row, with more than half of recent 777s being configured in a ten-across layout that will come standard on the 777X. The A350 cabin is wider at the eye level of a seated passenger than the 787's cabin, and narrower than the Boeing 777's cabin (see the Wide-body aircraft comparison of cabin widths and seating). All A350 passenger models have a range of at least . The redesigned composite fuselage allows for higher cabin pressure and humidity, and lower maintenance costs. On 1 December 2006, the Airbus board of directors approved the industrial launch of the A350-800, -900, and -1000 variants. The delayed launch decision was a result of delays to the
Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...
and discussions on how to fund development. EADS CEO Thomas Enders stated that the A350 programme was not a certainty, citing EADS/Airbus's stretched resources. However, it was decided programme costs are to be borne mainly from cash-flow. First delivery for the A350-900 was scheduled for mid-2013, with the -800 and -1000 following on 12 and 24 months later, respectively. New technical details of the A350 XWB were revealed at a press conference in December 2006. Chief operating officer, John Leahy indicated existing A350 contracts were being re-negotiated due to price increases compared to the original A350s contracted. On 4 January 2007, Pegasus Aviation Finance Company placed the first firm order for the A350 XWB with an order for two aircraft. The design change imposed a two-year delay into the original timetable and increased development costs from US$5.5 billion (€5.3 billion) to approximately US$10 billion (€9.7 billion)."Airbus A350 Cost Rises to $15.4 Billion on Composites"
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...
. 4 December 2006
''Reuters'' estimated the A350's total development cost at US$15 billion (€12 billion or £10 billion). The original mid-2013 delivery date of the A350 was changed, as a longer than anticipated development forced Airbus to delay the final assembly and first flight of the aircraft to the third quarter of 2012 and second quarter of 2013 respectively. As a result, the flight test schedule was compressed from the original 15 months to 12 months. A350 programme chief Didier Evrard stressed that delays only affected the A350-900 while the -800 and -1000 schedules remained unchanged. Airbus' 2019 earnings report indicated the A350 programme had broken even that year.


Design phase

Airbus suggested Boeing's use of
composite material A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...
s for the 787 fuselage was premature, and that the new A350 XWB was to feature
carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...
panels only for the main fuselage skin. However, after facing criticism for maintenance costs, Airbus confirmed in early September 2007 that it would also use carbon fibre for fuselage frames. The composite frames would feature aluminium strips to ensure the electrical continuity of the fuselage, for dissipating lightning strikes. Airbus used a full mock up fuselage to develop the wiring, a different approach from the A380, on which the wiring was all done on computers. In 2006, Airbus confirmed development of a full
bleed air Bleed air in aerospace engineering is compressed air taken from the compressor stage of a gas turbine, upstream of its fuel-burning sections. Automatic air supply and cabin pressure controller (ASCPC) valves bleed air from low or high stage engine ...
system on the A350, as opposed to the 787's bleedless configuration.Steinke, S
"Airbus Unveils A350 XWB"
'' Flug Revue''. September 2006.
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
agreed with Airbus to supply a new variant of the Trent
turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...
engine for the A350 XWB, named ''
Trent XWB The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce Holdings. In July 2006, the Trent XWB was selected to exclusively power the Airbus A350. The first engine was run on 14 June 2010, it first flew on an A380 testbed on ...
''. In 2010, after low-speed wind tunnel tests, Airbus finalised the static thrust at sea level for all three proposed variants to the range. GE stated it would not offer the GP7000 engine on the aircraft, and that previous contracts for the GEnx on the original A350 did not apply to the XWB. Engine Alliance partner
Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially ...
seemed to be unaligned with GE on this, having publicly stated that it was looking at an advanced derivative of the GP7000. In April 2007, former Airbus CEO Louis Gallois held direct talks with GE management over developing a GEnx variant for the A350 XWB. In June 2007, John Leahy indicated that the A350 XWB would not feature the GEnx engine, saying that Airbus wanted GE to offer a more efficient version for the airliner. Since then, the largest GE engines operators, which include Emirates,
US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...
,
Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. ( ) is a commercial U.S. airline headquartered in Honolulu, and a subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. It is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the island state of Hawaiʻi, and the tenth largest ...
and ILFC have selected the Trent XWB for their A350 orders. In May 2009, GE said that if it were to reach a deal with Airbus to offer the current 787-optimised GEnx for the A350, it would only power the -800 and -900 variants. GE believed it could offer a product that outperforms the
Trent 1000 The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce, one of the two engine options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, competing with the General Electric GEnx. It first ran on 14 February 2006 and first flew on 18 ...
and Trent XWB, but was reluctant to support an aircraft competing directly with its GE90-115B-powered 777 variants. In January 2008, French-based
Thales Group Thales S.A., Trade name, trading as Thales Group (), is a French multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence industry, defence corporation specializing in electronics. It designs, develops and manufactures a wide variety of aer ...
won a US$2.9 billion (€2 billion) 20-year contract to supply avionics and navigation equipment for the A350 XWB, beating
Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...
and
Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins, Inc. was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radi ...
. US-based Rockwell Collins and
Moog Inc. Moog Inc. ( ) is an American-based designer and manufacturer of electric, electro-hydraulic and hydraulic motion, controls and systems for applications in aerospace, defense, industrial and medical devices. The company operates under four segmen ...
were chosen to supply the horizontal stabiliser actuator and primary flight control actuation, respectively. The flight management system incorporated several new safety features. Regarding cabin ergonomics and entertainment, in 2006 Airbus signed a firm contract with
BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
for development of an interior concept for the original A350. On 4 February 2010, Airbus signed a contract with Panasonic Avionics Corporation to deliver in-flight entertainment and communication (IFEC) systems for the Airbus A350 XWB.


Production

In 2008, Airbus planned to start cabin furnishing early in parallel with final assembly to cut production time in half. The A350 XWB production programme sees extensive international collaboration and investments in new facilities: Airbus constructed 10 new factories in
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
and the US, with extensions carried out on three further sites. Among the new buildings was a £570 million (US$760 million or €745 million) composite facility in Broughton, Wales, which would be responsible for the wings. In June 2009, the
National Assembly for Wales The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...
announced provision of a £28 million grant to provide a training centre, production jobs and money toward the new production centre. Airbus manufactured the first structural component in December 2009. Production of the first fuselage barrel began in late 2010 at its production plant in Illescas, Spain. Construction of the first A350-900 centre wingbox was set to start in August 2010. The new composite rudder plant in China opened in early 2011. The forward fuselage of the first A350 was delivered to the final assembly plant in Toulouse on 29 December 2011. Final assembly of the first A350 static test model was started on 5 April 2012. Final assembly of the first prototype A350 was completed in December 2012. In 2018, the unit cost of the A350-900 was
US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
317.4 million and the A350-1000 was US$366.5 million. The production rate was expected to rise from three aircraft per month in early 2015 to five at the end of 2015, and would ramp to ten aircraft per month by 2018. In 2015, 17 planes would be delivered and the initial dispatch reliability was 98%. Airbus announced plans to increase its production rate from 10 monthly in 2018 to 13 monthly from 2019 and six A330 are produced monthly. Around 90 deliveries were expected for 2018, with 15% or ≈ units being A350-1000 variants. That year, 93 aircraft were delivered, three more than expected. In 2019, Airbus delivered 112 A350s (87 A350-900s and 25 A350-1000s) at a rate of 10 per month, and were going to keep the rate around nine to 10 per month, to reflect softer demand for widebodies, as the backlog reached 579 − or years of production at a constant rate. The
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
caused the decrease of A350 production from 9.5 per month to six per month, since April 2020. After the pandemic a ramp-up is planned, aiming to reach a rate of 9 per month by the end of 2025. As the pre-pandemic rate of 10 monthly is aimed for by 2026, by April 2024 Airbus was planning a 12-monthly production rate by 2028 after securing 281 net orders in 2023.


Testing and certification

The first Trent engine test was made on 14 June 2010. The Trent XWB's flight test programme began use on the A380 development aircraft in early 2011, ahead of engine certification in late 2011. On 2 June 2013, the Trent XWB engines were powered up on the A350 for the first time. Airbus confirmed that the flight test programme would last 12 months and use five test aircraft. The A350's maiden flight took place on 14 June 2013 from the
Toulouse–Blagnac Airport Toulouse–Blagnac Airport () is an international airport located west northwest of Toulouse, partially in Blagnac, both '' communes'' of the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitanie region of France. In 2017, the airport served 9,264,611 ...
. Airbus's chief test pilot said, "it just seemed really happy in the air...all the things we were testing had no major issues at all." It flew for four hours, reaching Mach 0.8 at 25,000 feet after retracting the
landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...
and starting a 2,500 h flight test campaign. Costs for developing the aircraft were estimated at €11 billion (US$15 billion or £9.5 billion) in June 2013. A350 XWB msn. 2 underwent two and a half weeks of climatic tests in the unique McKinley Climatic Laboratory at
Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...
, Florida, in May 2014, and was subjected to multiple climatic and humidity settings from to . The A350 received type certification from the
European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Commission with responsibility for civil aviation safety in the European Union. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs inve ...
(EASA) on 30 September 2014. On 15 October 2014, EASA approved the A350-900 for
ETOPS The Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards (ETOPS) () are safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Twinjet, twin-engine commercial passenger aircraft operations. They are a safety measu ...
(Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards) 370, allowing it to fly more than six hours on one engine and making it the first airliner to be approved for "ETOPS Beyond 180 minutes" before entry into service. Later that month Airbus received regulatory approval for a Common Type Rating for pilot training between the A350 XWB and A330. On 12 November 2014, the A350 received certification from the FAA. On 1 August 2017, the EASA issued an airworthiness directive mandating operators to power cycle (reset) early A350-900s before 149 hours of continuous power-on time, reissued in July 2019.


Entry into service

In June 2011, the A350-900 was scheduled to enter service in the first half of 2014, with the -800 to enter service in mid-2016, and the -1000 in 2017. In July 2012, Airbus delayed the -900's introduction by three months to the second half of 2014. The delivery to launch customer Qatar Airways took place on 22 December 2014. The first commercial flight was made on 15 January 2015 between
Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
and
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. The first A350-1000 was assembled in 2016 and had its first flight on 24 November 2016. The aircraft was then delivered on 20 February 2018 to Qatar Airways, which had also been the launch operator of the -900. and entered the commercial service with a flight from Doha to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
on 24 February 2018.


Shorter A350-800

The -long A350-800 was designed to seat 276 passengers in a typical three-class configuration with a range of with an MTOW of . In January 2010, Airbus opted to develop the -800 as a shrink of the baseline -900 to simplify development and increase its payload by or its range by , but this led to a fuel burn penalty of "a couple of percent", according to John Leahy. The previously planned optimisation to the structure and landing gear was not beneficial enough against better
commonality In aviation, fleet commonality is the economic and logistic benefits of operating a standardized fleet of aircraft that share common parts, training requirements, or other characteristics. Different types of commonality Commonality policies ...
and maximum takeoff weight increase by 11t from 248t. The −800's fuselage is 10 frames shorter (six forward and four aft of wing) than the −900 aircraft. It was designed to supplement the Airbus A330-200 long-range twin. Airbus planned to decrease structural weight in the -800 as development continued, which should have been around airframe 20. While its backlog reached 182 in mid-2008, it diminished since 2010 as customers switched to the larger -900. After launching the
Airbus A330neo The Airbus A330neo ("neo" for " New Engine Option") is a wide-body airliner developed by Airbus from the original Airbus A330 (now A330''ceo'' – "Current Engine Option"). A new version with modern engines comparable with those developed fo ...
at the 2014 Farnborough Airshow, Airbus dropped the A350-800, with its CEO Fabrice Brégier saying "I believe all of our customers will either convert to the A350-900 or the A330neo". He later confirmed at a September 2014 press conference that development of the A350-800 had been "cancelled". There were 16 orders left for the -800 since
Yemenia Yemenia () is the flag carrier of Yemen, based in Sanaa. It operates scheduled domestic and international passenger flights to destinations in Africa and the Middle East out of its airline hub, hubs at Aden International Airport, and to a lesser ...
switched to the -900 and
Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. ( ) is a commercial U.S. airline headquartered in Honolulu, and a subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. It is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the island state of Hawaiʻi, and the tenth largest ...
moved to the A330neo in December 2014: eight for
Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...
and eight for
Asiana Airlines Asiana Airlines Inc. ( ) is a South Korean airline headquartered in Seoul.Home
." Asiana Airlines. Retrieved 13 September 2 ...
, both also having orders for the -900. In January 2017, Aeroflot and Airbus announced the cancellation of its -800 order, leaving Asiana Airlines as the only customer for the variant. After the negotiation between Airbus and Asiana Airlines, Asiana converted orders of eight A350-800s and one A350-1000 to nine A350-900s.


Longer A350-1000

In 2011, Airbus redesigned the A350-1000 with higher weights and a more powerful engine variant to provide more range for trans-Pacific operations. This boosted its appeal to
Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...
and Singapore Airlines, who were committed to purchase 20 Boeing 777-9s, and to
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...
, which was considering Boeing 777-300ERs to replace its 747-400s. Emirates was disappointed with the changes and cancelled its order for 50 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s, instead of changing the whole order to the larger variant. Assembly of the first fuselage major components started in September 2015. In February 2016, final assembly started at the A350 Final Assembly Line in Toulouse. Three flight test aircraft were planned, with entry into service scheduled for mid-2017. The first aircraft completed its body join on 15 April 2016. Its maiden flight took place on 24 November 2016. The A350-1000 flight test programme planned for 1,600 flight hours; 600 hours on the first aircraft, MSN59, for the
flight envelope In aerodynamics, the flight envelope, service envelope, or performance envelope of an aircraft or spacecraft refers to the capabilities of a design in terms of airspeed and load factor or atmospheric density, often simplified to altitude. The ...
, systems and powerplant checks; 500 hours on MSN71 for cold and warm campaigns, landing gear checks and high-altitude tests; and 500 hours on MSN65 for route proving and ETOPS assessment, with an interior layout for cabin development and certification. In cruise at and 35,000 ft, its fuel flow at is per hour within a , hours early long test flight. Flight tests allowed raising the
MTOW The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...
from , the increase giving more range. Airbus then completed functional and reliability testing. Type Certification was awarded by EASA on 21 November 2017, along FAA certification. The first serial unit was on the final
assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...
in early December. After its maiden flight on 7 December 2017, delivery to launch customer Qatar Airways slipped to early 2018. The delay was due to issues with the business class seat installation. It was delivered on 20 February 2018 and entered commercial service on Qatar Airways' Doha to London Heathrow route on 24 February 2018.


Possible further stretch

Airbus has explored the possibility of a further stretch offering 45 more seats. A potential stretch would remain within the exit limit of four door pairs, and a modest MTOW increase from 308 t to 319 t would need only 3% more thrust, within the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 capabilities, and would allow a range to compete with the 777-9's capabilities. This variant was to be a replacement for the 747-400, tentatively called the A350-8000, -2000 or -1100. At the June 2016 Airbus Innovation Days, chief commercial officer John Leahy was concerned about the size of a 400-seat market besides the
Boeing 747-8 The Boeing 747-8 is the final series of the large, long-range wide-body airliners in the Boeing 747 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the largest model variant of the 747 and Boeing's largest aircraft overall. Following the intro ...
and the 777-9 and chief executive Fabrice Brégier feared such an aircraft could cannibalise demand for the -1000. The potential aeroplane was competing against a hypothetical 777-10X for Singapore Airlines. At the 2017
Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...
, the concept was shelved for lacking market appeal and in January 2018 Brégier focused on enhancing the A350-900/1000 to capture potential before 2022/2023, when it would be possible to stretch the A350 with a new engine generation.


Improvements


Performance improvement package (PIP) 2017

In October 2017, Airbus was testing extended sharklets as part of the upcoming performance improvement package (PIP), which could offer extra range and reduce fuel burn by 1.4–1.6%, it has also increased the maximum take off weight (MTOW) from to . The wing twist is being changed for the wider, optimised spanload pressure distribution, and will be used for the Singapore Airlines A350-900ULR in 2018 before spreading to other variants. On 26 June 2018,
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
was the first to receive the upgraded -900, with a
MTOW The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...
version for an range with 325 passengers in three classes. This eventually became a standard package for all the A350-900 airframes starting from MSN 216.


Hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC)

By April 2019, Airbus was testing a hybrid
laminar flow Laminar flow () is the property of fluid particles in fluid dynamics to follow smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral m ...
control (HLFC) on the leading edge of an A350 prototype vertical stabiliser, with passive suction similar to the
boundary layer control In engineering, boundary layer control refers to methods of controlling the behaviour of fluid flow boundary layers. It may be desirable to reduce flow separation on fast vehicles to reduce the size of the wake (streamlining), which may reduce ...
on the
Boeing 787-9 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Boeing Sonic Cruiser, Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the ...
tail, but unlike the natural laminar flow
BLADE A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...
, within the same EU Clean Sky programme.


Improvement package 2019

Starting with MSN 316, all the Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 produced has the side slip angle (SSA) probe removed after a software update to prove these sensors are not needed anymore for redundancy. There's also a new
light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corre ...
(LED) lighting package installed replacing the old
high-intensity discharge High-intensity discharge lamps (HID lamps) are a type of Electric light, electrical gas-discharge lamp which produces light by means of an electric arc between tungsten electrodes housed inside a translucent or transparent fused quartz or fused ...
(HID) lamps, these new light units will have a longer life cycle improving reliability performance. In June 2019, Airbus delivered the first A350 equipped with the improvement package to
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
(9V-SHH).


New production standard (NPS) 2022

On 30 September 2022, an improved new production standard (NPS) was announced, it will apply to A359/A35K airframes starting from MSN 579, which is an A350-900 airframe that was delivered to
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
. The NPS includes a weight reduction and a MTOW increase, along with a wider interior cabin to offer 30 additional seats. It offers the customers with a new weight variant WV020 for the 283t MTOW. The interior changes include moving the cockpit wall forward, moving the aft pressure bulkhead one frame further aft and resculpting the sidewalls to allow ten-across 17-inch seats. There are also improvements to the aircraft’s take off performance by introducing software evolutions which regulate the slat and flap positions, and has also implemented a faster landing gear retraction cycle – conferring greater obstacle clearance and reduced aerodynamic drag.


New Engine Option

By November 2018, Airbus was hiring in Toulouse and Madrid to develop a
re-engine The aircraft design process is a loosely defined method used to balance many competing and demanding requirements to produce an aircraft that is strong, lightweight, economical and can carry an adequate payload while being sufficiently reliable to ...
d A350neo. Although its launch is not guaranteed, it would be delivered in the mid-2020s, after the
A321XLR The Airbus A321neo is a Single-aisle aircraft, single-aisle airliner created by Airbus. The A321neo (''neo'' being an acronym for "new engine option") is developed from the Airbus A321 and Airbus A320neo family. It is the longest stretched fusela ...
and a stretched
A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' being Greek for "new", as well as an acronym for "new engine option") is based on the enhance ...
"plus", potentially competing with the
Boeing New Midsize Airplane The New Midsize Airplane (NMA), or New Midsize Aircraft, (culturally referred to as the Boeing 797) is a concept airliner proposed by Boeing to fill the middle of the market segment. In 2015, Boeing determined the market was large enough to la ...
. Service entry would be determined by ultra-high
bypass ratio The bypass ratio (BPR) of a turbofan engine is the ratio between the mass flow rate of the bypass stream to the mass flow rate entering the core. A 10:1 bypass ratio, for example, means that 10 kg of air passes through the bypass duct for eve ...
engine developments pursued by Pratt & Whitney, testing its Geared Turbofan upgrade;
Safran Aircraft Engines Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma (''Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation'') or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It de ...
, ground testing a demonstrator from 2021; and Rolls-Royce, targeting a 2025
Ultrafan The Rolls-Royce Trent is a family of high-bypass turbofans produced by Rolls-Royce. It continues the three spool architecture of the RB211 with a maximum thrust ranging from . Launched as the RB-211-524L in June 1988, the prototype first ran ...
service entry. The production target is a monthly rate of 20 A350neos, up from 10. In November 2019, General Electric was offering an advanced GEnx-1 variant with a
bleed air Bleed air in aerospace engineering is compressed air taken from the compressor stage of a gas turbine, upstream of its fuel-burning sections. Automatic air supply and cabin pressure controller (ASCPC) valves bleed air from low or high stage engine ...
system and improvements from the
GE9X The General Electric GE9X is a high-bypass turbofan developed by GE Aerospace exclusively for the Boeing 777X. It first ran on the ground in April 2016 and first flew on March 13, 2018; it powered the 777-9's maiden flight in early 2020. It r ...
, developed for the delayed Boeing 777X, to power a proposed A350neo from the mid-2020s. In 2021, Rolls Royce signed an exclusive deal to supply A350-900 engines until 2030, following previous similar commitments for the A350-1000.


Design

Airbus expected 10% lower airframe maintenance compared with the original A350 design and 14% lower empty seat weight than the Boeing 777. Design freeze for the A350-900 was achieved in December 2008. The
airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aeros ...
is made out of 53% composites: CFRP for the empennage (vertical and horizontal tailplanes), the wing (centre and outer box; including covers, stringers, and spars), and fuselage (keel beam, rear fuselage, skin, and frame); 19% aluminium and aluminium–lithium alloy for ribs, floor beams, and gear bays; 14%
titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
for landing gears, pylons, and attachments; 6% steel; and 8% miscellaneous. The A350's competitor, the Boeing 787, is 50% composites, 20% aluminium, 15% titanium, 10% steel, and 5% other.


Fuselage

The A350 features a new composite fuselage with a constant width from door 1 to door 4, unlike previous Airbus aircraft, to provide maximum usable volume. The double-lobe (
ovoid An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...
) fuselage
cross-section Cross section may refer to: * Cross section (geometry) ** Cross-sectional views in architecture and engineering 3D * Cross section (geology) * Cross section (electronics) * Radar cross section, measure of detectability * Cross section (physics) ...
has a maximum outer diameter of , compared to for the A330/A340. The cabin's internal width is at armrest level compared to in the Boeing 787"Airbus unveils mock up XWB cabin"
''
Flight International ''Flight International'', formerly ''Flight'', is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", i ...
'' September 2007
and in the Boeing 777. It allows for an eight-across 2–4–2 arrangement in a
premium economy Premium economy class, also known by brand names which vary by company, is a travel class offered on many airlines. It is usually positioned between standard economy class and business class in terms of price, comfort, and available amenitie ...
layout, with the seats being wide between wide arm rests. Airbus states that the seat will be wider than a 787 seat in the equivalent configuration. In the nine-across, 3–3–3 standard economy layout, the A350 seat will be wide, wider than a seat in the equivalent layout in the 787, and wider than a seat in the equivalent A330 layout. The current 777 and future derivatives have greater seat width than the A350 in a nine-across configuration. The 10-across seating on the A350 is similar to a 9-across configuration on the A330, with a seat width of . Overall, the A350 gives passengers more headroom, larger overhead storage space, and wider panoramic windows than current Airbus models. The A350 nose section has a configuration derived from the A380 with a forward-mounted nosegear bay and a six-panel flightdeck windscreen. This differs substantially from the four-window arrangement in the original A350 XWB design. The new nose, made of aluminium, improves aerodynamics and enables overhead crew rest areas to be installed further forward and eliminate any encroachment in the passenger cabin. The new windscreen has been revised to improve vision by reducing the width of the centre post. The upper shell radius of the nose section has been increased. The Airbus A350 initially featured manual window shades. In 2020, Airbus announced that dimmable windows, similar to those on the Boeing 787, would be offered as an option. These windows are designed to darken or lighten more efficiently, providing greater control over light levels while maintaining an outside view. Starlux Airlines became the first carrier to receive A350s equipped with dimmable windows across all cabins, while Japan Airlines offers this feature exclusively in premium economy and higher-class cabins, retaining manual shades for economy passengers.


Wing

The A350 features new composite wings with a
wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...
that is common to the proposed variants. Its wingspan stays within the same ICAO Aerodrome Reference Code E 65 m limit as the A330/A340 and the Boeing 777. The A350's wing has a 31.9° sweep angle for a
Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...
 0.85 cruise speed and has a maximum operating speed of Mach 0.89. The -900 wing has an area of . This is between the wing of the current Boeing 777-200LR/300ER and the wing of the in-development Boeing 777X. However, Boeing and Airbus do not use the same measurement. The A350-1000 wing is () larger through a () extension to the inboard sections of the fixed trailing edge. A new trailing-edge
high-lift device In aircraft design and aerospace engineering, a high-lift device is a component or mechanism on an aircraft's wing that increases the amount of lift produced by the wing. The device may be a fixed component, or a movable mechanism which is deplo ...
has been adopted with an advanced dropped-hinge
flap Flap may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Flap'' (film), a 1970 American film * Flap, a boss character in the arcade game '' Gaiapolis'' * Flap, a minor character in the film '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'' Biology and h ...
similar to that of the A380, which permits the gap between the trailing edge and the flap to be closed with the
spoiler Spoiler or Spoilers may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Spoiler (media), something that reveals significant plot elements * The Spoiler, DC Comics superheroine Stephanie Brown Film and television * ''Spoiler'' (film), 1998 American ...
. It is a limited morphing wing with adaptive features for continuously optimising the wing loading to reduce fuel burn: variable camber for longitudinal load control where inboard & outboard flaps deflect together and differential flaps setting for lateral load control where inboard & outboard flaps deflect differentially. The manufacturer has extensively used computational fluid dynamics and also carried out more than 4,000 hours of low- and high-speed
windtunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...
testing to refine the aerodynamic design. The final configuration of wing and winglet was achieved for the "Maturity Gate 5" on 17 December 2008. The
wingtip device Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag (physics), drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduc ...
curves upwards over the final . The wings are produced in the new £400 million (US$M), North Factory at Airbus Broughton, employing 650 workers, in a specialist facility constructed with £29M of support from the
Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...
.


Undercarriage

Airbus adopted a new philosophy for the attachment of the A350's main undercarriage as part of the switch to a composite wing structure. Each main undercarriage leg is attached to the rear wing spar forward and to a gear beam aft, which itself is attached to the wing and the fuselage. To help reduce the loads further into the wing, a double side-stay configuration has been adopted. This solution resembles the design of the
Vickers VC10 The Vickers VC10 is a retired mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The VC10 is often compared to the larger Soviet Ily ...
. Airbus devised a three-pronged main undercarriage design philosophy encompassing both four- and six-wheel
bogies A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more wheelsets (two wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally ...
to stay within pavement loading limits. The A350-900 has four-wheel bogies in a long bay. The higher weight variant, the A350-1000 uses a six-wheel bogie, with a undercarriage bay. French-based Messier-Dowty provides the main undercarriage for the -900 variant, with
titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...
forgings from Kobelco, and
UTC Aerospace Systems UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) was one of the world’s largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. The company was formed in August 2012 when parent United Technologies Corporatio ...
supplies the -1000 variant. The nose gear is supplied by
Liebherr Aerospace Liebherr-Aerospace is the aerospace equipment manufacturing division of Liebherr. The company is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM); its low visibility in the minds of end consumers can be attributed to the OEM nature of all of its oper ...
. File:Airbus A350-941 F-WWCF MSN002 main landing gear ILA Berlin 2016 06 (cropped).jpg, The A350-900 has a four-wheel main gear for a MTOW. File:Airbus A350-1000 landing gear.jpg, The A350-1000 has a six-wheel main landing gear to support a MTOW.


Systems

Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building automation, industrial automa ...
supplies its HGT1700
auxiliary power unit An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115&n ...
with 10% greater
power density Power density, defined as the amount of power (the time rate of energy transfer) per unit volume, is a critical parameter used across a spectrum of scientific and engineering disciplines. This metric, typically denoted in watts per cubic meter ...
than the
TPE331 The Honeywell TPE331 (military designation: T76) is a turboprop engine. It was designed in the 1950s by Garrett AiResearch, and produced since 1999 by successor Honeywell Aerospace. The engine's power output ranges from . Design and developme ...
from which it is developed, and the air management system: the bleed air, environmental control, cabin pressure control and supplemental cooling systems. Airbus says that the new design provides a better cabin atmosphere with 20% humidity, a typical
cabin altitude Cabin may refer to: Buildings * Beach cabin, a small wooden hut on a beach * Log cabin, a house built from logs * Cottage, a small house * Chalet, a wooden mountain house with a sloping roof * Cabin, small free-standing structures that serve as in ...
at or below and an airflow management system that adapts cabin airflow to passenger load with draught-free air circulation. The ram air turbine, with a nominal power of 50
kilovolt-ampere The volt-ampere ( SI symbol: VA, sometimes V⋅A or V A) is the unit of measurement for apparent power in an electrical circuit. It is the product of the root mean square voltage (in volts) and the root mean square current (in amperes). ...
, is supplied by Hamilton Sundstrand and located in the lower surface of the fuselage. In light of the 787 Dreamliner battery problems, in February 2013 Airbus decided to revert from
lithium-ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible Intercalation (chemistry), intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically Electrical conductor, conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are c ...
to the proven nickel-cadmium technology although the flight test programme will continue with the lithium-ion battery systems. In late 2015, A350 XWB msn. 24 was delivered with lighter Saft Li-ion batteries and in June 2017, fifty A350s were flying with them and benefiting from a two-year
maintenance The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...
schedule instead of NiCd's 4–6 months.
Parker Hannifin Parker-Hannifin Corporation, originally Parker Appliance Company, usually referred to as just Parker, is an American corporation specializing in motion and control technologies. Its corporate headquarters are in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, in Greater ...
supplies the complete fuel package: inerting system, fuel measurement and management systems, mechanical equipment and fuel pumps. The fuel tank inerting system features air-separation modules to generate nitrogen-enriched air to reduce the flammability of fuel vapour in the tanks. Parker also provides hydraulic power generation and distribution system: reservoirs, manifolds, accumulators, thermal control, isolation, software and new engine- and electric motor-driven pump designs. Parker estimates the contracts will generate more than US$2 billion in revenues over the life of the programme.


Cockpit and avionics

The revised design of the A350 XWB's
glass cockpit A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features an array of electronic (digital) flight instrument display device, displays, typically large liquid-crystal display, LCD screens, rather than traditional Analog device, analog dials and gauges ...
dropped the A380-sized display and adopted
liquid-crystal display A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other Electro-optic modulator, electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liq ...
screens. The new six-screen configuration includes two central displays mounted one above the other (the lower one above the
thrust lever Thrust levers or throttle levers are found in the cockpit of aircraft, and are used by the Pilot in command, pilot, copilot, flight engineer, or autopilot to control the thrust output of the aircraft's aircraft engine, engines, by controlling th ...
s) and a single (for each pilot) primary flight/navigation display, with an adjacent on-board information system screen driven by laptops running EFB software which are connected while stowed behind each pilot. Airbus says the cockpit design allows for future advances in navigation technology to be placed on the displays plus gives flexibility and capacity to upload new software and to combine data from multiple sources and sensors for flight management and aircraft systems control. An optional
head-up display A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD () or head-up guidance system (HGS), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a ...
is also present in the cockpit.
Avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...
are a further development of the integrated modular avionics (IMA) concept found on the A380. The A350's IMA will manage up to 40 functions (versus 23 functions for the A380) such as undercarriage, fuel, pneumatics, cabin environmental systems, and fire detection. Airbus stated that the benefits includes reduced maintenance and lower weight because as the IMA replaces multiple processors and LRUs with around 50% fewer standard computer modules known as line-replaceable modules. The IMA runs on a 100 
Mbit/s In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...
network based on the
Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet Avionics Full-Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX), also ARINC 664, is a data network, patented by international aircraft manufacturer Airbus, for safety-critical applications that utilizes dedicated bandwidth while providing deterministic quality of ...
standard, as employed in the A380, in place of the architecture used on the A330/A340.


Engines

In 2005, GE was the launch engine of the original A350, aiming for 2010 deliveries, while Rolls-Royce offered its Trent 1700. For the updated A350 XWB, GE offered a GEnx-3A87 for the A350-800/900, but not a higher thrust version needed for the A350-1000, which competes with the longer range 777 powered exclusively with the
GE90 The General Electric GE90 is a family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines built by GE Aerospace for the Boeing 777, with thrust ratings from . It entered service with British Airways in November 1995. It is one of three engines for the 77 ...
-115B. In December 2006, Rolls-Royce was selected for the A350 XWB launch engine. The
Rolls-Royce Trent XWB The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce Holdings. In July 2006, the Trent XWB was selected to exclusively power the Airbus A350. The first engine was run on 14 June 2010, it first flew on an A380 testbed on ...
features a diameter fan and the design is based on the advanced developments of the Airbus A380
Trent 900 The Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A380, competing with the Engine Alliance GP7000. Initially proposed for the Boeing 747#747-500X, -600X, and -700X, Boeing 747-500/600X in July ...
and the Boeing 787 Trent 1000. It has four thrust levels to power the A350 variants: and for the regional variants of the A350-900 while the baseline A350-900 has the standard and for the A350-1000. The higher-thrust version will have some modifications to the fan module—it will be the same diameter but will run slightly faster and have a new fan blade design—and run at increased temperatures allowed by new materials technologies from Rolls-Royce's research. The Trent XWB may also benefit from the next-generation reduced acoustic mode scattering engine duct system (RAMSES), an acoustic quieting engine
nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...
intake, and a carry-on design of the Airbus's "zero splice" intake liner developed for the A380. A "
hot and high In aviation, hot and high is a condition of low air density due to high ambient temperature and high airport elevation. Air density decreases with increasing temperature and altitude. The lower air density reduces the power output from an airc ...
" rating option for Middle Eastern customers Qatar Airways, Emirates, and
Etihad Airways Etihad Airways is one of the two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates (the other being Emirates). Its head office is in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, near Zayed International Airport. The airline commenced operations in November 2003, and ...
keep its thrust available at higher temperatures and altitudes. Airbus aimed to certify the A350 with 350-minute ETOPS capability on entry into service; although Airbus achieved a 370-minute ETOPS rating on 15 October 2014, which covers 99.7% of the Earth's surface. There are plans to extend this to 420 minutes in the future. Engine thrust-reversers and
nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...
s are supplied by US-based
Collins Aerospace Collins Aerospace is an American technology company that is one of the world's largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products. It was formed in 2018 from the merger of Rockwell Collins and UTC Aerospace Systems. Headquartered in Charlotte, ...
(formerly
UTC Aerospace Systems UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) was one of the world’s largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. The company was formed in August 2012 when parent United Technologies Corporatio ...
).


Operational history

One year after introduction, the A350 fleet had accumulated 3,000 flight cycles and around 16,000 block hours. Average daily usage by first customers was 11.4 hours with flights averaging 5.2 hours, which are under the aircraft's capabilities and reflect both short flights within the schedules of Qatar Airways and
Vietnam Airlines Vietnam Airlines () is the flag carrier of Vietnam. The airline was founded in 1956 and later established as a Government-owned corporation, state-owned enterprise in April 1989. Vietnam Airlines is headquartered in Long Biên district, Hanoi ...
, as well as flight-crew proficiency training that is typical of early use and is accomplished on short-haul flights.
Finnair Finnair Plc (, ) is the flag carrier and largest full-service legacy airline of Finland, with headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its airline hub, hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...
was operating the A350 at very high rates: 15 flight hours per day for
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, 18 hours for
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, and more than 20 hours for
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
. This may have accelerated the retirement of the
Airbus A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-haul, long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the Airbus A300, A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 qu ...
. In service, problems occurred in three areas. The onboard maintenance, repair, overhaul network needed software improvements. Airbus issued service bulletins regarding onboard equipment and removed galley inserts (coffee makers, toaster ovens) because of leaks. Airbus had to address spurious overheating warnings in the bleed air system by retrofitting an original connector with a gold-plated connector. Airbus targeted a 98.5% dependability by the end of 2016 and to match the mature A330 reliability by early 2019. By the end of May 2016, the A350 fleet had flown 55,200 hours over 9,400 cycles at a 97.8% operational reliability on three months. The longest operated sector was Qatar Airways'
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...
at 13.8 hours for . 45% of flights were under , 16% over , and 39% in between. The average flight was 6.8 hours, with the longest average being 9.6 hours by TAM Airlines and the shortest being 2.1 hours by
Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...
's. It is able to
seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...
from 253 seats for Singapore Airlines to 348 seats for TAM Airlines, with a 30 to 46 seat business class and a 211 to 318 seat economy class, often including a premium economy. A total of 49 A350s were delivered to customers in 2016. It was also planned that the monthly rate would grow to 10 by the end of 2018, which was eventually achieved in 2019 when Airbus delivered 112 aircraft over a period of 11 months. In January 2017, two years after introduction, 62 aircraft were in service with 10 airlines. They had accumulated 25,000 flights over 154,000 hours with an average daily utilisation of 12.5 hours, and transported six million passengers with a 98.7% operational reliability. Zodiac Aerospace encountered production difficulties with business class seats in their Texas and California factories. After a year, Cathay Pacific experienced cosmetic quality issues and upgraded or replaced the seats for the earliest cabins. In 2017, average test flights before delivery decreased to 4.1 from 12 in 2014, with an average delay down to 25 days from 68. Its reliability was 97.2% in 2015, 98.3% in 2016, and 98.8% in June 2017, just behind its 99% target for 2017. In June 2017 after 30 months in commercial operation, 80 A350s were in service with 12 operators, the largest being Qatar Airways with 17 and 13 each at Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines (SIA). The fleet average block time (time between pushback and destination gate arrival) was 7.2 hours with 53% below , 16% over , and 31% in between.
LATAM Airlines LATAM Airlines Chile, formerly known as LAN Chile and LAN Airlines, is a Chilean multinational airline based in Santiago and one of the founding companies of the LATAM Airlines Group, the largest airline holding company in Latin America. Its ...
had the longest average sector at 10.7 hours, and Asiana had the shortest at 3.8 hours. Singapore Airlines operated the longest leg, Singapore to San Francisco , and the shortest leg, Singapore to Kuala Lumpur . Seating varied from 253 for Singapore Airlines to 389 for
Air Caraïbes Air Caraïbes () is a French airline based in the French West Indies, with its headquarters in Les Abymes in Guadeloupe. The airline's main base of operations is at Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, with a focus city at ...
, with most between 280 and 320. As of February 2018, 142 A350-900s had been delivered, and were in operation with a dispatch reliability of 99.3%. As of November 2019, 33 operators had received 331 aircraft from 959 orders, and 2.6 million hours have been flown. On 30 September 2022, the 500th A350, an A350-900, was delivered to
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
. , the global A350 fleet of 620 aircraft had completed more than 1,589,000 flights on more than 1,240 routes, and had carried more than 400 million passengers since its entry into service; the fleet had 99.3% operational reliability in the last 3 months.


Qatar Airways paint dispute

In August 2021, as several A350s were sent in to be repainted in a scheme advertising the
2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...
(played in Qatar),
Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (, ''al-Qaṭariyya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 internatio ...
discovered that their paint was unusually degraded. The airline grounded its A350s until the root cause could be determined, and would not accept new aircraft deliveries until the problem could be solved. The European civil aviation regulator, EASA, found that paint degradation did not affect the aircraft structure or introduce "other risks". The Qatari civil aviation regulator was the only one that agreed with the airline that it was an airworthiness issue. In November 2021,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
found that
Finnair Finnair Plc (, ) is the flag carrier and largest full-service legacy airline of Finland, with headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its airline hub, hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and international ...
,
Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...
, Etihad,
Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...
and
Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
had also complained of paint damage as early as 2016. Singapore Airlines had not detected such problems with its fleet. On 20 December 2021, Airbus received a formal legal claim in the English courts filed by Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways alleged that the surface flaws cause the risk of fuel tank ignition due to the degradation in lightning protection over the fuel tanks in the wings. Qatar Airways claimed it was owed per day in compensation for each grounded aircraft. Meanwhile, according to a Flight International editorial, Airbus's decision to cancel Qatar's outstanding orders indicated that it was certain of its case. The court hearing was originally scheduled for summer 2023. Both Airbus and Qatar Airways agreed to settle the dispute on 1 February 2023. While the settlement was confidential, Flight International believed that Airbus achieved a more favourable outcome, opining that there was no major impact to Airbus's finances, the A350's reputation remained intact and Qatar's A321neos would nevertheless be delivered.


Variants

The three main variants of the A350 were launched in 2006, with entry into service planned for 2013. At the 2011 Paris Air Show, Airbus postponed the entry into service of the A350-1000 by two years to mid-2017. In July 2012, the A350's entry into service was delayed to the second half of 2014, before the -900 began service on 15 January 2015. In October 2012, the -800 was due to enter service in mid-2016, but its development was cancelled in September 2014 in favour of the reengined
Airbus A330neo The Airbus A330neo ("neo" for " New Engine Option") is a wide-body airliner developed by Airbus from the original Airbus A330 (now A330''ceo'' – "Current Engine Option"). A new version with modern engines comparable with those developed fo ...
. The A350 is also offered as the ACJ350 corporate jet by
Airbus Corporate Jets Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) is a business unit of Airbus which markets and completes business jet variants of the company’s airliners. Following the entry of the 737-based Boeing Business Jet into the market, Airbus introduced the A319-based Ai ...
(ACJ), offering a range for 25 passengers for the -900 derivative.


A350-900

The A350-900 ( ICAO code: A359) is the first A350 model; it has a
MTOW The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...
of , typically seats 325 passengers, and has a range of . Airbus says that per seat, the Boeing 777-200ER should have a 16% heavier
manufacturer's empty weight In aviation, manufacturer's empty weight (MEW) (also known as manufacturer's weight empty (MWE)) is the weight of the aircraft "as built" and includes the weight of the structure, power plant, furnishings, installations, systems, and other equipmen ...
, a 30% higher block fuel consumption, and 25% higher cash operating costs than the A350-900. The −900 is designed to compete with the Boeing 777-200LR and 787-10, while replacing the Airbus A340-500 and Boeing 777-200ER. A proposed A350−900R extended-range variant was to feature the higher engine thrust, strengthened structure, and landing gear of the MTOW -1000 to give a further range.
Philippine Airlines Philippine Airlines (PAL) is the flag carrier of the Philippines. Headquartered at the Philippine National Bank, PNB Financial Center in Pasay, the airline was founded in 1941 and is the oldest operating commercial airline in Asia. Philippine ...
(PAL) will replace its A340-300 with an A350-900HGW ("high-gross weight") variant available from 2017. It will enable non-stop Manila-New York City flights without payload limitations in either direction, a flight. The PAL version will have a MTOW, and from 2020, the -900 will be proposed with the ULR's MTOW, up from the for the original weight variant and the certified variants, with the large fuel capacity. This will enable an range with 325 seats in a three-class layout. In early November 2017, Emirates committed to purchase 40 Boeing 787-10 aircraft before Airbus presented an updated A350-900 layout with the rear pressure bulkhead pushed back by . After Emirates' Tim Clark was shown a ten-across economy cabin and galley changes, he said the -900 is "more marketable" as a result. The average lease rates of the first A350-900s produced in 2014 were $1.1 million per month, not including maintenance reserves amounting to $18 million after 10–12 years, and falling to $940,000 per month in 2018 while a new A350-900 is leased for $1.2 million per month and its interior can cost $12 million, 10% of the aircraft. By 2018, a 2014 build was valued $108M falling to $74.5M by 2022 while a new build was valued for $148M, a 6+12 year check cost $3M and an engine overhaul $4–6.5M.


A350-900ULR

Designated as weight variant 13 (WV013), the MTOW of the ultra-long range -900ULR has been increased to and its fuel capacity increased from within existing fuel tanks, enabling up to 19-hour flights with a range, the longest range of any airliner in service . The MTOW is increased by from the previously certified variant. Because of the A350-900's fuel consumption of per hour, it needs an additional of fuel to fly 19 hours instead of the standard 15 hours: the increased MTOW and lower payloads will enable the larger fuel capacity. Non-stop flights could last more than 20 hours. The first −900ULR was rolled out without its engines in February 2018 for ground testing. Flight-tests after engine installation checked the larger fuel capacity and measured the performance improvements from the extended
winglet Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
s. It made its first flight on 23 April 2018. There are no addition structural changes fitted to the A350-900ULR, therefore it retains the same type certificate and model name as the baseline A350-941. The larger fuel capacity is enabled by integrating a modified fuel system to make use of the extra spaces in the centre wing box, no auxiliary fuel tanks are fitted. Also the front cargo hold is disabled due to operational limits but can be reactivated depending on customer needs.
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
, the launch customer and currently the only operator, uses its seven -900ULR aircraft on
non-stop flight A non-stop flight is a flight by an aircraft with no intermediate stops, as opposed to a direct flight, which is any flight with no change in flight number, but which may include one or more stops. History During the early age of aviation ...
s between Singapore and New York City and cities on the U.S. west coast. Singapore Airlines' seating is to range from 170 in largely business class seating up to over 250 in mixed seating. The planes can be reconfigured. They will have two seating classes. The airline received its first -900ULR on 23 September 2018, with 67 business class seats and 94 premium economy seats. On 12 October 2018, it landed the world's then- longest flight at
Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...
from
Singapore Changi Singapore Changi Airport ( ; ) is the primary international airport that serves the country of Singapore, and is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia. More than 100 airlines operate from the airport, with flights to destinations in A ...
after 17 hours and 52 minutes, covering for a orthodromic distance. It burned of fuel to cover the route in 17 h 22 min: an average of . As of 2022, the A350-900ULR is used on the longest flight in the world, Singapore Airlines Flights 23 and 24 from Singapore to New York JFK. At the 2015
Dubai Air Show The Dubai Airshow () is a biennial air show held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in cooperation with Dubai Civil Aviation ...
, John Leahy noted the demand of the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
airlines for this variant. In February 2018, Qatar Airways stated its preference for the larger -1000, having no need for the extra range of the -900ULR. Compared to the standard -900, the -900ULR additional value is likely around $2 million.


ACJ350

Airbus Corporate Jet version of the A350, the ACJ350, is derived from the A350-900ULR. As a result of the increased fuel capacity from the -900ULR, the ACJ350 has a maximum range of . The
German Air Force The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...
is to be the first to receive the ACJ350, having ordered three aircraft which will replace its two A340-300s.


A350-900 Regional

After the Boeing 787-10 launch at the 2013 Paris Air Show, Airbus discussed with airlines a possible A350-900 Regional with a reduced MTOW of . Engine thrust would have been reduced to from the standard and the variant would have been optimised for routes up to with seating for up to 360 passengers in a single-class layout. The A350 Regional was expected to be ordered by Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines. Since 2013, there has been no further announcement about this variant. Singapore Airlines selected an A350-900 version for medium-haul use, and Japan Airlines took delivery of a 369-seat A350-900 with a MTOW (WV018) for its domestic flight network. The A350 Type Certificate Data Sheet includes MTOWs of 210, 217, 235, 240, 250, 255, 260, 268, 272, 275, 277, 278, 280 and 283 t.


A350-1000

The A350-1000 ( ICAO code: A35K) is the largest variant of the A350 family at just under in length. It seats 350–410 passengers in a typical three-class layout with a range of . With a 9-across configuration, it is designed to replace the A340-600 and compete with the
Boeing 777-300ER The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long haul, long-range Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the mo ...
and
777-8 The Boeing 777X is the latest series of the long-range, wide-body, twin-engine jetliners in the Boeing 777 family from Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The changes for 777X include General Electric GE9X engines, composite wings with folding ...
. Airbus estimates a 366-seat -1000 should have a lighter
operating empty weight Empty weight (EW) is the sum of the ‘as built’ manufacturer's empty weight (MEW), plus any standard items (SI) plus any operator items (OI), EW = MEW + SI + OI. The EW is calculated for each aircraft series and each unique configuration of an ...
than a 398-seat 777-9, a 15% lower trip cost, a 7% lower seat cost, and a greater range. Compared to a Boeing 777-300ER with 360 seats, Airbus claims a 25% fuel burn per seat advantage for an A350-1000 with 369 seats. The extension seats 40 more passengers with 40% more premium area. The -1000 can match the 40 more seats of the 777-9 with a 10-across seating configuration but diminished comfort. The A350-1000 has an 11-frame stretch over the −900 and a slightly larger wing than the −800/900 models with trailing-edge extension increasing its area by 4%. This will extend the high-lift devices and the
aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement aroun ...
s, making the chord bigger by around , optimising flap lift performance as well as cruise performance. The main landing gear is a 6-wheel bogie instead of a 4-wheel bogie, put in a one frame longer bay. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine's thrust is augmented to . These and other engineering upgrades are necessary so that the −1000 model maintains range. It features an automatic emergency
descent Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree **Ancestry **Lineal descendant **Heritage ** ...
function to around and notifies
air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...
if the crew fails to respond to an alert, indicating possible incapacitation from depressurisation. The avionics software adaptation is activated by a push and pull button to avoid mistakes and could be retrofitted in the smaller -900. All performance targets have been met or exceeded, and it remains within its weight specification, unlike early −900s. Its basic MTOW was increased to before offering a possible version. Its 316 t MTOW appeared on 29 May 2018 update of its type certificate data sheet. This raised its range from . A further MTOW increase by , to a total of is under study to be available from 2020 and could be a response to Qantas' Project Sunrise. In November 2019, maximum accommodation increased to 480 seats from 440 through the installation of new "Type-A+" exits, with a dual-lane evacuation slide. On 17 December 2021, French Bee took delivery of the first A350-1000 in this 480-seat configuration, leased by
Air Lease Corporation Air Lease Corporation (ALC) is an American aircraft leasing company founded in 2010 and headed by Steven F. Udvar-Házy. Air Lease purchases new commercial aircraft through direct orders from Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and ATR, and leases them to ...
and to be operated by from Paris to
Reunion Island Reunion may refer to: * Class reunion * Family reunion Reunion, Réunion, Re-union, Reunions or The Reunion may also refer to: Places * Réunion, a French overseas department and island in the Indian Ocean * Reunion, Commerce City, Colorado, U ...
, with 40 premium and 440 economy seats. In October 2023, the variant's MTOW was raised again to .


Qantas Project Sunrise

In December 2019,
Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...
tentatively chose the A350-1000 to operate their Project Sunrise routes, before a final decision in March 2020 for up to 12 aircraft. Initial speculation suggested that the variant might be marketed as the A350-1000ULR. However, the -1000 is not expected to share the -900ULR's larger fuel tanks and other fuel system modifications, and Airbus has stopped short of describing the largest MTOW variant as a ULR model, despite the range. After a delay due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, the decision was confirmed on 2 May 2022, when Qantas placed a formal order for 12 Airbus A350-1000 aircraft for Project Sunrise flights to originally start in 2025. On 6 June 2024, Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace, confirmed at the 80th International Air Transport Authority (IATA) AGM in Dubai, that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had approved the design of the rear centre tank (RCT) that allowed the aircraft to fly the distances required, following a requested redesign. With Airbus integrating the tank into the A350-1000 for flight testing in early 2025 for delivery to the group in mid-2026. The aircraft will be configured with 238 seats in four classes, with Qantas publications and website using the ULR abbreviation, but Airbus is yet to confirm.


A350F

An A350-900 freighter was first mentioned in 2007, offering a similar capacity to the MD-11F with a range of 9,250 km (5,000 nmi; ), to be developed after the passenger version. In early 2020, Airbus was proposing an A350F before a potential launch. The proposed freighter would be slightly longer than the A350-900 and Airbus would need 50 orders to launch the $2–3 billion programme. In July 2021, the Airbus board approved the freighter development. It is based on the -1000 version for a payload over 90 tonnes, and entry into service is targeted for 2025. The A350F, also referred to by Airbus as the A350-1000F, would keep the 319-tonne MTOW previously announced for the passenger A350-1000 on a shortened fuselage, but the proposed design remains longer than the
Boeing 777F The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long haul, long-range Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the mo ...
with 10% larger freight volume at . With a main deck cargo door behind the wing and reinforced main deck aluminium floor beams, its payload is higher than the of the 777F, while its empty weight is lighter than the A350-1000, lighter than the 777F. The 70.8 m (232 ft) long cargo variant should have a range at max payload. At the November 2021
Dubai Air Show The Dubai Airshow () is a biennial air show held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in cooperation with Dubai Civil Aviation ...
, US lessor
Air Lease Corporation Air Lease Corporation (ALC) is an American aircraft leasing company founded in 2010 and headed by Steven F. Udvar-Házy. Air Lease purchases new commercial aircraft through direct orders from Boeing, Airbus, Embraer and ATR, and leases them to ...
became the launch customer with an order for seven to be delivered around 2026, among other Airbus airliners. The launch operator of the A350F will be
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
, who ordered 7 aircraft at the 2022
Singapore Airshow The Singapore Airshow is a biennial aerospace event held in Singapore, which debuted in 2008. It hosts high-level government and military delegations, as well as senior corporate executives around the world, while serving as a global event for ...
, with deliveries expected to begin in 2026. In February 2025, Airbus announced that entry-into-service would be delayed until 2027 due to supply chain issues, particularly with Spirit Aerosystems which supplies the central fuselage section.


Operators

There are 657 A350 aircraft in service with 38 operators and 60 customers . The five largest operators were
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA or SQ) is the flag carrier of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Changi Airport. Considered to be one of the world's best carriers, the airline is ranked as a 5-star airline as well as ranked ...
(65),
Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. (, ''al-Qaṭariyya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the flag carrier of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke network, flying to over 170 internatio ...
(58),
Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...
(48),
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...
(37) and
Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
(36).


Orders and deliveries


Accidents and incidents

The A350 has one reported hull-loss accident . Although there were no fatalities onboard the A350, there were five fatalities involving another aircraft on the ground. * On 2 January 2024
Japan Airlines Flight 516 On 2 January 2024, a Ground collision, runway collision occurred at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, involving an Airbus A350-900, operating as Japan Airlines Flight 516 (JAL516), and a De Havilland Canada Dash 8-Q300 operated by the Japan Coas ...
, an A350-900 flying from
New Chitose Airport is an international airport located south-southeast of Chitose, Hokkaidō, Chitose and Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, Japan, serving the Sapporo metropolitan area. By both traffic and land area, it is the largest airport in Hokkaidō. It is adjacent ...
in
Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...
to
Haneda Airport , also known as and sometimes abbreviated to ''Tokyo-Haneda'', is the busier of the two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary domestic base of J ...
in
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, collided after touchdown with a
De Havilland Canada Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was bought by Boeing in 1986, then by Bombardier in 1992, then by Longv ...
operated by the
Japan Coast Guard The is the coast guard responsible for the protection of the Geography of Japan#Composition, topography and geography, coastline of Japan under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It consists of about ...
. The A350 caught fire and was completely destroyed, though all 367 passengers and 12 crew members successfully evacuated from the aircraft via the emergency slides, with 17 injuries reported. Five of the six crew members aboard the Coast Guard aircraft were killed; the sole survivor was the captain, who suffered serious injuries. The Japan Coast Guard aircraft was delivering supplies as part of relief efforts following the Noto earthquake the previous day. Flight 516 had been cleared to land by Haneda ATC when it struck the coast guard plane.


Specifications (A350-941, with Trent XWB-84 engines)


See also


Notes


References

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External links

* * * * * {{Airbus aircraft
A350 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...
2010s international airliners Articles which contain graphical timelines Twinjets Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2013 Wide-body aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear