Aviation International News senior correspondent Ian Goold has been involved in aerospace since 1964 and in aviation media for more than 40 years. He enjoyed a 20-year career at Flight International magazine, where he was latterly air-transport editor before turning freelance in 1993. A winner of the European Regions Airline Association Hank McGonagle award for excellence in aerospace journalism and a Royal Aeronautical Society Aerospace Journalist of the Year global&nbsp;award, he has edited or contributed to aerospace and aviation magazines, special publications, and websites in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. Ian entered aerospace as an apprentice at the British Aircraft Corporation at Brooklands (Weybridge), where he worked on production and final assembly lines of the Vickers Super VC10, and BAC One-Eleven , and manufacture of Concorde major sub-assemblies. He subsequently graduated from the BAC Design Training School to work in the airframe structures drawing office (including design of international future projects, such as the Panavia Tornado multi-role combat aircraft) before joining Flight International in 1973. Apart from years of reading aircraft magazines and books, his first direct contact with aviation media had come during the early 1970s when he was involved at Brooklands with the Weybridge Man-powered Aircraft Group, which designed and built the tenth aircraft to fly under purely human power. As an aviation journalist, he has worked at more than&nbsp; 50 of the major biennial&nbsp;global and regional international aerospace industry shows at Le Bourget, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai (having missed attending only one "Farnborough" since 1960), plus innumerable NBAA, HAI, (U.S.) AOPA, and EBACE Conventions and ERA Assemblies. His favourite aircraft is the Hawker Hunter, of which – as a schoolboy – he heard hundreds make their first flights from Dunsfold, where also on September 24, 2013, he saw the penultimate landing of the VC10 (happily involving an example of which he had witnessed the maiden takeoff in 1970) a day before the last example made the design's final flight (unless, of course....).

Senior correspondent

Ian Goold

As the Airbus A350-900 twin-aisle twinjet makes its first full international airshow display here in Singapore this week, industry observers will be keen to understand <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/dubai-air-show/2013-11-17/airbus-drop-a350-800">the manufacturer’s plans for the smaller A350-800</a>, which has seen a steady erosion of orders as customers have upgraded to the baseline model. With average aircraft seat capacity moving inexorably to the right, Airbus executives are also mulling a possible double-stretched variant beyond the longer A350-1000.


Currently, the A350 family comprises three variants flying up to 8,500 nm. Typical two-class cabin layouts see the A350-800 offering 276 seats, with the A350-900 and the A350-1000 accommodating 315 and 369 passengers, respectively. Airbus recently has launched a complementary 6,800-nm range “regional” model. In January, the A350 backlog covered 812 aircraft, including about 550 A350-900s and 180 -1000s, from 37 customers.


Airbus (Booth J23, Chalet CD19) hopes the A350 display here will demonstrate “maneuverability, sleek design and exceptionally low noise levels.” The aircraft scheduled to fly on the show’s opening two days is MSN 003; this aircraft, together with initial example MSN 001, had logged more than 890 hours in 185 flights by January 22.


Two more aircraft–MSNs 002 and 004–are scheduled to fly this month, ahead of MSN 005, the final flight-test example, which should fly before June, according to Airbus. MSNs 002 and 005 sport airline cabin interiors, while MSN 006 (the first for launch customer Qatar Airways) is expected, following certification, to be handed over by year-end.


Pragmatic Approach


With a shrinking A350-800 order book, Airbus has adopted a pragmatic “take it as it is or wait for a bigger one, we’ve other things to do” approach to the marketplace. It is increasingly moving engineering capacity on to the A350-1000, which is running two to three years after the baseline model. A350-1000 backlog is three times that for the A350-800, which in December had dwindled to about 60 after American Airlines upgraded 18 orders (placed by merger partner US Airways) to the -900.


This decline, stimulated somewhat by the manufacturer’s own marketing initiatives, illustrates an established trend that since about 2007 has seen industry backlogs for 300-passenger machines increase by a half from around 400 to 600 or more, while those for 250-seat jetliners have fallen by about 40 percent from nearly 1,000 to little more than 600.


Among principal remaining A350-800 buyers are Irish lessor Aircraft Purchase Fleet (12), Russia’s Aeroflot (8), Asiana (8), Hawaiian Airlines (6) and Yemenia (10). Of those, Asia Pacific operator Hawaiian has said it does not require greater capacity, but last month was reportedly “in discussions” with the manufacturer.


Customers’ Choice


Airbus chief operating officer (customers) John Leahy has said that A350-800 customers face a choice: accept aircraft at the current 276-seat specification or wait “a couple of years” for a possibly larger version. If airlines do stay with their present bookings, the manufacturer could face its own dilemma, since the model has always been slated for a 2016 service entry, a year ahead of the Series 1000 on which it now is concentrating engineering effort.


Leahy wants to keep the A350-1000 on schedule, since this will generate higher sales income from the larger machine, while production capacity considerations are thought likely to push a revamped A350-800 back to at least 2020.


Also, any further extension in A350 cabin length to accommodate larger loads and to address the 300-passenger Boeing 787-9 more directly is expected to precede any A350-800 development. Late last year program officials acknowledged industry interest in such an “A350-1100,” which appears among potential A320, A330 and A380 developments and which has been “generating a lot of reaction from the competition.”


Potential -800 Changes


In response to customer reaction, Airbus officials revealed last month that it had been considering a larger version of the A350-800, which originally was to have been an optimized 275-seater but subsequently has become a less-efficient “A350-900 shrink.” Leahy said it is “a distinct possibility” that a bigger -800 might appear. A new variant offering perhaps 290-plus seats (assuming two extra seat rows) would have a reduced range, but would probably still have longer legs than the A350-900.


While mulling potential A350-800 changes, the manufacturer acknowledged genuine industry interest in an “A330neo,” stimulated by popularity of the A320neo project. “Re-engining is always an option,” said Leahy. Such a development could also see Airbus replace the A330’s aluminum alloy skin panels with sheets of lighter aluminum-magnesium-scandium alloy, for which it is developing a demonstration model. The company said the alternative material, which is also more corrosion and fatigue-resistant than previous alloys, can be adopted using current manufacturing and production tooling.


An A330-inspired development already going ahead is the A350 Regional–a lighter, 250-metric-ton model powered by derated 70,000-pound-thrust Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and flying up to 6,800 nm. It is expected to offer about 355 seats in a single-class layout.

News and developments about airplanes, helicopters and unmanned air vehicles used in all varieties of operations, including airlines, military, business, commercial, general aviation and private.

What Next For A350-800?

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Jessica Reed

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Jo Damato and Andrew Broom assume additional responsibilities

NBAA Expands Roles for Two Senior Executives

Matt Thurber

Similarities between the piston- and jet-powered Cirruses make transition training easier

Transport Canada Certifies Cirrus SR G7 and Vision G2+

Kerry Lynch

Aircraft will be able to take off in 150 feet of runway

Electra Launches Hybrid-electric EL9 STOL Aircraft

Hanneke Weitering

First production-representative Alia CX300 takes flight

Beta Flies First Electric Airplane Produced in Vermont Factory

G700 next headed to the Bahrain International Airshow for display alongside the G500

Gulfstream’s G700 Surpasses 65 City-pair Records

Honda's secretive eVTOL program picks up steam

FAA Greenlights Honda eVTOL Flight Tests

Curt Epstein

Some models are seeing high demand, others not so much

Broker: Preowned Cessna Citation Market Remains Mixed

Charles Alcock

New developments at airports including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

Singapore Air Show 2014

More In Aircraft