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The New Airbus A350

The new Airbus A350 is Airbus’ latest offering to the passenger air transport market.  It is a mid-sized twin-engined wide-body airliner which comes in 3 variants, A350 800, A350 900 and A350 1000.  When we say wide body, the XWB in the name actually stands for eXtra Wide Body. Visit our A350 Specs page to see the actual dimensions.

The remarkable thing about this airliner is the steps forward it represents in technology improvements.  Its construction involves the use of new composite materials as well as new construction methods. This is a very similar direction taken by Boeing with their Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

One could be forgiven for seeing the mid-size passenger jet market as a Boeing 787 vs Airbus A350 competition.

One could be forgiven for seeing the mid-size passenger jet market as a Boeing 787 vs Airbus A350 competition.

The quest for technological improvements is all around us, and not least of those are the improvements in the aviation field. To the travelling public, some of those have been less obvious perhaps, other than new and better in-flight entertainment options. We are about to enter an age of new ways in the sky.

An Airbus A350 in Airbus house colours landing.

Airbus has shown us new ways of construction with the introduction of the Airbus A380 Super-Jumbo, with its carbon polymer wing construction. Boeing has at last brought to market its all-new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with radical improvements in construction techniques as well as materials used. Today’s economic climate is driving the need for reduced operating costs, and airlines are very vocal in their pressure on aircraft manufacturers to deliver a more cost-effective product, as well as one that complies with stricter noise reduction requirements at our urban airports.

The process of bringing a new aircraft design to fruition is a long and torturous path

The process of bringing a new aircraft design to fruition is a long and torturous path as well as hugely expensive. The new Airbus A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body) family of aircraft is no different. Airbus, like Boeing, was being pressured to produce a new offering using newer technology in materials and construction to produce a product which would reduce their airline customers’ overhead costs. Airbus floated the idea initially of using their existing and popular Airbus A330 twin-engine mid-sized jet and re-engineering it using new materials and construction methods. They were very quickly told by prospective customers that this would not be enough. The Airbus A350 History page gives more details, however, in short, Airbus went away and sharpened their pencils, committed more development funds and the result that has been fixed on and widely accepted by customers is the A350 XWB family of aircraft.

The Airbus A350 family of aircraft will come in three variants; A350 800 XWB, A350 900 XWB and the A350 1000 XWB. Details of each variant can be found on the Specifications page. The Airbus A350 XWB could be seen as a knee-jerk reaction to the Boeings 787 Dreamliner, however, the longer A350 1000 XWB is also a direct competitor to Boeings’ popular 777, as well as a replacement for the Airbus discontinued A340 series.

A test Airbus A350 XWB aircraft honouring the launch customer Qatar Airways.

If there is more you want to learn about this airliner, please visit: A350 XWB Specs, A350 XWB Assembly, A350 XWB Order Book, A350 XWB Interior and A350 XWB History.
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