On 13 June 2005 at the Paris Air Show, Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways announced that they had placed an order for 60 A350s. It had a common fuselage cross-section with the A330 and also a new horizontal stabiliser. On 10 December 2004, Airbus' shareholders, EADS and BAE Systems, approved the 'authorisation to offer' for the A350, expecting a 2010 service entry.Īirbus then expected to win more than half of the 250-300 seat aircraft market, estimated at 3,100 aircraft overall over 20 years.īased on the A330, the 245-seat A350-800 was to fly over a 8,600 nmi (15,900 km 9,900 mi) range and the 285-seat A350-900 over a 7,500 nmi (13,900 km 8,600 mi) range.įuel efficiency would improve by over 10% with a mostly carbon fibre reinforced polymer wing and initial General Electric GEnx-72A1 engines, before offering a choice of powerplant. Airline dissatisfaction with this proposal motivated Airbus to commit €4 billion to a new airliner design. 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. 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. The initial A350 concept, based on the A330 The company planned to announce this version at the 2004 Farnborough Airshow, but did not proceed. When airlines urged Airbus to provide a competitor, Airbus initially proposed the 'A330-200Lite', a derivative of the A330 featuring improved aerodynamics and engines similar to those on the 787. It succeeds the A340 and competes against Boeing's large long-haul twinjets: the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Boeing 777, and its successor, the 777X.ĭevelopment Background and early designs Īirbus initially rejected Boeing's claim that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner would be a serious threat to the Airbus A330, stating that the 787 was just a reaction to the A330 and that no response was needed. The global A350 fleet had completed more than 1,025,000 flights on more than 1000 routes without accidents.

On 15 January 2015, the initial A350-900 entered service with Qatar Airways, followed by the A350-1000 on 24 February 2018 with the same launch customer.Īs of May 2023, Singapore Airlines is the largest operator with 62 A350-900 aircraft in its fleet.Ī350 orders stood at 967 aircraft, of which 535 had been delivered and all were in service with 40 operators. The airliner has two variants: the A350-900 typically carries 300 to 350 passengers over a 15,000-kilometre (8,100-nautical-mile 9,300-statute-mile) range, and has a 283-tonne (617,300-pound) maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) the longer A350-1000 accommodates 350 to 410 passengers and has a maximum range of 16,100 km (8,700 nmi 10,000 mi) and a 319 t (703,200 lb) MTOW. It has a common type rating with the A330. It has a new fuselage designed around a nine-abreast economy cross-section, up from the eight-abreast A330/A340. The A350 is the first Airbus aircraft largely made of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers.

Type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was obtained in September 2014, followed by certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) two months later. The prototype first flew on 14 June 2013 from Toulouse, France. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbus A330 with composite wings and new engines.Īs market support was inadequate, in 2006, Airbus switched to a clean-sheet 'XWB' (eXtra Wide Body) design, powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB turbofan engines. The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus.

A350 airbus cockpit