DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Airbus A350 Makes Maiden Test Flight
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BBC News(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 14, 2013: The newest aircraft from European planemaker Airbus has taken off on its maiden test flight.
The Airbus A350 is designed to be more fuel-efficient, and a direct competitor to US rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
It is seen as vital to the future of Airbus, which competes with Boeing to supply the majority of the world's airlines with new planes.
It took off from Blagnac airstrip in the French city of Toulouse, where the A350 is assembled, on Friday morning.
The plane will take a short trip to carry out tests, and then land back at Toulouse again.
Boeing's Dreamliner has proved popular since its first flight in 2009, despite recently being grounded by regulators over safety fears relating to its batteries.
Major milestone
Airlines are being squeezed by high fuel costs and falling passenger numbers, and are looking for more fuel-efficient aircraft.
Airbus claims the A350, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, will use about 25% less fuel than previous generation wide-bodied aircraft.
Like the Dreamliner, the A350 is made largely of advanced materials, particularly carbon composites, in order to save weight.
Airbus has already taken more than 600 orders for the new plane, whereas there have been 890 Dreamliner orders so far.
The company hopes to start delivering the first A350s to customers by the end of 2014.
Analysts say a successful test flight would be a major milestone for Airbus in the A350 project, with major aircraft manufacturing projects frequently beset by delays.
"All recent programmes before it, both by Airbus, Boeing and others, have had reasonably horrendous technical problems and delays," said Nick Cunningham, an aviation analyst at the London-based Agency Partners, speaking to French agency AFP.
"So every time you hit a milestone (such as a test flight), it's good news because it means that you've missed an opportunity to have another big delay."
The plane's wings were designed at an Airbus facility in Filton near Bristol, and are manufactured at Broughton in Wales.
The Airbus A350 XWB is a family of long-range, two-engined wide-body jet airliners under development by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The A350 will be the first Airbus with both fuselage and wing structures made primarily of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer. It will carry 250 to 350 passengers in three-class seating, depending on variant.
The A350 was originally conceived in 2004 as a largely new design, but with a fuselage based on the A330. This was rejected by some prospective customers. The 2006 redesigned A350 was named by Airbus as the A350 XWB, where the XWB is an acronym extra wide body. Airbus stated that it will be more fuel-efficient and have operating costs up to 8% lower than the Boeing 787.
The launch customer for the A350 is Qatar Airways, which ordered 80 aircraft across the three variants. Development costs are projected to be €12 billion (US$15 billion or £10 billion). The airliner is scheduled to enter airline service in mid-2014. As of February 2013, 617 aircraft have been ordered.
Airbus Related News;
| Airbus in advanced talks for $10 billion easyJet order: sources Reuters LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus (EAD.PA) is in advanced talks to complete a $10 billion orderfor at least 100 planes from British low-cost airline easyJet (EZJ.L), sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. EasyJet has entered negotiations ... See all stories on this topic » |
| Airbus next-generation A350 ready for debut test NDTV Toulouse, France: Airbus's next-generation A350 plane takes off on its first test flight today, with its backers predicting hundreds of orders at next week's Paris Air Show as the European company ups the fight against Boeing. The test flight is a ... See all stories on this topic » |
| Qatar Airways' First Airbus A380 On course For Delivery MENAFN.COM Jun 13, 2013 (Menafn - M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) --Ahead of the planned 2014 delivery of the first Qatar Airways Airbus A380-800 on order, the airline today released the first image of theaircraft in partial livery from the manufacturer's Toulouse ... See all stories on this topic » |
| EADS CEO Sees 'Several Hundred' Airbus Orders at Paris Air Show Wall Street Journal PARIS--EADS chief executive Tom Enders said Thursday he expects order announcements for "a few hundred" commercial aircraft for its Airbus division during next week's Paris air show. EADS, which stands for European Defence and Space Co. (EADSY ... See all stories on this topic » |
| Bombardier gambles on big order payoff with new jet Globe and Mail Airbus and Boeing rule the world of bigger commercial jets, and will defend their turf with discounts and revamped planes, while Brazil's Embraer SA, the world's No. 3 plane maker, leads in sales of smaller regional jets. Embraer has 142 firm orders ... See all stories on this topic » |
| For Airbus and Bankers, Big A340s Pose Sizable Risks Wall Street Journal As Airbus prepares to celebrate as early as Friday the first flight of its A350, which already has attracted more than 600 orders, the European aircraft maker and its bankers are facing what could be hundreds of millions of dollars of losses on the new ... See all stories on this topic » |
| Airbus A350 set for maiden flight BBC News Airlines are being squeezed by high fuel costs and falling passenger numbers, and are looking for more fuel-efficient aircraft. Like the Dreamliner, the A350 is made largely of advanced materials, particularly carbon composites, in order to save weight ... See all stories on this topic » |
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com
©COPYRIGHT (C) DTN NEWS DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS
