Airbus’s A350 chief engineer, Gordon McConnell, presented a technical update of the new plane programme

Airbus’s A350 chief engineer, Gordon McConnell, presented a technical update of the new plane programme to journalists in Toulouse on Tuesday. He confirmed that the first detailed “structural sizing” of the A350-900 established that the aircraft’s weight empty is 2.2 tons greater than target and that “similar deltas” are expected for the A350-800 and A350-1000. As a result, he said, the A350-900 will suffer a fuel burn penalty of “about 1%”, but payload/range performance will be maintained. “At this point we think […] it is prudent for us to take the decision to increase the maximum take-off weight by 3 tons across the family”, said Mr McConnell. He reasserted that the A350-900 remained on target to reach the detailed definition freeze by the end of this year, with first flight in early 2012 and service entry in mid-2013 with launch customer Qatar Airways after an 18-month flight-test programme. Air Transport Intelligence News (10/06)