Aircraft
A350 XWB program continues apace
Spain has approved loans worth up to $520 million for subcontractors working on the Airbus A350 XWB twin-aisle twinjet or on its Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engi

Spain has approved loans worth up to $520 million for subcontractors working on the Airbus A350 XWB twin-aisle twinjet or on its Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine. The loans are separate from any other financial support that Spain provides for the overall program. Major A350 partner nations France, Germany and the UK are providing a total of $4.3 billion toward the $17.6 billion project, with Spain expected to contribute about a further $441 million.

The A350 sees Spain doubling its work share compared with previous Airbus programs to 10 percent, with Germany and the UK taking reduced shares. The move is regarded as compensation for Spain’s aerospace assets having been subsumed into Airbus parent group European Aerospace Defence & Space (EADS) in 2000. By contrast, Britain will produce just 18 percent of the A350, compared with 20 percent for the A380.