Airbus says that the A350 family will be certificated as a variant of the A330 under the existing type certificate and will offer maximum operational commonality with the long-range twinjet.
The major change on the new model is the increased use of lightweight materials - composites, aluminium-lithium and titanium - in the aircraft's structure that has yielded a "small improvement" in the empty weight compared with the A330, says Airbus vice-president marketing Colin Stuart. This is despite the adoption of new, heavier engines and strengthened structure to boost maximum take-off weight by 9t.
"The weight savings mean that compared with an A330, minus its engines, the A350 is the equivalent of 8t lighter. Then add on the new engines - which are heavier - and the increased structure for the higher operating weights, and we have still achieved a slight improvement over the existing aircraft," says Stuart.
Although dimensionally similar to the A330 wing, the A350 wing is almost entirely composite, with carbonfibre used for the front, centre and rear spars, and the upper and lower panels. The wing ribs remain metallic. The centre and outer wingboxes are fabricated from carbonfibre-reinforced plastic. Aerodynamic revisions to the wing will yield a 1% reduction in cruise drag, says Stuart, while the A330's inboard slat has been replaced by a more efficient "droop nose" design borrowed from the A380. "This provides a 3% drag improvement for take-off and landing," says Stuart.
Although only General Electric has an agreement to power the aircraft so far with a 72,000lb-thrust (320kN) non-bleedless derivative of the GEnx engine under development for the Boeing 7E7, Stuart says the intention is to have a second supplier. "By spring I'd like to think we'd have something from Rolls-Royce," he says, but adds that a Pratt & Whitney engine could also be a candidate. Stuart says the A350 supplier base is unlikely to differ much from that of the A330, although the aircraft will need a new auxiliary power unit as the new engines require increased power for starting.
Airbus has also revealed the list prices for the aircraft - $153.5 million for the A350-800 and $170.5 million for the -900 - which Stuart says is around $4-5 million higher than the equivalent A330.
Source: Flight International
