French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer, Fabrice Brégier this morning officially ina...
French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault and Airbus President and Chief Executive Officer, Fabrice Brégier this morning officially inaugurated the 74,000 square-metre A350 XWB Final Assembly Line (FAL), in Toulouse, France. At full production, the FAL will employ some 1,500 people who will build up to ten aircraft a month as from 2018.
“Innovation is deeply rooted in our DNA and this is fully demonstrated on the A350 XWB, the world’s newest, most advanced airliner. Today we honour Roger Béteille, an exceptional aviation pioneer and we name the A350 XWB Final Assembly Line after him, one of our industry’s greatest innovators,” said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President&CEO.
Guests at the ceremony were able to see the A350 XWB coming to life, with the first two aircraft (the static aircraft and the first flyable aircraft, MSN1) at different stages of final assembly.
The static aircraft, which will be used solely for ground tests, has nearly completed assembly, with a full fuselage, two wings and the vertical tail plane joined. The aircraft will be transferred to the static test hangar at the Toulouse Jean-Luc Lagardère site to be prepared for static tests to start in spring 2013. The first flyable A350 XWB (MSN1) is also progressing well, with the fuselage already joined. The wing, vertical and horizontal tail plane for MSN1 are inside the FAL and will be joined to the fuselage in early November.
Béteille was one of Airbus’ four founding fathers. He was instrumental in the development of fly by wire flight controls, one of Airbus’ key innovations which has since become the industry standard. Béteille’s was also responsible for the introduction of the world’s first two engine wide-body aircraft, the A300 which performed its first flight 40 years ago. With the inauguration of this new FAL, Airbus celebrates the world’s newest generation two engine wide-body aircraft, the A350 XWB.
Airbus’ A350 XWB Family is the latest expansion of a jetliner product line that traces its roots to the widebody A300 – which performed the maiden flight from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport on 28 October, 1972. While the A300 entered its final assembly phase with one booking for a small number of aircraft, the initial build-up of A350 XWBs comes as this aircraft has amassed a record 558 firm orders from 34 customers to date.
The event underscored the A350 XWB programme’s progress, as it spotlighted the build-up status in the final assembly hall for the jetliner’s first two airframes. The first is a static test airframe sized as an A350-900, and it is to be used for ground-based structural evaluations. It is at the final assembly line’s Station 40 – with the complete fuselage assembled, along with installation of the wings and vertical tail plane. At the adjacent Station 50 is the no. 1 aircraft being built for flight – also an A350-900 version – with its fuselage already joined, and now ready for mating of the wings, as well as vertical and horizontal tail planes in the coming weeks.
As the jetliner family’s middle family member, the A350-900 accommodates 314 passengers in a typical three-class configuration. The longer-fuselage A350-1000 version seats 350, while the shortest – the A350-800 – has a capacity of 270 passengers. All of these mid-size widebody aircraft bring together Airbus expertise in design, aerodynamics, materials and advanced systems for a highly efficient, eco-friendly jetliner series with true long-range capabilities.
