Airbus unveiled the A350 family in December last year as a major derivative of the A330 to rival Boeing's all-new 787 in the 200-300 seat market. The European manufacturer has applied for repayable loans from its shareholders' governments to fund a third of the new twinjet's €4 billion ($5 billion) development costs, which it is entitled to do under the 13-year-old European/US bilateral trade agreement on large commercial aircraft.
Airbus is expecting to receive approval for launch aid from the French, German, Spanish and UK governments in mid-June, to dovetail with the industrial launch of the programme at the Paris air show, where chief commercial officer John Leahy says he will announce "triple-digit" orders for the new aircraft.
Source: Flight International
