Airbus’ internal suppliers have delivered two major components that form the front fuselage of the first A350-1000 to equipping centres.
Premium Aerotec has delivered the forward fuselage to an Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany. Stelia Aerospace has delivered the nose to a similar Airbus centre in Saint-Nazaire, France.
The next step is to transport the forward fuselage from Hamburg to Saint-Nazaire, where it will be joined with the nose. The completed front fuselage section will then be flown by Beluga to the A350 final assembly line in Toulouse, France.
Meanwhile, an Airbus factory in Broughton, UK, started assembling the first wings for the A350-1000 last month. Rolls-Royce also delivered the first Trent-97XWB to Airbus on 24 September for flight testing on an A380 testbed.
Premium Aerotec also is responsible for building the aft fuselage of the A350. It started building the first aft fuselage for the A350-1000 last February, or three months after it started on the forward fuselage section.
Airbus plans to begin final assembly of the A350-1000 in early 2016. First flight is scheduled in the second half of 2016, with first delivery in mid-2017.
The A350-1000 measures more than 7m (23ft) longer than the A350-900, and features a wing with an extended trialing edge.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
