Currently under development, Airbus A350-XWB is a long range, mid-sized, wide-body family of airliners.

Airbus A350 will be the first Airbus with fuselage and wing structures made primarily of CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic).

The competitors of Airbus A350 are Boeing 777 and Boeing 787.

Development

Early designs

The original version of the A350 apparently resembled the A330 due to its common fuselage cross-section and assembly.

A new wing, engines and a horizontal stabilizer were to be coupled with new composite materials and production methods applied to the fuselage to make the A350 an almost all-new aircraft.

On 10 December 2004, the boards of EADS and BAE Systems, then the shareholders of Airbus, gave Airbus an "authorization to offer (ATO)", and formally named it the A350.

On 6 October 2005, full industrial launch of the Airbus A350 program was announced.

The plan for Airbus A350 was a twin-engine wide-body aircraft with 250–300-seat derived from the design of the existing A330.

In order to accommodate this plan, Airbus A350 will have modified wings and use new engines while sharing the same fuselage cross-section as its predecessor. The fuselage was to consist primarily of Al-Li, rather than the CFRP fuselage on the 787.

XWB

In mid-2006 Airbus undertook a major review of Airbus A350 concept as a result of customer criticisms.

The proposed new A350 was a larger fuselage cross-section able to accommodate 9 passengers per row in a high-density configuration. It becomes more of a competitor to the larger Boeing 777 as well as some models of the Boeing 787,

Compared to Airbus A350, the A330 and previous iterations would only be able to accommodate 8 passengers per row in normal configurations. Boeing 787 can accommodate 8 or 9 passengers per row, while the 777 can accommodate 9 passengers per row (a few airlines seat 10 passengers abreast in some of their 777s).

The Airbus A350 cabin is 13 cm (5.1 in) wider at eye level than the competing Boeing 787, and 28 cm (11 in) narrower than the Boeing 777, its other competitor.

All A350 passenger models will have a range of at least 8,000 nmi.

A350 XWB (Xtra Wide-Body) becomes the official name for redesigned aircraft which is announced on 17 July 2006, at the Farnborough Airshow.

Singapore Airlines becomes first customer orders redesigned A350 four days after its inauguration with an order for 20 A350 XWBs with options of a further 20.

In December 2006, the launch of the A350-800, -900 and -1000 is approved by Airbus board of directors.

The Airbus A350 XWB got firm orders for 141 during Paris Air Show 2007, and won firm orders for 165 A350 XWB at the Dubai Airshow.

Design

The A350 XWB will be built on the technologies developed for Airbus A380 and will have a similar cockpit and fly-by-wire systems layout.

Airbus claims that 52% of the aircraft will be made out of composites, 20% Al/Al-Li, 14% titanium, 7% steel and 7% the balance.  This compares to the Boeing 787, which consists of 50% composites, 20% aluminum , 15% titanium, 10% steel and 5% the balance.

Airbus froze the design of A350-XWB in October 2008 and Airbus expects 10% lower airframe maintenance cost and 14% lower empty seat weight than competing aircraft.

Airbus claims that the new design A350-XWB provides a better cabin atmosphere with 16% humidity level during flight cruise and typical cabin altitude at or below 6,000 ft (1,800 m), pressurization at 6,000 ft (1,800 m) and flow management system that adapts cabin airflow to passenger load with draft-free air circulation.

Fuselage

The new XWB fuselage will have a parallel cross-section width from door 1 to door 4, unlike previous Airbus aircraft to provide maximum usable volume.

The double-lobe (ovoid) fuselage cross-section will have a maximum outer diameter of 5.97 m (19.6 ft), compared to 5.64 m (18.5 ft) for the A330/A340.

The cabin's internal diameter will be 5.61 m (18.4 ft) wide at armrest level compared with 5.49 m (18.0 ft) of the 787 and 5.86 m (19.2 ft) of the 777.

In the eight abreast two-four-two arrangement, which is a standard layout, the seats will be 49.5 cm (19.5 in) wide between 5 cm (2.0 in) wide arm rests.

Airbus claims that the seat width will be 1.3 cm (0.5 in) greater than the seat on the 787 in the equivalent configuration.

In the nine abreast, three-three-three high density layout, the XWB's seat width will be 45 cm (18 in) which will be 1.3 cm (0.5 in) wider to the proposed equivalent seat layout for the Boeing 787.

Although Airbus previously suggested Boeing's use of composite materials for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fuselage was premature, and that the original A350's would be made from aluminum-lithium, the new A350 XWB will feature large carbon fiber panels for the main fuselage skin.

The composite frames on Airbus A350 will feature aluminum strips to ensure the electrical continuity of the fuselage (for dissipating lightning strikes).

Airbus had signed a firm contract with BMW to have them develop an interior concept for the original A350.

Wings

The A350 will feature new all-composite wings that will be common to all three proposed variants.

Airbus A350-XWB is the largest wing ever produced for a single-deck widebody aircraft with an area of 443 m2 (4,770 sq ft).

The geometric wingspan of 64 m (210 ft) is 3.7 m (12 ft) greater than that of the A330 and the original A350. The current biggest twinjet wing belongs to the long-range Boeing 777-200LR/777-300ER, which have 0.7 m (2.3 ft) greater span but slightly less area.

The new wing of Airbus A350 will have 35 degrees of sweep (5 degrees more than the A330) helping to increase typical cruise speed to Mach 0.85 and maximum operating speed to Mach 0.89.

A new trailing-edge high-lift system of A350-XWB has been adopted with an advanced dropped hinge flap (similar to that of the A380) which permits the gap between the trailing edge and the flap to be closed with the spoiler.

Nose

The A350 XWB's nose section will adopt a configuration derived from the A380 with a forward-mounted nosegear bay and a six-panel flightdeck windscreen. This differs substantially from the four-window arrangement that was proposed in the original design.

The new nose of A350-XWB will improve aerodynamics and enable overhead crew rest installed further forward and eliminate any intrusion in the passenger cabin.

The new windscreen of A350-XWB has been revised to improve vision by reducing the width of the center post. The upper shell radius of the nose section has been increased.

Cockpit

The new revised design of the cockpit of A350-XWB has gone away from the A380-sized display and has adopted 15 in (38 cm) LCD displays.

The new six-screen configuration of A350-XWB will have two central displays mounted one above other (the lower one above the thrust levers) and a single (for each pilot) primary flight/navigation display with an on-board information system screen adjacent to it.

Airbus claim the new cockpit of A350-XWB will allow them to put more advances in navigation technology on the displays in the future plus flexibility and capacity to upload new software and to combine data from multiple sources and sensors for flight management and aircraft systems control.

The A350 XWB will also feature a head-up display.

The avionics of A350-XWB will be a further development of the Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) concept found on the A380. It will manage up to 40 functions (versus 23 functions for the A380) such as landing gear, fuel, brakes, pneumatics, oxygen system, full cabin pressurization system and fire detection.

Airbus A350’s IMA have benefits such as reduced maintenance and less weight because it replace multiple processors and LRUs (Line Replaceable Units) with around 50% fewer standard computer modules known as Line Replaceable Modules.

The IMA of A350-XWB runs on a 100 Mbit/s network based on the avionics full-duplex (AFDX) standard, already employed in the A380 instead of the ARINC 429 system on the A330/A340.

French-based Thales Group won the US$2.9 billion 20-year contract to supply avionics and navigation equipment for the A350 XWB. Thales had been competing against Honeywell and Rockwell Collins for the flight deck supply contract.

However, US-based Rockwell Collins and Moog Inc has been chosen to supply the horizontal stabilizer actuator and primary flight control actuation, respectively.

Engines

Airbus has confirmed that they will retain a full bleed air system on their A350-XWB engines, rather than the bleedless configuration used on the Boeing 787.

Rolls-Royce supply a new variant of the Trent engine for the A350 XWB, currently called the Trent XWB.

GE has stated it will not offer the GP7000 on the aircraft, and that previous contracts for the GEnx on the original A350 did not apply to the A350-XWB.

Fellow Engine Alliance partner Pratt & Whitney seems to be at odds with GE on this, publicly stating that they are looking at an advanced derivative of the GP7000.

In June 2007, Airbus indicated that the A350 XWB will not feature the GEnx engine, claiming that Airbus wants GE to offer a more efficient version for the new Airbus airliner.

Since then, largest GE engines operators Emirates, US-based US Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and ILFC have selected the RR Trent XWB for their future fleet of A350.

The Trent XWB will feature a 3 m (120 in) fan diameter and the design will be based on the advanced developments of the Trent 900 (Airbus A380) and Trent 1000 (Boeing 787).

The Trent XWB may also benefit from the next-generation Reduced Acoustic Mode Scattering Engine Duct System (RAMSES), which is a noise-dampening engine nacelle intake and a carry on design of the Airbus's "zero splice" intake liner developed for the A380.

 US-based Goodrich Corporation will supply engine thrust-reversers and nacelles.

Auxiliary Power Unit & Air Management System

The A350 XWB will feature an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) by Honeywell, which has 10% greater power density than the previous generation of the Honeywell's 331 APU family.

Air Management System of A350-XWB will also be supplied by Honeywell which comprise the bleed air, environmental control, cabin pressure control and supplemental cooling systems.

The Ram-Air Turbine (RAT) of A350-XWB will be now localized on the belly and the generator requirement is 100 kVA compared to 150 kVA for the A380.

Fuel & Hydraulic Systems

Complete fuel package is supplied by US-based Parker Aerospace which include inerting system, fuel measurement and management systems, mechanical equipment and fuel pumps.

The fuel tank inerting system on A350-XWB will feature air-separation modules to generate nitrogen-enriched air that will be used to reduce the flammability of fuel vapor in the tanks.

Parker Aerospace will also provide hydraulic power generation and distribution system of A350-XWB. The work packages cover the reservoirs, manifolds, accumulators, thermal control, isolation, software and a new engine- and electric motor-driven pump designs.

Landing gear

Airbus has adopted a completely new philosophy for the attachment of the A350 XWB’s main landing gear as part of the switch to a composite wing structure. Each XWB's main landing gear leg is going to be attached to the rear wing spar forward and to a gear beam aft, which itself is attached to the wing and the fuselage. To help reduce the loads further into the wing, a double side-stay configuration has been adopted. This solution resembles the design of the Vickers VC10.

The A350-800 and A350-900 will both have four-wheel bogies, although the -800's will be slightly shorter to save weight.

A350-900F will use a six-wheel bogies and a 4.7 m (15 ft) landing gear bay.

French-based Messier-Dowty has been confirmed to be providing the main landing gear for the new XWB. The nose gear will be supplied by Liebherr-Aerospace.

Variants

 There are three variants of the A350.

A350-800

The A350-800 will seat 270 passengers in a 3-class cabin and will have a range of 8,300 nmi (15,400 km).

The A350-800 is designed to compete with the Boeing 787-9 and to directly replace Airbus' own A330-200.

A350-900

The A350-900 is the first model scheduled to enter service (EIS) in 2013 and seats 314 passengers in a 3-class cabin 9-abreast layout.

The A350-900 will have a range of 8,100 nmi (15,000 km).

Airbus claim that the A350-900 will have a decrease of 16% MWE per seat, a 30% decrease in block fuel per seat and 25% better cash operating cost against the Boeing 777-200ER.

A350-1000

The A350-1000 is the largest variant of the A350 family and will seat 350 passengers in a 3-class cabin.

The A350-1000 will have range of 8,000 nmi (15,000 km).