Evidently regarding discretion as the better part of valor, Airbus has revised the production schedule for its planned A350 XWB, owing to delayed sub-assemblies under production by partners in Europe and the U.S. Airbus has moved the twin-aisle twinjet’s first-flight date from late 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.
Schedules now show entry into service (EIS) for the initial A350-900 variant with launch customer Qatar Airways some time in the first half of 2014, rather than during the last two quarters of the preceding year.
Airbus parent EADS confirmed the project’s timetable adjustment within its third-quarter results, which showed a Euro 200 million (about $270 million) charge against the late-running program. Near the top of the A350 agenda stands the need to ensure maturity of the main components and sub-assemblies now under assembly at Toulouse in southwest France, where Airbus hopes to begin assembling the first airframe – the static-test article, dubbed "ES" – early in 2012.
“Lessons learned from previous programs [will be] applied for the next [final-assembly] phase,” according to Didier Evrard, Airbus executive vice-president and A350 program head.
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