Airline pressure for a GEnx engine option on the A350 is believed to be coming from Qatar Airways, US Airways and Singapore Airlines, as well as others within the original launch group that either originally selected GE or that have not yet settled for the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered option. Qatar, which is still negotiating a contract for the revised A350 XWB, has been working with Airbus since 2004 on developing the A350 specification and announced its intention at the 2005 Paris air show to buy 60 A350s for delivery from 2010. Others include Kingfisher, which ordered five A350-800s for delivery from 2012, and which will now not receive its first aircraft until 2015, as well as TAP Portugal, Air Europa, Alafco, CIT, Eurofly, ILFC, Pegasus and TAM.
Airbus has around 100 firm A350 orders not including additional commitments for as many as 100 more, some of which have been booked by SIA. Rolls-Royce last month announced Finnair as the first customer to select the Trent XWB to power its new fleet of 11 firm, plus four option A350 XWBs. Finnair originally selected the Trent 1700, on the predecessor to the XWB.
Source: Flight International
