Aircraft
Paris 2011: A350XWB shell structures take shape in Germany
One of the big changes when Airbus unveiled its market-driven XWB revamp of the A350 back in May 2007 was the new structural concept.

One of the big changes when Airbus unveiled its market-driven XWB revamp of the A350 back in May 2007 was the new structural concept: a fuselage constructed of 12 panels of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) mounted on frames of aluminum-lithium alloy.

Two years later, while John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer for customers, was announcing yet more sales of the new model here at Le Bourget in 2009, at Nordenham in Germany newly formed Premium Aerotec (Hall 1, E320) was delivering the last of four CFRP fuselage shell demonstrators, a door frame shell, for qualification testing by Airbus in Hamburg.