Airbus wins safety approval to launch A350 jet

The world’s newest passenger jet, the Airbus A350 long-haul aircraft, is set to enter service by the end of the year after winning safety clearance from European aviation authorities on Tuesday.

The wide-body jet – more than 50 per cent of which is made of lightweight composite materials – is possibly the last of the big innovative aircraft programmes that will be launched in the next decade.

The aerospace industry, exhausted by costly delays with landmark aircraft such as Airbus’ A380 superjumbo and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, is turning to re-engineered jets such as the A320neo rather than entirely new platforms.

Certification of the A350 by the European Aviation Safety Agency also marks an important victory for Airbus after it was forced to delay the programme by up to 18 months, partly because of early production problems with the aircraft’s wings.

“Our fleet of five test aircraft completed the certification campaign, on time, cost and quality,” said Fabrice Brégier, head of Airbus’ commercial business.

“We have not seen a commercial aircraft programme stay this close to schedule during the last 20 years,” Douglas Harned, analyst at Bernstein Research, said.

Airbus is still waiting for A350 certification from US regulators, though it said this would come “within days”.

However, Airbus now faces its biggest test in stepping up production of the A350, to meet pent-up demand of customers anxious to bring down fuel costs with lighter, more efficient aircraft.

“The main portion of risk probably still lies ahead, given that so many big programmes have had problems well after [certification] stage,” said Nick Cunningham, analyst at Agency Partners.

There have been concerns that some suppliers might not be able to keep up the pace.

Earlier this year Harald Wilhelm, Airbus group’s finance director, said the company had not accepted certain items from Spirit AeroSystems, a US supplier which manufactures part of the A350 fuselage.

Airbus, which is currently producing two A350 aircraft a month, will increase output to 10 per month by 2018.

Mr Brégier said in a speech in London this month that the group – which is also accelerating production of its A320 aircraft – was embarking on “the largest production increase in our history”.

Airbus could “not afford” mistakes such as those encountered in past ramp ups, he said. “These problems can cost billions of dollars.”

In an acknowledgment of the measures taken by the aircraft maker to avoid obstacles in the certification of the A350, Patrick Ky, executive director of the EASA said: “We dealt with a very mature aircraft.”

The A350-900 – the midsized version of the new aircraft – that was approved by the EASA on Tuesday is designed to carry 314 passengers.

Airbus has 750 firm orders for the A350. This is fewer than Boeing’s 1,048 for its rival wide-body, the 787 Dreamliner, though that aircraft was launched earlier than the A350.

The Dreamliner was temporarily grounded by regulators last year after lithium-ion batteries burned on two aircraft.

The A350 will enter service with nickel cadmium batteries, although Airbus is expected use lithium-ion equivalents at some point in the future.