European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has opened a new production premises in Toulouse, France, to assemble the company’s new wide-body, twin-aisle A350 XWB jetliner.
The 74,000m² facility is named after Roger Beteille, one of the founders of Airbus. It features aircraft halls, offices, workshops and logistics areas, as well as taxiways and roads.
The facility has been built as a part of the Airbus strategy to compete in the twin-aisle jet market, currently dominated by its rival Boeing.
Meanwhile, even before the inauguration, the plant has been developing the first A350 to undergo stress tests.
The company stated that production would reach ten aircraft a month by 2018, with it expecting to employ about 1,500 people by then.
A350-1000, the 350-seat largest variant of the A350 line, will allow Airbus to compete with the Boeing 777 twin-engined mini-jumbo and could enter service after 2017.
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By GlobalDataThe three variants of the A350 aircraft, A350-800, A350-900 and A350-1000, will accommodate between 270 and 350 passengers.
Airbus said that the A350 wouldl enter service in the second half of 2014, a year later than scheduled, following its first test flight in the summer of 2013.
The A350 programme is estimated to cost €11bn to develop.
Airbus has received 558 firm orders for its A350 from 35 customers worldwide, with the majority for the mid-sized A350-900 version.
The use of lightweight carbon-composite materials rather than heavier aluminium will allow the new generation of aeroplanes to reduce fuel consumption.
Over the next two decades, both Airbus and Boeing predict a demand for more than 6,000 mid-sized, long-range jets due to new flight routes. This market is expected to be worth millions of dollars, which both companies plan to tap into.
Airbus manufactures A380 jumbo and A330 wide-body in its Toulouse facility, while its A320 single-aisle jets are assembled at Toulouse and Hamburg.
Image: The new 74,000m² facility will build A350 XWB jetliners, which will help Airbus to compete in the twin-aisle airplane market. Photo: Airbus SAS.
