The Board of EADS, parent company of Airbus, has finally given the go ahead for the A350 mid-size wide bodied aircraft. Funding still has to be sorted out (and here we are talking about $10bn, much of which will come from cash-flow) and there is bound to be some discussion over where final assembly takes place and how the work load is spread out.
This followed Gulf News reporting that technical approval by the authorities for the A380 was not far away. "By 13 December, we expect to receive the Air Worthiness Certificate from both US regulators, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)," Airbus A380 marketing director Keith Stonestreet (pictured above) told the newspaper. "We are now confident on delivering the A380 super jumbo as per the new dates," a somewhat confusing statement as neither Airbus, nor its owner EADS, has officially issued an in-service date. Launch customer Singapore Airlines talks about October 2007 with a single aircraft.
The Airbus A350 (or maybe A350 xwb) remains an enigma with the go-ahead still to be given, a specification not published, yet orders supposedly made. One very serious problem regards funding, with help being requested from European governments and Boeing ready to wade in with complaints about subsidies.
In the meantime orders are still, slowly, coming in for the A330. A milestone has been reached with a commitment for a further six by TAM, Airbus” largest customer in Latin America, taking the order book to over 600 firm commitments. Airbus claims a market of 5,000 mid-sized aircraft. That the A350 (or whatever it is called) will be delivered four years after the first Boeing 787 will probably work in its favour.
Airlines needing an A330 size machine should find useful discounts available as Airbus struggles to keep the production line busy over the next few years.
Images: the exterior of the A350 (top), and the A350 business corner (right)