Airbus A350

Airbus A350 XWB

The Airbus A350 XWB is a long-range, two-engined widebody jet airliner and it is Airbus's answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft also competes with the Boeing 777. The A350 XWB carries about 300-400 passengers. There are two main versions: the A350-900 and the A350-1000.

In April 2004, Boeing launched its 787 Dreamliner and sold this new aircraft very well. For Airbus it appeared difficult to find the right answer. The European aircraft manufacturer initially proposed an upgraded A330, with new engines as the most important innovation. But airlines were not interested. Airbus had to do more.

Airbus's next step was a design named "A350", an aircraft with a new wing, new engines and use of more composite materials than in the A330, but still with a fuselage based on that of the A300 and A330. Airbus had used the designation 'A350' earlier for what later became the A380 megajet. The proposed A330-derivative was intended to compete with both the Boeing 787-9 and the 777-200ER. However, important potential customers like International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) and Singapore Airlines were still sceptical. They preferred a clean-sheet design, especially including a wider fuselage.

Launch

So, at the Farnborough Airshow 2006, Airbus presented a completely new design, named 'A350 XWB' (eXtra-Wide-Body). It had a new wider fuselage than the A330, somewhere in between that of the Boeing 787 and 777, and a new composite wing. Airbus officially launched the A350 XWB on December 1, 2006. At that time, it planned to develop three versions: the 250-seat A350-800, the 300-seat A350-900 and the A350-1000, seating around 350 passengers. The switch to the A350 XWB meant a lot of costly extra development work. The intended in-service-date for the aircraft slipped four years. The first flight of the A350, a 350-900, took place on June 14, 2013, from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France (Photo: Airbus). Qatar Airways received its first aircraft on December 22, 2014, and performed the first commercial flight with the type on January 15, 2015, from Doha to Frankfurt.

Fuselage

The A350 XWB offers nine- or even ten-abreast seating in economy class, depending on how much room an airline allows its passengers. The 787 can accommodate eight or nine passengers per row, the 777 nine or ten. The A350 cabin is 12.7 cm (5.0 in) wider than that of the 787 and 28 cm (11 in) narrower than that of the 777. The fuselage frames are made of aluminium, but the skin panels and many other parts are made of carbon fibre. The fuselage has an ovoid cross section and a constant width from door 1 to door 4, to provide maximum usable cabin floor area. The cabin windows are larger than those of earlier airliners, but not as big as those of the Boeing 787. The cabin atmosphere is optimised with 20 per cent humidity and the air pressure is like at 1,800 m (6,000 ft), instead of the 2,400 m (8,000 ft) standard of earlier airliners.

Wing

The A350 has an all-new composite wing with a span of 64.8 m (213 ft). That is 4.5 m (15 ft) more than that of the A330 and the same as that of the longer range variants of the Boeing 777. The wing doesn't have winglets, but the tips curve upwards. During cruise, computers can tweak inboard and outboard flaps to adjust and optimise the wing's camber depending on the flight conditions.

Engines

The A350 is offered with Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofan engines only. Airlines often prefer to have a choice, but that means extra development work and airframe manufacturers increasingly try to avoid the extra costs of this. General Electric offered the GEnx for the A350-900 (and -800), but not a version for the A350-1000. Airbus therefore decided to select only one engine type for all A350 versions. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a further development of the Trent 900 of the Airbus A380 and the Trent 1000 of the Boeing 787.
Airbus aimed to certify the A350 with 350-minute ETOPS capability (= Extended range Twin Operations capability; over long stretches of sea or desert after engine failure an aircraft is permitted to fly on one engine for 350 minutes to reach the nearest suitable airport) on entry into service and reach 420 min ETOPS capability later. Soon, the A350 was allowed an 370–minute ETOPS rating, but later it was extended again to 420 minutes.

Cockpit

The A350's flight deck inherits many features from earlier Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft. The aircraft has the same handling qualities as the A320, A330/A340 and A380 families, and is flown utilising similar operating procedures to reduce the need for training when Airbus-rated pilots transition from one type to another. In the A350-cockpit, six large screens present flight data and other information to the pilots and there are also head-up displays. The A350 has fixed cockpit windows to avoid complexity and improve aerodynamic shape. Because no window can be opened, there is an escape hatch above the first officer's seat. In case of an emergency, ropes must help pilots to reach the ground safely. For some time, Airbus considered a four-window arrangement for the cockpit, but later chose six panels, remodelled compared to the cockpit windows of the A330.

Undercarriage

The A350-900 has four-wheel main undercarriage bogies. The heavier A350-900ULR and the A350-1000 are fitted with six-wheel bogies, like the 777 has, and they retract into a larger undercarriage bay.
Because of the problems with the lithium-ion batteries on the Boeing 787, Airbus decided to revert from lithium-ion to nickel-cadmium technology. Later, it chose lithium-ion batteries again. The first aircraft built were fitted with nickel-cadmium batteries, but from 2016 all A350s were fitted with lithium-ion batteries.
Thanks to the mostly composite uselage and wing, more than 70 per cent of the A350's airframe consists of advanced composite materials, mostly carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) to save weight. Airbus also used new aluminium lithium alloys.

Versions

A350-800

The A350-800 had to become the smallest A350 version, with accommodation for 270 passengers in a three-class cabin layout. It would have had a range of 8,245 nmi (15,270 km). This version was not built, however. The number of A350-800 orders once reached 182, but soon, customers began to switch to the larger A350-900. The launch of the A330neo meant the end of the A350-800. Airbus cancelled this version and asked the remaining customers to change their orders to the A350-900 or A330neo.

A350-900

Cornerstone of the A350 Family is the A350-900, with 325 seats in a three-class layout. The A350-900 competed primarily with the Boeing 777-200ER and later the 787-10. It also replaces the Airbus A340-300 and A340-500. It offers a range of up to 15,000 km (8,100 nm). Its maximum takeoff weight is 280 tonnes (620,000 lb).
The A350-900ULR (Ultra Long Range) is a heavier variant of the A350-900 for very long-haul flights. It competes with the Boeing 777-200LR. The ULR has 24,000 litres of extra fuel capacity and offers 1,600 nm extra range over the standard A350-900. The A350-900ULR took off for its first flight from Toulouse Blagnac Airport on 23 April, 2018. The first customer was Singapore Airlines, which intended to operate it on non-stop flights between Singapore and New York. Singapore Airlines received its first A350-900ULR on 23 September, 2018, and on 12 October, it landed at Newark airport for the first time after a flight from Singapore of 17 h 52 min over 16,562 km (8,943 nm). The main undercarriage legs of the A350-900ULR has six-wheel bogies, instead of four on the standard A350-900.

A350-1000

The biggest version of the A350 XWB Family is the A350-1000. This stretched version is 7 m (23 ft) longer than the -900 and seats 369 passengers in a three-class layout. Its range is 8,400 nm (15,600 km). In a one-class high density layout, the A350-1000 can even seat 550 passengers. The A350-1000 competes with the Boeing 777-300ER and 777-9X and replaces the Airbus A340-600. The maiden flight of the A350-1000 took place on November 24, 2016. Qatar Airways received its first aircraft on February 20, 2018.
At the 2011 Air Show Airbus more or less 'relaunched' the A350-1000 by announcing major changes, including more powerful Trents, a revised wing, increased weights and 740 km (400 nm) extra range. Because of this, the first delivery would slip two years, to 2017. The revamp annoyed its customers Emirates and Qatar Airways. Emirates even canceled its orders for 50 A350-900s and 20 A350-1000s. It saw the original A350-1000 as a replacements for its 777-300s. And it didn't like the changes on the Trent engines, which included a new core. That impacted commonality.
The A350-1000 has a slightly adapted wing. The wingspan is the same as that of the A350-900, but has a 4 per cent bigger area as the result of a trailing-edge extension. The aircraft is fitted with more powerful Rolls-Royce Trent turbofans, with 97,000 lb (430 kN) of thrust. This is the most powerful engine developed for any Airbus aircraft until now. Like the A350-900ULR, the A350-1000 has six-wheel main undercarriage bogies.

A350-950F

Airbus gave priority to the development of the passenger models of the A350 before developing a freighter. But it had ideas about a cargo version in mind from the beginning. With a payload capability of over 90 tonnes, the A350 freighter would become a plane in the same class as the Boeing 777F and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11F. Initially, Airbus intended to base the freighter on the A350-900, but later it began considering to size it in between the A350-900 and the A350-1000, with the designation 'A350-950F'. It would be fitted with the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines of the A350-1000. The decision to develop the freighter was taken by the Airbus board in July 2021. The freighter should enter service in 2025. The first customers are Air Lease Corporation with an order for seven aircraft and CMA CGM Air Cargo for four.

A350-1100

On the drawing boards has appeared a 4 m (13 ft) further stretched version of the A350, seating up to 45 more passengers than the A350-1000 and a 308 tonnes maximum takeoff weight, to compete with the Boeing 777-9. The double-stretch has had designations like 'A350-8000' and 'A350-2000', but the latest is 'A350-1100'. Airbus hesitated to go ahead with this version, however, because of the slow sales of the Boeing 747 and 777-9X. In 2017, Airbus decided to wait until a new generation of engines is available. The availability of new, advanced engines could also make possible an A350neo, based on the A350-900 and -1000.

Orders

The A350 is a sales success. Until 2021 over 900 aircraft have been sold, including 165 A350-1000s.

Airbus A350-900 Specifications

Wingspan: 64.75 m (212 ft 4 in). Length: 66.8 m (242 ft 7 in). Height: 17.05 m (55 ft 11 in).
Empty weight: 134.700-145.100 kg (297,000-320,000 lb). Max. take-off weight: 280,000 kg (617,295 lb).
Accommodation: 325-440 passengers. Range: 15,000 km (8,100 nm). Cruise speed: 903 km/h (488 kts).
Engines: two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofans (374.5 kN - 84,200 lb).

Airbus A350-1000 Specifications

Wingspan: 64.75 m (212 ft 4 in) Length: 73.78 m (242 ft 7 in). Height: 17.08 m (56 ft 0 in).
Empty weight: 155,000 kg (342,400 lb). Max. take-off weight: 311,000 kg (685,638).
Accommodation: 366-550 passengers. Range: 14,750 km (7,950 nm). Cruise speed: 903 km/h (488 kts).
Engines: two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofans (431.5 kN - 97,000 lb).