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THE latest product of global major airliner manufacturer Airbus, the A350-900, is now in production ramp up phase, following its entry into service last year with launch customer Qatar Airways.

And the company is now preparing for the introduction of the next version of the aircraft, the A350-1000.

(The A350-900 and A350-1000 are both members of the A350 XWB family.)

“We know it is possible, but it is hard work,” Airbus Commercial Aircraft executive VP: head of programmes Didier Evrard told aviation journalists from around the world at company head office in Toulouse, France.

“For sure, I’m very proud of what we’ve done last year, with the delivery of the first A350.”

Three A350-900s are now in service with Qatar, flying on the routes to Frankfurt, in Germany, and Singapore.

Their daily utilisation is more than 11 flying hours. They have already accumulated more than 485 flight cycles (take-offs and landings) and more than 2,100 flying hours.

The aircraft are handled by Qatar on its own. The airline is reported to be very happy with its high level of reliability. Operations have exceeded expectations.

“We’re watching closely all details of the operations,” he reported. “There are things you can’t see until you are operating, with real passengers.”

Three more airlines will receive A350s this year. They are Vietnam Airlines, which will be next, Finnair and the LATAM group, which will receive its first aircraft (in the colours of Brazilian operator TAM) by the end of this year.

“We’re at about rate 3 at the start of the FAL (final assembly line),” explained Evrard.

Rate 3 means a production rate of three aircraft a month.

“We’ll progressively enable the next steps of our ramp-up. Step by step, we’re going to deliver this. We know exactly where we need to be to achieve rate 10. In that ramp-up we need to insert, now, the dash 1000.”

The A350-1000 is a stretched version of the A350-900, with a high degree of commonality with the initial version, especially in terms of systems.

But the new model also benefits from experience with the dash 900, incorporating improvements. In comparison to the dash 900, the dash 1000 has extended wing trailing edges, a structure that has been reinforced in places, a higher thrust engine (the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97K) and six-wheel main undercarriage bogies (with longer main undercarriage bays).

“At the end of last year we’ve been through the design freeze. That was quite a challenging period,” Airbus senior VP: head of A350 programme developments Bruno Hernandez told the media at the same briefing.

The structural design is fully mature and the systems installation architecture is complete. “Now we’re at the phase of sub-assembly start. It’s on track.” The assembly of the first subcomponents for the A350-1000 started in April. – Wires.