Airbus touts efficiencies of 'new' A350; Boeing claims seat inflation
The A350 family will feature an all-composite wing and new main landing gear among other advances over the A330, changes that Airbus believes will erase perceptions among customers that it is essentially a derivative of that jet.
In fact, more than 90% of the part numbers are different, according to Senior VP-Marketing Colin Stuart. "It's a new aircraft," he said here, noting that the A350 also features new pylons and nacelles, with 39% of the aircraft consisting of composite materials and 21% of aluminum-lithium. Fuselage skin panels will be made of aluminum-lithium, which Airbus argues is a better bet than composites for areas likely to suffer a fair amount of ramp rash. In total, new technologies will save 8 tonnes in weight, Stuart said.
The proposed aircraft has gone through a number of iterations since Airbus received authority to market it last December. In addition to the greater use of composites, new to the design are below-deck rest areas for the crew with direct access from the cockpit and the rear of the passenger cabin. These additions and other changes have permitted the manufacturer to increase seating without impacting exterior dimensions.
The company now claims the A350-800 will seat 253 in a three-class configuration and have a range with full passenger load of 8,800 nm, while the A350-900 will carry 300 over a range of 7,500 nm. Based on the specifications released here, the A350-800 flies 300 nm farther and carries 30 more passengers than the 787-8, while the A350-900 will transport 35 additional passengers 500 nm farther than the 787-9. Airbus says that on a 4,000-nm stage length, the 787-8 burns 4% more fuel per seat than the A350-800 while the 787-9 burns 7% more fuel per seat than the A350-900.
But Airbus's advantage is the result of paper seat inflation, not efficiency, argues Boeing VP-Marketing Randy Baseler, who charged that Airbus is showing more seats in the A350 cabin than the available area actually can accommodate. Boeing's "Market Overview" distributed here devotes an entire page to the subject. For example, the A350-800 actually has slightly less cabin seat area than the 787-8, according to the document. "So why would you expect there to be 20 more seats?" Baseler asks rhetorically. "By claiming the higher seat counts, Airbus artificially lowers their seat-kilometer economic values relative to all of the other airplanes' values."
Boeing's bottom line: "The A350 needs 26 tonnes more takeoff weight and 14 more tonnes of operating empty weight for about the same payload range" as the 787. And it says the A350-800 consumes 4% more fuel per seat than the 787-8 or 7% if an airline chooses a nine-abreast (3-3-3) configuration for the Boeing jet. The A350-900, Boeing claims, consumes either 4% or 10% more fuel per seat depending on the configuration.
by Perry Flint
ATWOnline




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) non sappia ancora oggi con certezza quali motori avrà, tantomeno con quale potenza... e visto che non si sta parlando di fattori puramente estetici come la shark tail o la forma dei finestrini, non mi sembra un modo di lavorare granché affidabile.