A350Blog

MSN814 second #A350-1000ULR wearing @Qantas 🔴⚪ livery at FAL Toulouse. Next step, Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 installation. 📸ilio_spotter (IG)

Lufthansa #A350 at Munich airport. 📸seb.fa.muc (IG)

New operator within the #A350 family coming soon. @aircalin 📸 ilio_spotter (IG)

By the way, current backlog for #A350 is 880 aircraft. And Airbus told customers (some months ago) to expect #A350 handover delays for the remainder of the decade due to ongoing fuselage component shortages, manufactured at Kingston 🇺🇸 facilities acquired from Spirit AeroSystems

Airbus has 1 FAL Final Assembly Line for #A350 at Toulouse 🇫🇷 designed for a maximum rate of 13 aircraft x month. And all the preFALs in 🇬🇧 🇪🇸 🇩🇪 with the same max. rate 13. Going +rate13 would need new industrial system (Tier1-preFALs) and a new FAL.

"The decision for an increased rate on the #A350 is inevitable. We're going to do it because the market clearly demands ​more aircraft," said Airbus Commercial CEO Wagner. "This is ​going to happen rather sooner than later."

Which airlines are those who are demanding the #A350-2000? @emirates already flies the A350-900 but has skipped the A350-1000 so far over engine concerns.

Amazing @etihad #A350-1000 in a rainy day. 📸 aviationams.spotting (IG)

A stretched #A350 would need a new engine for propulsion. @RollsRoyce previously said that a stretch to the aircraft type would need up to 7️⃣ years of engine development time. #A350-2000

Airbus Commercial CEO, L.Wagner; "The market is demanding a longer and stretched #A350. We obviously don't want the launch to be at the end of a 5-year time frame. We decide when we have a business-case and when we go for approval to the board, ... but it won't be 2030."