AIRBUS launched the new A350 XWB at Farnborough last week, a successor
for the ill-fated A350. XWB stands for Extra Wide Body, extra comfort,
extra efficiency and going the extra mile for customers, according to
Toulouse. With only a very short timescale in terms of drawing up
specification details these were naturally skimpy but the new family
of aircraft will consist of four passenger versions and one freighter.
What we were told is that the ”plane will be around 12” wider than
the A330, will follow the Boeing 787 in having a lower cabin altitude
than is the present norm, and will have a wider window than its 20th
century forebears. In that respect the A380 looks old fashioned. The
aircraft seems to fit in somewhere between Boeing”s 787 and 777 and has
a high cruise speed of 0.85 mach, a figure that will not make much
difference in operational terms. The different variants can carry
anything from 270 to 350 passengers with an in-service date of 2012.
A 30% reduction in fuel burn is promised over current aircraft and 6%
over those in development (meaning the 787). Singapore Airlines is
the first to commit. See below.
http://www.airbus.com