Airbus To Compress A350XWB Flight-test Schedule | Aviation International News

Airbus To Compress A350XWB Flight-test Schedule

Airbus appears to have exhausted all its A350XWB development “buf

A350 launch customer Qatar Airways continues to expect first deliveries in mid-2013, despite a three-month delay to first flight.

By Gregory Polek • Senior Editor

May 14, 2010

Airbus appears to have exhausted all its A350XWB development “buffer,” leaving designers and engineers with little margin for error as the company prepares the first A350-900 for its first flight and the model's delivery to launch customer Qatar Airways in mid-2013.

The manufacturer will have to compress the original 15-month flight-test program planned for the A350-900 into a 12-month exercise to accommodate an extension of the program's detailed design phase. The flight-test program will involve five airplanes-all but one of which will fly in 2012, according to the company. Plans to deliver the first A350-900 in the middle of 2013 remain unchanged, despite the fact that the company now has scheduled final assembly to start several months later than last planned.

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