Airbus Nantes delivers first A350XWB center wing box to St. Nazaire | Aviation International News

Airbus Nantes delivers first A350XWB center wing box to St. Nazaire

Airbus has delivered the first center wing box for the A350XWB from its

By Gregory Polek • Senior Editor

August 9, 2011

Airbus has delivered the first center wing box for the A350XWB from its site in Nantes, France to St. Nazaire, France, where engineers will attach it to the first A350XWB fuselage. Forty percent of the wing box, which measures some 21 feet by 18 feet and stands nearly 13 feet tall, is made from plastics reinforced with carbon fiber.

Loaded on to a custome-designed transport jig, the wing box left Nantes by river barge, together with an A380 center wing box, traveling along the Loire River to reach St Nazaire a few hours later. Once the new subassembly takes shape, an Airbus Beluga will then fly it from St. Nazaire to the company’s new A350XWB final assembly line in Toulouse, France.

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