 THE Airbus A350 may be delayed until 2014, senior figures in the aviation industry have predicted. The aircraft, which will compete with Boeings 787 Dreamliner, has already been sent back for a redesign and was due to come into service in 2012.
Airbus is expected to announce the industrial launch the formal commitment to build of the A350 in the next few weeks, but the delivery date appears to be sliding backwards. At 2014 it would be a full six years behind the delivery of the first Boeing 787. Airbus said that any talk of a slip in the launch date was just speculation.
| "Speculation! All speculation!" |
In order to regain the initiative, Airbus is looking at producing an all-composite A350, which would, in fact, be 70 per cent plastic, as some parts have to remain metal. According to Airbuss suppliers, the company wants to go all-composite and is talking about the equipment needed to do this. It is thought to be looking at making the aircraft from black aluminium; panels of carbon fibre that would be riveted together in the same way as existing aluminium panels.
Aviation sources say it is now accepted within Airbus that the A350 will not be delivered in 2012 but in late 2013 or 2014. If the A350 is delayed until 2014, it will effectively hand the mid-size market to Boeing as the American company will have a five to six-year headstart.
Pushing delivery back to 2014 also starts to run into the proposed development window for the next generation of single-aisle aircraft that will replace the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320. Boeing is thought to be aiming to introduce a new version of the 737, commonly known as the workhorse of the skies, in 2015 or 2016. 
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