Extra

The A350 is progressing well in service, with early -900 cabin issues largely resolved

The entry into service and early operational history of every modern airliner has seemed inescapably rocky, although Airbus’ slow rampup plans for the A350 mitigated a number of early issues, especially around the production quality of the aircraft’s interiors. Lavatories, galleys and seats all came under scrutiny, with quality problems and production delays affecting the aircraft — and, in fairness, other aircraft in the world’s fleet.

“At the end of March, we will have delivered 77 aircraft in total,” Lucas-Ugena said. “We have delivered another three this month [April] including one of them to Asiana, which is operator number twelve, so the airplane is behaving very well in service, with 99% operational reliability already, which was the target that was put out for the end of this year.”

Operational reliability, Lucas-Ugena noted, “is today at the level of the 777 fleet and the 787 fleet.”

While acknowledging early interiors quality and production issues, “the situation is getting better,” Lucas-Ugena said. With a more mature aircraft, “the programme can now really focus on these issues, and that’s the main focus at the moment. We are making good progress and working a lot with our suppliers to fix the situation. We have a good grip on that one, and it’s going to get better.”

Airbus spokesperson Justin Dubon followed up to note that, while “there might be issues, but these issues are expected not to affect our overall deliveries. We’ve delivered sixteen aircraft this year, and our guidance for deliveries to the end of the year has remained unchanged. We’re still on track for rate 10 by the end of 2018, and our guidance for deliveries this year, we’ve never given a specific deliveries by programme. Our guidance that we gave in January, which was 700 aircraft plus, was still maintained.”

Cathay Pacific’s Airbus A350 fleet is perhaps the most widely and obviously affected, with business class seats from Zodiac Aerospace notably sub-par in construction, materials, fit and finish. Indeed, Zodiac is paying for Cathay to hangar the airline’s first three A350s, registered B-LRA, -B, and -C, and replace the entire business class section. Subsequent aircraft, which are also experiencing similar issues — but not quite so many of them — will see on-wing repairs and replacement, while Cathay will also take the opportunity to remedy some of the galley and lavatory quality issues at the same time.

“There might be issues, but these issues are expected not to affect our overall deliveries.”
Airbus spokesperson Justin Dubon

A complicating factor for the quality issues is that Airbus supplies its customers with galleys and lavatories as part of its supplier-furnished equipment (SFE) programme, with B/E Aerospace (now Rockwell Collins Interior Systems) providing Cathay’s gallAdd Neweys and Zodiac providing the lavatories (which, notably, suffer from basic quality issues like the doors not closing properly). Cathay is thus dealing both with Zodiac directly on the seats issue and Zodiac via Airbus to remedy the lavatories, adding complexity to the fixes.

Lucas-Ugena, for Airbus’ part, confirmed to Australian Aviation that the interiors in the aircraft currently coming off the final assembly line are of sufficient quality not to need rework.

Testing of the A350-1000 is currently on track for delivery this year

The stretched A350-1000 seems to be playing the role of a new-generation twinjet Boeing 747 capacity replacement role in several customers’ fleets, with Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and United Airlines all current 747-400 — and 787-9 — operators ordering the type to offer greater capacity than their Dreamliners but with the range and efficiency of a composite twin.

A350-900 launch customer Qatar Airways will also debut the -1000 version. In particular, Lucas-Ugena said, the A350-1000 fleet “could replace 747s, it could replace 777s in some cases. It can complement an A350-900 fleet in other cases.”

“It is progressing very well and we are on track for the certification and entry into service before the end of this year,” Lucas-Ugena explained. “The first customer A350-1000 is in a pretty good state at the moment, already out of the final assembly line, and we are installing cabins now as well.”

“We have also completed a lot of significant testing,” Lucas-Ugena said. “All the cold weather, high and hot field takeoff and landings, the cabin and the air systems have been checked on the ground already, and we have done the velocity minimum, seat test, and internal noise, which is looking very good.”

Airlines are using the A350 for fleet replacement, expansion and growth

But what is Airbus’ perspective on why airlines are purchasing the A350? Is it for fleet replacement of less efficient four-engined aircraft and early large twins in the age of ETOPS? Is it route expansion in the 15,000km range window? Is it around growing capacity for existing long-range twinjet operators?

“But what is Airbus’s perspective on why airlines are purchasing the A350?”

“It is a little bit of everything,” Lucas-Ugena said. “The aircraft is replacing old and new generation aircraft on different routes for different reasons. In some cases, it may be replacing A340s or old 777-200s or -300s in some cases, or even 747s. That is obviously for efficiency reasons.”

“It will complement the A330 fleets in other cases, for growth and opening new markets. They are complementary in terms of range capabilities. It is replacing the 787 with other airlines as well, for two reasons: one is the comfort in the cabin.”

In a shot fired at Seattle over the 787’s now-infamous lack of passenger space in nine-abreast economy, Lucas-Ugena noted that “some airlines have replaced 787s with A350s on routes where they have a customer base that is more sophisticated, because they can offer better comfort in the cabin on nine-abreast. Qatar Airways, for example, are replacing [787s] with A350s, and have put them on Munich and other routes where they say they have a sophisticated customer base.”

“It also complements the existing 787 fleet in terms of capacity, so the A350-900 flying today has more or less the same range as the 787-9, and it has 40-plus seats more. So some airlines that started operating 787s, which have grown in those markets, can offer better comfort and the same range capability, with the bigger cabin.”

Airbus believes the “uncompromised” A350 is a strong competitor for the 777-300ER, 787 and 777X

In the aviation duopoly, slotting the A350 between the smaller 787 and larger 777 feels like a natural fit. Essentially, the philosophical difference between Toulouse and Seattle seems to be whether there’s enough space at the lower end of the market to support the 787 and A330neo (and potentially the frame-reduced A350-800, which Airbus seems to be replacing with the A330neo for most customers) and enough space at the higher end of the market to put clear blue water between the A350-1000, 777-9 and A380.

“In the same way the A350-900 can do everything from replacing old-generation aircraft to complementing the existing fleet,” Lucas-Ugena said, “the A350-1000 is the same thing: the same value, the same comfort in the cabin, the same range capability, with another step up in capacity, and 40 additional seats compared with the A350-900.”

Compared with the 787, Lucas-Ugena suggested, “even though both airplanes are new-generation airplanes, the A350 is one step ahead of the 787: we have a more efficient engine, with better efficiency than the 787, because it came later and we have better technology. We have a more advanced wing as well. That gives us an extra efficiency over the 787. Then, we can offer a more comfortable nine-abreast cabin: we have more space in comfort economy, we have a quieter cabin, and better air quality. All of that is in addition to what the 787 can offer. The A350-900 can add 40 seats to a 787-9. What it can offer to airlines that already have these airplanes and that are happy with them, is room for growth in the same kind of market with the same range capabilities.”

“Against the 787-10, which has more or less the same capability as the A350-900, we can offer 1800 nautical miles more range,” Lucas-Ugena noted. “Clearly, that is a differentiator with the 787-10.

The A350 offers, “against the 777, clearly new, uncompromised technology in both cases, especially versus the 777-300ER. The A350-1000 has the same size and range capability but it takes off 40 tonnes lighter than the 777-300ER with the same max-pax range mission. The airplane is 20 tonnes lighter and burns 20 tonnes less fuel in the max-pax mission. That’s the big advantage,” Lucas-Ugena said.

“When it comes to the 777X, this version is still compromised, with a much bigger wing and bigger engines as well: it’s adding additional weight to the 777-300ER already. The A350-1000 versus the 777-9 is 35 tonnes lighter, and the engines are almost 5 tonnes heavier on the 777-9, the wing is almost ten tonnes heavier on the 777-9, and the fuselage is another nine tonnes heavier on the 777-9.”

In terms of efficiency, “All the extra weight means a lot more extra fuel burn,” Lucas-Ugena suggested, citing “18% more fuel burn. Even though we can give the 777-9 an advantage on engine technology because they are coming later, and because they have a bigger wing, there is nothing this airplane can do to exceed the A350-1000, not even with an additional 32 seats.”

“We have an airplane that is uncompromised, more comfortable, 9-abreast, way less noisy — 9 decibels lower noise levels in the premium cabin, which is a huge gap — [and with] better fresh air.”

The A350 is building on the “787 effect” benefits of new-generation composite twinjets

Wherever passengers sit in the A350, they reap the benefits of a new-generation composite twinjet, including the most invisible but perhaps most beneficial: a lower cabin altitude. Composite technology enables cabins to be pressurised to 6000 feet rather than 8000 on older aircraft, which means denser air with more oxygen, reducing jetlag and making passengers feel better in the air and on landing. And improved air quality filters mean a better overall atmosphere, together with fewer sniffles a few days after landing.

While this combination first became known as the ‘787 effect’, it extends to the A350 too.

New jets with new engines and better insulation are also just quieter, and while white noise can be useful — as anyone who spent a cacophonous night trying to sleep in the ultra-quiet upper deck of a Lufthansa A380 with nearly a hundred fellow travellers snoring away in the old angled lie-flat seats after a plate of Maultaschen and a couple of Hefeweizen knows — it’s crucial to engineer the cabin for sound deadening and not just an absence of aircraft noise.

In addition, Lucas-Ugena said, passengers can benefit from the A350’s “very smooth” integrated design of inflight entertainment cable tracks and equipment, which means passengers no longer need to angle their feet around underseat boxes.

Bigger bins and the A350’s vertical walls — a notable difference to earlier jets, including the 787 — round off the benefits.

The passenger experience mix continues to develop, with economy still largely on the “comfort” side — so far

In economy, all the A350’s major operators have selected nine-abreast seating, which is a significant passenger experience positive compared with the much narrower 787, which is also largely outfitted in a 3-3-3 configuration.

While Airbus has long offered an ultra-narrow 3-4-3 option for the A350, it will likely remain the province of the kind of operators to go 3-3-3 on an A330: charter, low-cost and leisure operators. French leisure carrier Air Caraïbes, for example has selected ten-abreast seating for its basic economy, with a nine-abreast semi-premium economy section offering extra width for experience-sensitive passengers.

“What we see certainly is a big push from these kind of carriers” for ten-abreast on the A350, Lucas-Ugena noted. “We do have customers flying with ten-abreast already with the A350, and we will have more in the near future. This is the kind of market for the time being, but there are always customers — more established, typical low-cost carriers — who are also looking at that possibility.”

Yet it seems that full-service carriers are also eyeing aviation’s new passenger experience swear word, densification. “These carriers are also looking at that possibility. The airplane is efficient at nine-abreast as it is today, so it’s not really necessary, but they know that they have an extra margin, an extra cushion, in case of additional competition, to become more efficient. They know they have room for an additional twenty-plus seats if they configure their economy class at ten-abreast,” Lucas-Ugena said.

Premium economy is varying between 7 and 8 abreast, but is that “comfort canyon” enough?

Cynical observers of the aviation industry might suggest that airlines are making down-the-back seating in economy tighter in order to quite literally squeeze passengers into plumping for a paid extra-legroom or full premium economy seat. The extra space, fewer neighbours and reduced middle seat count is certainly a compelling argument for going from a 3-3-3 economy seat on a 787 to a 2-3-2 premium economy seat.

But is this “comfort canyon” — Airbus marketing head Ingo Wuggetzer’s pet phrase for the gap in passenger experience between two classes, usually economy and business — large enough on the A350 between economy and premium economy?

Essentially, if an airline gives passengers a decent enough economy seat, will enough of them want to upgrade to premium economy?

The A350 is likely to be the aircraft that resolves that question, with premium economy appearing in both eight-abreast 2-4-2 (like the 777) and seven-abreast 2-3-2 configurations (like the A330 or 787). Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines chose the former tighter configuration, while China Airlines and Lufthansa chose the latter roomier space.

“I can’t comment on that,” Lucas-Ugena said when Australian Aviation asked about the differences. “It’s the strategy of each airline. They position their product in a different way. We offer that choice to the customers, and they can in turn [offer] premium economy at eight-abreast, even compared to the economy at nine-abreast. The nine-abreast is very comfortable, and that’s why the aircraft is capable of being configured at ten-abreast as well. What they could do eventually is put another class. What we do with the A350 is offer them all the flexibility in the world for them to play with that, and they can go even farther with ten-abreast if they want.”

Good news, perhaps, for airline accountants, but not so welcome for passengers.

“The A350 is likely to be the aircraft that resolves that question.”

Business and first class benefit from the wider cabin, which feels optimal for the current generation of seats

It’s better news in business class, but that’s not necessarily a given. The 787 has come under some flak for its business class cabins, which can be narrowed down to two key factors: first that the 787 was so delayed that business class seats without direct aisle access (or even lacking a fully flat bed) selected when signing purchase agreements were outdated before they were eventually delivered, and second that seatmakers had trouble designing and certifying the present generation of seats for the 787’s cabin, narrower than the 777 or 747 that in many cases it was replacing.

Both of these issues are largely resolved, although passengers flying on the same basic product in a 787 compared with a 777 (on Air France, say) still notice the extra room on the larger aircraft, in the same way that Singapore Airlines’ older Koito business seat feels more spacious on the 777 than the A380’s upper deck, or Cathay’s Zodiac Cirrus is clearly smaller on the A330 than the 777. The A350 is a happy medium in this regard.

“With the bigger cabin” of the A350, Lucas-Ugena suggested, “with some of the new generation of seats, on the wider cabin you can optimise the pitch and still have a full-flat bed. That’s one of the advantages you can have in terms of seat efficiency.”

Moreover, “it’s really extremely quiet in that premium area, and the bins are so big that we can remove the bins from the centre and have a high ceiling, a very spacious atmosphere in the premium class, and still offers the capacity for two roller bags per business class passenger, with the lateral bins only,” Lucas-Ugena said

Lucas-Ugena couldn’t speak to any acoustic engineering done by Airbus to ensure that the A350 interior doesn’t replicate earlier middle-bin-free cabins and become an echo-chamber of snores and conversations, however.

But first class won’t die with the A350, Lucas-Ugena confirmed (“Yes, there will be customers with first class cabins”), but she would not be drawn on which airlines were considering a first class product.

For first, Lucas-Ugena noted that “again, it’s wider than the 787 and we can benefit from the extra space. It’s also different to the 787 in that part of the cabin in that there’s no intrusion of the crew rest into the cabin, so there’s really height from the beginning of the cabin.”

The A350 has a solid future ahead of it, in whatever form future variants take

The next A350 variant to debut will be the ultra-long-range A350-900ULR next year, adding extra fuel tanks and increasing the maximum takeoff weight to 280 tonnes, providing a massive 18,000km range that would enable nonstop flights between almost any two points on the globe. Singapore Airlines will relaunch nonstop New York and Los Angeles flights, while Sydney-New York (16,013km on a Great Circle) or Sydney-London (17,016km on a Great Circle) would also come into play.

Airbus’ longer-range A350-800, meanwhile, seems to be paused, with most customers selecting an A330neo instead, and only Asiana remaining with -800s on the order books. Yet in the age of long and thin routes, the A350-800’s 15,200km range means that this smaller jet isn’t one to count out just yet.

A double-stretched version — dubbed the A350-2000, though the moniker remains unofficial — is gathering pace too, as airlines seek to maximise the future fleet commonality of their new-generation twinjets, while increasing capacity to the point that it starts to approach a 747-8 or A380. And there’s the rub for Airbus: will it, or should it, allow a super-stretched twinjet to compete with its own A380?