Most powerful Rolls-Royce engine ever takes to the skies.

[mike2000 is back]

Most powerful Rolls-Royce engine ever takes to the skies
ByDerby Telegraph | Posted: November 06, 2015

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THE most powerful aero engine ever made by Rolls-Royce has taken to the skies for the first time.
The Trent XWB-97, which has been designed and developed at the firm’s civil aerospace division, in Sinfin, has successfully completed its first ever test flight.

The engine is a more powerful variant of the Trent XWB engine, which powers the Airbus A350 XWB (extra wide body).
It is known as the Trent XWB-97 because the engine is capable of producing 97,000 lbs of thrust.
It has been made by Rolls-Royce in Derby to power a bigger version of the A350 - the A350-1000 - which is due to enter service in 2017.

Upcoming tests will focus initially on the newer design aspects of the XWB-97, specifically the higher-flow fan that pumps more air through to the tips and root areas of the blades.

This week, the first Trent XWB-97 was put through its paces on a “flying test bed”.
It flew out of Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, on an A380, taking the place of one of the plane’s four Trent 900 engines.

Rolls Royce to flight-tested the Trent XWB-97 engine with largest-ever 3D-printed component

As well as being an important milestone for the XWB-97 programme, which started in 2013, the test flight marks the first flight of the world’s largest 3D printed aero engine structure.

The engine’s front bearing housing has aerofoils made by the Additive Layer Manufacturing 3D printing technique, developed by Rolls-Royce in partnership with the University of Sheffield.
3D printing enables Rolls-Royce to speed up the development and design process of engines, as well as experiment with numerous designs.

A350’s entry into service,” said Mr. Treillet Customer Programme Director for the A350 XWB, adding that first test aircraft to be fitted with a cabin, MSN002, is now being assembled in Toulouse.

For the Trent XWB-97, 3D printing helped reduced the time it took to manufacture parts for the engine by around a third.
Rolls-Royce said the technology has the potential to improve manufacturing and product functionality in terms of design optimisation, cost and speed.

The Trent XWB-97 power plant is designed to a 75,000 to 97,000 lb-thrust range for the Airbus A350 aircrafts.

Gareth Davies, Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB programme director, said: “It was a great moment to see the latest version of the Trent XWB take to the air for the first time.

Picture showing Qatar Airways CEO, Akbar Al Baker (left) and Rolls Royce president - Aerospace, Tony Wood signing an agreement for Trent 700 engines to power five Airbus A330 freighter aircraft during Dubai Airshow.

“The first flight is the product of years of work and marks another programme delivery milestone.”
Rolls-Royce is the exclusive engine supplier for the Airbus A350 XWB.

The Trent XWB, has been billed as the world’s most efficient civil aircraft engine.
It is also the fastest-selling wide-body engine with more than 1,500 engines sold to 41 customers.
Rolls-Royce has invested tens of millions of pounds in its Derby site to make it the centre for Trent XWB production.

Higher-thrust Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine runs for first time.

The first variant of the Trent XWB, known as the Trent XWB-84 - which is capable of 84,000 lbs of thrust - successfully entered service at the start of this year with Qatar Airways.
It is now being used by three airlines - the others being Vietnam Airlines and Finnair

Most powerful Rolls-Royce engine ever takes to the skies | Derby Telegraph

Our engineers keep living up to their name. @Blue Marlin , @Taygibay @MarkusS . Hopefully this will help Europe Airbus keep the americans/Boeing at bay. @cnleio seems you were right, 3D Printing is the future indeed.

 

[Audio]

Wonder how they feel at Rolls Royce in regards to BAe procuring 20% stake in Reaction Engines.

 

[MarkusS]

awesome baby.

 

[mike2000 is back]

Wonder how they feel at Rolls Royce in regards to BAe procuring 20% stake in Reaction Engines.

Well Rolls Royce is very worried i would say. Since BAE is another British defence Giant(thesecond largest defence contractor in the world just behind lockheed Martin) with decades of experience and a very skilled/experienced workforce. In short, BAE has everything it takes to pose a real threat to Rolls Royce's(and GE) stranglehold on the world engine market. However, it will be exciting to see two of Britain's leading defence giants battle it out on the world stage. Competition is always good for customers.

 

[Gazprom]

Well Rolls Royce is very worried i would say. Since BAE is another British defence Giant(thesecond largest defence contractor in the world just behind lockheed Martin) with decades of experience and a very skilled/experienced workforce. In short, BAE has everything it takes to pose a real threat to Rolls Royce's(and GE) stranglehold on the world engine market. However, it will be exciting to see two of Britain's leading defence giants battle it out on the world stage. Competition is always good for customers.

Please state fuel consumption per hour for A350 with Trent XWB engine...

 

[mike2000 is back]

Please state fuel consumption per hour for A350 with Trent XWB engine...

This is the closest article i could get about that infos.

AIRBUS A350: IS THE XTRA MAKING THE DIFFERENCE?
08JUN
BYDANIEL TSANG/19 COMMENTS
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']26

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  • Airbus says 3-class 325-seat A350-900 OWE per seat 5% lower than 283-seat 787-9
  • 325-seat A350-900 has 6% lower block fuel burn per seat than 283-seat 787-9: Airbus
  • 787-10 can accommodate 324-seat in 3-class, has 1,500nm less range: Airbus
  • Boeing 787-10 EIS brought forward to Q1 2018: exclusive
  • Trent XWB-84 SFC 0.5% better than specification: sources
  • Trent XWB-84 has ~2.4% better cruise efficiency than GEnx-1B75/P2
  • Each 100lbs of engine dry weight equals to ~0.15% SFC
  • 9-abreast 2-class 315-seat A350-900 has 9% lower per-seat block fuel burn than 8-abreast 291-seat 787-9
  • Boeing confirms 777-9X late-2018 first flight & late-2019 first delivery dates

It is no small feat to have Delta Air Lines president Ed Bastian saying at the end of the 2015 Innovation Days that the SkyTeam carrier picked the A350-900 not because of earlier availability over the 787-9, but that he was “blown away” from what its business case has to offer.
Equally impressive beyond its flawless 2,600 flight hours test programme is its early entry into service (EIS) performance and dispatch reliability with Qatar Airways’ 3 examples logging over 11 flight hours (FH) a day, for a total of 465 flight cycles (FC) and 2,100 flight hours at a FH:FC ratio of around 4.52, representative of the duration of the Doha-Frankfurt launch routing.
As the €12 billion (US$15 billion) A350 programme takes on arguably its biggest challenge yet, a steep production ramp-up to 10 a month by 2018, from 3 currently which followed the addition of a third Station 50 for fuselage joins, the time is rife to evaluate its economic and programme performance so far.
[URL='http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/trent-1000-ten-results-exceed-pre-test-predictions'][/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']Comfort level alters seat economics considerablyA recurring theme throughout the Innovation Days briefings was the emphasis on 18-inch seat width and its impact on seat economics. The European planemaker argued that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is designed with an 8-abreast configuration with 18.5-inch seats, which then switched to a 9-abreast one with 17-inch “budget economy” seats due to well-publicised performance shortfalls. Its executive vice-president (EVP) of strategy and marketing, Dr. Kiran Rao, even quoted a 2004[URL='http://www.scmp.com/article/449381/new-plane-has-designs-space-and-comfort']South China Morning Post (SCMP)interview with Boeing’s vice president (VP) of marketing Randy Tinesth in which he said, “Don’t sneer at those extra centimetres as they come in handy when one needs to shift the body to find a more comfortable posture”.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']But brushing aside the seat-width debate first, the A350-900 is exceeding performance expectations.
When it comes to the centrepiece of any aircraft upgrades, the A350-900’s Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 engine is said to have beaten its specific fuel consumption (SFC) target by 0.5%, sources at the Derby, England-based powerplant-maker toldAspire Aviation. A further 100lbs of dry weight reduction coming from the[URL='http://aviationweek.com/technology/rolls-royce-begins-building-first-a350-1000-flying-testbed-engine']improved fan, which is set to debut on the production line in 2015 third-quarter and be delivered in 2016, is poised to bring this performance beat to at least 0.75%, as each hundred pounds of weight on a powerplant level equates to 0.15% in SFC. The fact that the Trent 1000-TEN (thrust efficiency new) engine, which incorporates some of the design features of its younger sibling such as a “rising line” intermediate turbine compressor (IPC) with faster-rotating aft blisks, is ahead of pre-test predictions, according toAviation Week, is a further testament of the Trent XWB’s efficiency.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']This is important as the Trent 1000 Package C engine powering the 787 is still missing SFC specification by 3%, which reflected upon its service entry shortfall of 6.3%, as the Package B incorporated a 2.3% improvement and the Package C another 1% (“[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2014/12/16/delta-loss-shows-availability-key-to-boeings-widebody-strategy/']Delta loss shows availability key to Boeing’s widebody strategy“, 16th Dec, 14). Even the General Electric GEnx-1B only reportedly managed to narrow its SFC shortfall to 1-2% following the performance improvement packages PIP1 and PIP2, from the service entry standard Block 4’s 4-5% miss. To have the Trent XWB-84 beating performance targets with better-than-expected surge margins, gives the A350-900 an unmistakable advantage already.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']Furthermore, the 3.3 tonnes overweight on the first A350-900 does not appear to be significant at all, equating to just 2.85% of its original 115.7 tonnes manufacturer’s weight empty (MWE). In stark contrast, the first 787-8 Dreamliner ever produced, LN1, was overweight by 9.75t (21,500lbs), and LN7 and LN20 were also 6.1t (13,500lbs) and 3.99t (8,800lbs) overweight in terms of manufacturer’s empty weight (MEW). It took Boeing until LN102 to meet the MEW and airline-specific operating empty weight (OEW) targets.
Interestingly, sceptics are pointing to the 7,750nm (nautical miles) updated range in a 2-class 315-seat configuration as a sign of the A350-900’s performance shortfall despite a somewhat higher economy class ratio, from the 8,100nm originally quoted for a 314-seat 3-class configuration, since the 60-inch pitch business class seats are disproportionately heavy when compared to economy seats. A 3.3 tonnes or 2.85% overweight should directly translate into a proportional decrease in specific air range (SAR), which is partially offset by the aforementioned 0.5% better engine SFC, yet the A350-900 witnessed a 4.32% drop in nominal range. Likewise, Airbus has recently upped the 3-class seat count of the A350-900 to 325, 3.5% more than the initial configuration of 314 seats, with a disproportionately large 6.72% decrease in range to 7,590nm.
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Screen-Shot-2014-11-25-at-19.47.24.png']Nevertheless, none of the components from which the SAR is derived has gone materially amiss, with the A350 XWB featuring some of the most advanced high-lift systems that improve its aerodynamic efficiency. Its advanced dropped-hinge flap (ADHF) system decouples the mechanical link between flaps and spoilers, whilst applying spoiler droop to reduce the clean overlap, thereby achieving higher overall camber of the carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) wing. The minimisation of the separated flap airflow, one of the biggest sources of cabin noise, not only improves the customer experience, but also increases maximum lift (CLmax) as well. Together with variable camber (VC), this leads to an up to 2% lower cruise drag, thereby reducing overall fuel burn. The differential flap setting (DFS) between inner and outer flaps by installing a motor and a gearbox between them, as a means of active load management, could adjust the centre of lift (CoL) to reduce the bending moment at the wing root. Therefore the structure weight could be reduced by 500kg. The DFS system would also be particularly useful under one engine inoperative (OEI) and fuel imbalance conditions.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']At least from an aerodynamic perspective, these new high-lift systems, alongside the A350 XWB’s unique aerofoil especially in the wing root integration, usher in new advances beyond the 787’s trailing edge variable camber (TEVC) system.
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/A350-mission-analysis.png'][/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']More importantly, Airbus could still lay claim that the 325-seat A350-900 could carry 14.8% more passengers and heavier payloads for a 9.35% lower range than a 283-seat 9-abreast 787-9 could, whose range stands at 8,300nm in Boeing’s 3-class configuration of 280 seats, pointing at the superior weight efficiency of the aircraft. In fact, the 275-tonne WV001 variant has a 195.7 tonnes maximum zero fuel weight (MZFW), equating to a per seat figure of 602.15kg, versus the 280-seat 787-9’s 181.43 tonnes MZFW and a per seat figure of 647.96kg, a 7.6% difference.
“MZFW/seats is not a measure of ‘weight efficiency’. MZFW dictates the maximum payload the aircraft can structurally accept. This of course can mean seats but also includes cargo which does not appear in your calculation. In addition, the A350-900 has been certified with 3 different MZFW options yet they all are equally ‘weight efficient’. With comparable realistic 3-class configurations, the OWE per seat of the A350-900 (325 seats) is 5% lower than that of the 787-9 (283 seats). This is true ‘weight efficiency’,” an Airbus spokesperson explained.
Indeed, while there always exists a trade-off as MZFW = OEW + maximum payload, especially on long-haul flights, it is still customary to assume only passengers’ 15 kilograms (kg) of checked luggage and no revenue cargo, with operating empty weight (OEW) highly contingent upon the airline’s choice of customer options.
Here is where the seat width debate weighs in and starts to distort the per-seat economic comparison, depending on one’s viewpoint.
The comparison between the A350-900 and 787-10 is a case in point. At first glance, a 2-class 787-10 has a 192.8 tonnes MZFW which yields a 535.56kg per-seat figure using Boeing’s seat count of 360 (“[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2014/07/11/airbus-boeing-widebody-game-of-thrones/']Airbus, Boeing in games of thrones for widebody dominance“, 11th Jul, 14), or 11% lower than the A350-900 WV001’s figure. Yet using Airbus’s seat count of 324 seats would yield a 595.06kg figure, only a 1.2% difference that can make the balance too easily to be tilt one way or the other depending on customer configurations. By the same token, Airbus asserted that a 2-class 9-abreast 787-9 could only accommodate 304 passengers with 60-inch pitch business class seats, whereas Boeing assumes a 360-seat capacity using 39-inch pitch business class seats. The 787-9, however, has a longer cabin length of 56m against the A350-900’s 51.8m, albeit being narrower at 5.49m versus the A350-900’s 5.61m cabin width.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']“There is a reason that they stayed with old standard. Because it suits them,” Rao lamented.
Boeing originally listed the nominal 3-class seat count of the 787-9 as[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/787-9_ia.gif']259, comprising 13 first, 48 business and 198 economy class seats in an 8-abreast configuration, before upping it to 280, with 16 first, 50 business and 214 economy seats in a 9-abreast configuration, albeit the premium seat ratio largely remained the same at around 23.5%.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']In order to evaluate the true economic performance of these two airplanes,Aspire Aviationchose a 2-class 291-seat 787-9 with an 8-abreast economy cabin and a 9-abreast 315-seat A350-900, both at an equivalent comfort level of 18-inch wide economy seats, on a hypothetical Philadelphia-Tokyo Narita westbound routing that measures 6,542nm (nautical miles) in equivalent still air distance (ESAD) and a 38 knots headwind when cruising.
For a similar premium class ratio, at 15.23% for the A350-900 and 15.12% for the 787-9, with their respective operating empty weights (OEWs) at 138.45 tonnes and 125.98 tonnes, the OEW per seat metric is too close to call between the two at just 1.5%. The cargo tare weight of more than 5,500lbs over 20 LD3 containers and 5 pallets alone could change the picture easily.
However, the same cannot be said for the trip fuel or block fuel burn per seat on such a mission on a 30ºC day at Philadelphia at an elevation of 10ft and 139ft at Tokyo Narita. Assuming no de-rating, 10 minutes taxi-out, 8 minutes taxi-in plus an 18-minute use of the Honeywell HGT1700 auxiliary power unit (APU) that has a 13% higher power-to-weight ratio and a 10% lower fuel burn than the Allied Signal 331-500 found on the 777-300ER, the A350-900 uses 85.71 tonnes of fuel, some 1.5% lower than the 787-9’s 86.99t. A noteworthy point is that the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-84 has an around 2.4% better efficiency than the competing GEnx-1B75/P2 engine whilst cruising at 39,000ft at Mach 0.85. Cruise fuel burn came in at 68.24 tonnes and 69.9 tonnes for the A350-900 and 787-9, respectively.
Because of the higher seat count of the 9-abreast A350-900, this translates into a 9% lower block fuel burn for the aircraft, at 2.861L of fuel per 100 passenger-kilometre versus the 787-9’s 3.141L, matching the 9% lower block fuel burn per seat claim by Airbus using Qatar’s mission rule and configuration with 36 B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seats and 247 economy seats.
“The 9% lower block fuel per seat is the result of a more extensive use of modern lightweight materials, more advanced aerodynamics, a different systems philosophy, newer more efficient engines and, naturally, a larger number of seats (QTR configuration assumptions and rules). To be really fair, if one assumes realistic and comparable current [3-class] configurations (325 vs 283 seats) the A350-900 has over 6% advantage despite the narrower seats of the 787-9,” an Airbus spokesperson told Aspire Aviation.
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Screen-Shot-2015-06-06-at-08.52.48.png'][/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#'][URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Screen-Shot-2015-06-06-at-08.53.04.png'][/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']Production maturity, A350-1000 & need for a stretch?One may ask: should the A350 be performing so well operationally, why is Airbus not chunking them out as fast as possible just as hotcakes?
This question only becomes more intriguing when Boeing is preparing to ramp up 787 production to 12 a month in 2016 and 14 a month in 2020, and Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) senior vice president (SVP) and general manager (GM) of airplane development Scott Fancher, told[URL='http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/boeing-787-10-running-ahead-schedule']Aviation Weekwithout a specified timeframe that the 787-10 is “running ahead of schedule”. While a steeper ramp-up could maximise Airbus’s widebody share, particularly before the 787-10 enters into service in 2018 first-quarter, Aspire Aviationcan exclusively reveal, the philosophy of its programme head Didier Ervard of only doing so when the production system is ready has won the European plane-maker numerous accolades and translated into a smooth service entry.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']On the day of Aspire Aviation‘s visit of the A350 factory, one day before the fuselage sections for Cathay Pacific’s first A350-900, MSN029, arrive at the final assembly line (FAL), production maturity was the first impression coming into view. This is especially true when the A350 FAL transitioned through MSN017, the fourth example destined for Vietnam Airlines, on which 40% of cabin parts were changed, without any major hiccup.
The first task in this steep production ramp-up is matching the pace at which the parts are arriving, 4-5 aircraft a month, and how fast the A350 is assembled and delivered, with 6 slated to be handed over to customers till the end of August and 8 more by year-end, for a total of 15 aircraft this year. This will include the first deliveries to Vietnam Airlines, Finnair and TAM Airlines of Brazil.
“We are running quite fast at the entrance to the Final Assembly Line (FAL) but the production cycles inside the FAL are still quite slow. So we are going to both increase the speed and reduce the cycle. In this way, aircraft will be leaving the FAL at a rate which is closer and closer to the rate at which they enter,” Ervard said in a Reuters[URL='http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/27/uk-airbus-a-idUKKBN0OC11520150527']interview.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']“I believe we have achieved a level of stability. I don’t say it’s easy, but it’s on track,” Airbus chief executive Fabrice Breiger said during the Innovation Days briefing.
This cautious approach is already bearing fruit, and this is not just reflected in the high dispatch reliability alone. It also means a faster trajectory towards programme profitability, with the A350 poised to become[URL='http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/23/us-airbus-a-idUSKBN0K10HC20141223']profitable on a programme basisfrom 2019 onwards, fast catching up, if not racing ahead of the 787 programme, which is now close to a forward-loss position and is banking on a block increase in 2017 to improve wafer-thin margins (“Tackling 787 cash burden will unlock Boeing’s earnings potential“, 29th Apr, 15). Closing a787 surge lineby year-end since its opening in 2012 and continued teething issues such as the need to reboot its computer systems every 248 days and a newsoftware glitchthat could cause the aircraft to potentially lose alternating current (AC) power, are good examples underlining the importance of having a mature production system, even as a fix is already underway in the fourth quarter of this year.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']Above all, Airbus needs to get the A350-1000 precisely on specification and on time to compete against the 777X effectively, of which Boeing for the first time publicly confirmed the late-2018 first flight and late-2019 first delivery dates in the latest revision of the aircraft’s[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/777Xbrochure.pdf']airport compatibility brochure.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']For instance, the introduction of the A350-1000 into the FAL will bring along several design changes, including the increased use of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) in the Section 13/14 door surrounding structure and half of the fuselage frames from titanium and aluminium in a new bilge arrangement, in addition to electric landing gear door opening and simplified electronics installation on the floor. Subassembly work of the A350-1000’s centre wing box on the first 3 test aircraft has already begun, along with the Section 15 panel at Spirit AeroSystems, Section 13/14 CFRP door surround, fixed trailing edge and pylon.
The core and fan of the first Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 flying testbed (FTB) engine, No. 26001, have also been mated in May, with flight tests commencing in early October ahead of the A350-1000’s mid-2016 first flight.
This brings us to one of the most important debates surrounding the A350-1000’s future – whether a further stretch, loosely dubbed as “-1100”, is required to compete against the 777-9X, which is gradually becoming a reality.
Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg has been named as the supplier for the 777X’s folding wingtip system, which enables the aircraft to remain Code E-compatible at the world’s major airports. Boeing recently achieved one of the pre-requisites for enabling that key capability, as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) adopted a reduced wingtip clearance for the 777X of 11m from 15m in January, a decision on which the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is expected to follow in 2016. At the same time, BAE Systems, GE Aviation and Aircelle have separately been awarded contracts to provide integrated flight control electronics (IFCE), common core system (CCS) and titanium exhaust parts, respectively.
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Boeing-777-9X-inflight.jpg'][/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']Image Courtesy of Boeing
From a technical perspective, the 135-inch GE9X engine,[URL='http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/world-s-largest-engine-grows-little-more']increased from 134.5-inch recently, should be able to undercut the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97’s specific fuel consumption (SFC) by 5% despite the A350-1000’s 97,000lbs engine retaining the same fuel burn performance as the -84 whilst its fan turns 6% faster and has a 5% larger core running at a higher temperature.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']Airbus heavily contests and refutes the purported seemingly unbeatable seat-mile cost of the 777-9X, saying it relied on the 10-abreast configuration to justify a higher trip cost, despite 70% of the existing 777 operators opt for a 9-abreast configuration. For a 3-class 376-seat 9-abreast 777-9X, it will have a 12% higher cash operating cost (COC) per seat than the 366-seat A350-1000, which is close to being halved to 7% had a 10-abreast 398-seat configuration been chosen.
To be fair, the 777-9X’s 4-inch “internal widening” by carving out fuselage frames is able to accommodate ten 17.5-inch economy seats more comfortably than a 10-abreast A350-1000 does at 17 inches, which Airbus admits at the Innovation Days briefing as “something it does not recommend”, and this does provide more flexibility for airlines as the 10-abreast option becomes increasingly popular.
Yet Airbus also has a point that in comparing a 366-seat 9-abreast A350-1000 against a 10-abreast 398-seat 777-9X, the weight efficiency measure of operating empty weight (OEW) per seat would likely favour the latter, even as Airbus reaffirms the A350-1000’s OWE at 155 tonnes. This primarily stems from a lower premium seat ratio, as the 398-seat 777-9X carries 46 business class (J) seats, 32 premium economy class (W) seats and 320 economy seats while the 366-seat A350-1000 is in a 46J/32W/288Y configuration, according to figures Airbus revealed to Aspire Aviation.
For the bigger question of an A350-1100, though, the marketplace’s need is not as clear-cut and loud as the call from Qatar Airways’ chief executive Akbar Al-Baker. The Ascend Fleets database shows 70% of the in-service widebody fleet has 200-320 seats and 20% 320-380 seats. Only 10% of the widebody fleet has more than 380 seats, the same very large airplane (VLA) category the 777-9X is threatening to encroach into.
Even Airbus chief operating officer (COO) customers John Leahy conceded on a further stretch of the A350-1000, “It’s not obvious that the world needs more seats. We’ve studied it back and forth but we’ve a very good airplane.”
As VLA sales dwindle, prompting Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) chief executive Ray Conner to claim that the 747-8 programme would be[URL='http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2015/05/12/boeings-conner-747-would-stay-profitable-even-if.html']profitable even at a 1 per month production rate, and as Airbus itself ponders the future of the A380 superjumbo, it is prudent for Airbus to satisfy gradual up-gauging with the addition of 20 more seats onto the A350-1000 by 2020 through cabin crew rest compartment improvement, new galleys and lavatories arrangement.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']In fact, the principal rationale behind Airbus’s own argument for the A380 and Boeing’s for the “sweet spot” to leap from 350 to 400 seats overnight – airport congestion, only take place when airlines can no longer add frequencies, and the process of up-gauging is happening much more subtly. Even British Airways (BA) made clear that it does not need beyond 12 A380s and[URL='http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/a380-does-not-work-for-united-cfo-413079/']United Airlinesechoed this view saying that it favours multiple daily frequencies over capacity.[/URL]
[URL='http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#']“It’s a very hard-sell to our board to do things for one customer. 200 just from Emirates. We’re not in the position to launch that right now. We’re still studying the business case,” Leahy commented on the prospect of an A380neo.
All in all, this analysis showed that the seat-width debate has a greater-than-anticipated ramification on seat economics and that the A350-900 burns around 1.5% less trip fuel and has an up to 9% lower block fuel burn per seat than an 8-abreast 787 depending on mission profiles and customer choices, albeit with a big caveat that 95% of all 787 deliveries come with 9-abreast economy class cabins. Operationally, the A350-900 has exceeded expectations both in terms of economic performance and dispatch reliability.
Looking ahead, Airbus does have a winning product in the A350. Production ramp-up alongside the A350-1000 introduction is the real bottleneck that it needs to overcome in order to increase its widebody market share. The 366-seater also seems to be sufficient to satisfy subtle and gradual up-gauging without compromising on flight frequencies.
Simply put, the A350’s “Xtra” is indeed making a difference.

Airbus A350: Is the Xtra making the difference? | Aspire Aviation
http://www.aspireaviation.com/2015/06/08/airbus-a350-is-the-xtra-making-the-difference/#


When Europe's 3 big powers U.K,France and Germany join forces/pool their resources together, only the U.S can keep up. We need to keep working together.
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