Aircraft
Airbus Pushing Hard To Meet A350XWB Service Entry Target In First-Half 2014

Airbus is still aiming at a first-half 2014 entry into service for the new A350XWB twin-aisle twinjet, with executive vice president and program head Didier Evrard conceding that the schedule is “tight, but feasible.” In late May, he said the immediate challenge was to complete the first airframe for ground testing and overseeing the supply chain.

With total orders for the three A350 variants standing at 548 at the beginning of June, Airbus hopes to book 30 overall this year. With such a backlog, chief operating officer for customers John Leahy said his principal challenge is to find production slots, including for the top-of-the-line A350-1000, for which no orders have been taken since 2008 and for which service-entry has been delayed until 2017.