SINGAPORE — Airbus Group NV showcased its A350 in Singapore, the first full display of the wide-body plane at an international air show, as the planemaker seeks to build on Asian orders for a model that takes on Boeing Co’s Dreamliner.
An Airbus A350-900 sits on the tarmac during a media preview at Changi International Airport ahead of the Singapore Airshow on Monday. (Photo by AFP)
The new aircraft, set to begin commercial service with Qatar Airways Ltd in the fourth quarter of this year, is on static display and will participate in flying on Tuesday and Thursday after at the Singapore Airshow, said Fernando Alonso, senior vice-president for flight and integration tests.
The A350’s appearance at Singapore is evidence that flight tests have advanced enough for Airbus to take the jet out for a few days. The aircraft has won 814 orders from 39 customers so far, from carriers including Singapore Airlines Ltd and Japan Airlines Co. The region accounts for 30% of the aircraft’s total sales.
“It’s been quite remarkable and way beyond our expectations,” Mr Alonso told journalists at Changi airport in Singapore where the plane landed on Saturday after stopping in Doha to visit its first customer. “We used to fly 50 to 55 hours a month” on former flight tests programmes, he said. “On the A350 we’ve been routinely flying 100 hours a month, because of the extremely good preparation” done in advance of flights.
Airbus first flew the jet on June 14 and conducted a fly-by days later at the Paris Air Show, the industry’s highest-profile gathering. The plane at the Singapore show is one of the two aircraft already undergoing flight tests, and is filled with equipment for monitoring the performance.
The two test planes so far have logged 1,000 test hours, out of a total of about 2,500 hours required ahead of certification.
The A350 has also been to Bolivia, in Latin America, to test flying in high altitudes and to Northern Canada to check its capacity to withstand cold temperatures, flying at minus 28 degrees celsius, Mr Alonso said.
Airbus has also begun letting airline pilots fly the plane. On Sunday, Mr Alonso’s team shared the cockpit with two Singapore Air pilots, giving them controls after half hour lessons, and in Doha, two Qatar pilots also took the controls, he said.
Airbus has been hoping to get clearance from regulatory authorities in the US and Europe to have airlines fly the twin-engine plane wherever they like without having to stay near land in the case of one engine cease working.
In industry parlance, it’s known as ETOPS, for extended-twin-operations. The Federal Aviation Administration in the US and the European Aviation Safety Authority must decide whether twin-engine commercial planes need to stay within 90 minutes, 120 minutes, or 180 minutes of the nearest airport — or whether the aircraft has shown sufficient reliability that it can fly beyond three hours from land.
Initially, European and US authorities had agreed on required tests for giving unlimited ETOPS clearance. Recently the FAA wrote to Airbus, Mr Alonso said on Monday, saying that it had reconsidered and would impose stricter tests before allowing full ETOPS.
The harder line came after Boeing’s 787 model suffered difficulties with lithium batteries, Mr Alonso said. The Dreamliner was grounded for more than three months last year following the melting of lithium-ion batteries on two of the planes.
For now, Airbus plans to stick with guidelines given by EASA, and once it has passed those tests, it will re-discuss the issues with the FAA, Mr Alonso said. If the FAA did require stricter ETOPS it would affect only carriers based in the US. Two US carriers have ordered the plane though earliest deliveries aren’t until 2017. BLOOMBERG