First A350-1000 Wings Being Assembled in Broughton, North Wales

The wings for the first Airbus A350-1000 have begun the process of assembly at Broughton, North Wales.

The A350-1000 wing has the same span of the A350-900 that is already in service, but 90% of the parts have been modified and the trailing edge has been extended to resize the wing for the additional payload and range.

At 32 metres long by six metres wide, the A350 XWB wing is the largest single part made from carbon fibre composite material in use in civil aviation today. They are designed and developed at Airbus’ facility in Filton, near Bristol, where a number of other systems are designed and tested including fuel systems and landing gear.

The wing design includes several streamlined features. Among these are droop-nose leading edge devices and new adaptive dropped-hinge flaps, which increase the jetliner’s efficiency at low speeds.

To improve efficiency at higher speeds, the A350 XWB can deflect its wing flaps differentially, optimising the wing profile and providing better load control.

A350-1000

Measuring nearly 74 metres from nose to tail, the A350-1000 – scheduled to enter service in 2017 – is the longest-fuselage version of Airbus’ all-new family of widebody jetliners.

In a typical three-class configuration, featuring Airbus’ 18-inch-wide Economy Class seats, the A350-1000 seats a total of 366 passengers and has a range of 7,900 nautical miles. The aircraft can also be configured for a higher-density layout to accommodate up to 440 passengers.

Powering the A350-1000 will be Trent XWB engines from manufacturer Rolls-Royce. The engine will provide additional payload capability and range, along with 97,000 lbs. of thrust on take-off – making it the most powerful engine ever developed for an Airbus aircraft.

The A350-1000 will be capable of supporting the development of long-haul routes for emerging markets such as Shanghai-Boston or Paris-Santiago, as well as more traditional flight segments as Manchester-Los Angeles or Dubai-Melbourne.