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| Identity crisis: unveiled with a fanfare in Hamburg, anonymous in Berlin |
Airbus will decide before July’s Farnborough air show whether its revamped A350 long-range twinjet family will replace its slow-selling four-engined A340 models.
The manufacturer came under intense pressure at ILA to reveal how it plans to respond more effectively to Boeing’s new 787 and increasingly dominant 777.
Airbus chief executive Gustav Humbert refused to be drawn, other than to acknowledge that the A350 studies have been widened to include the larger-capacity segment currently served by the A340 family, as exclusively revealed by Flight International earlier this month.
Criticising EADS co-chief executive Noel Forgeard for openly discussing possible design changes to the A350, Humbert said he had agreed with the EADS board not to comment publicly on the options. “I at least will stick to this agreement,” he said, warning that the manufacturer risked destroying its credibility with customers.
Forgeard has been quoted as saying Airbus could offer a single family of twins seating 250-375 passengers, rendering the A340 largely obsolete and leaving the A330 as a freighter and tanker platform.
Humbert said changes to the A350 must be acceptable to customers, but must also ensure the programme is sufficiently profitable.
“Changes will be done only if we can give a clear and positive answer to these two questions,” he said. “We are taking the time we need to review the A350 and A340 at the same time. We will decide the changes by the middle of this year, when we were due to have the [A350] design freeze anyway.”
Referring to the market success of the 787, he admitted: “Two years ago we in Airbus obviously underestimated this animal.” The entry-into-service date for the A350 – originally set for late-2010 – will be “dependent on the changes we do”, said Humbert.
In a clear sign that Airbus is going back to the drawing board, the manufacturer’s A350 cabin mock-up – unveiled to great fanfare at April’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg – appeared at ILA with all references to the A350 removed.
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| Margaret Hodge says UK has yet to decide on launch-aid commitment |
Source: Flight International
