AIRBUS has unveiled more details of its long range and revised A330, the A350 with chief executive No”l Forgeard saying that he expects 50 orders by next year”s Paris Air Show. The aircraft will be built on the current Toulouse A330/A340 production line and is expected to be priced from $153.5m, only about $5m above the current A330. Airbus is quoting an in-service date of 2010, two years later than the competing Boeing 7E7, surprising for what is essentially an updated production aircraft. Where the aircraft is ”all new” is in the structures technology, mainly the out wing components but also in other significant areas including the horizontal tail plain and rear fuselage sections. Engine power will come from units designed for the 7E7. Questioned on whether this meant the end of the long range A340 sales director John Leahy said that some airlines still needed aircraft for over the Pole routes.
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