Airbus A350 XWB

The Airbus A350 XWB is a family of long-range, twin-engine wide-body jet airliners developed by European aircraft manufacturer Airbus. The A350 is the first Airbus with both fuselage and wing structures made primarily of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer. Its variants seat 280 to 366 passengers in typical three-class seating layouts. The A350 is positioned to succeed the A330 and A340, and compete with Boeing's 787 and 777.

The A350 was originally conceived in 2004, pairing the A330's fuselage with new aerodynamics features and engines. In 2006, Airbus redesigned the aircraft in response to criticism from several major prospective customers and renamed it the A350 XWB (extra wide body). Development costs are estimated at €11 billion (US$15 billion or £9.5 billion).As of December 2015, Airbus had received orders for 777 A350s from 41 customers worldwide. The prototype A350 first flew on 14 June 2013 from Toulouse, France. Type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency was received in September 2014 and certification from the Federal Aviation Administration two months later. On 15 January 2015, the A350 entered service with Qatar Airways, the type's launch customer.

Airbus A330neo

The Airbus A330neo is a wide-body twin-engine jet airliner currently under development by Airbus to replace the Airbus A330 (now A330ceo ("Current Engine Option")). There will be two variants of the A330neo, the A330-800neo and the A330-900neo. The letters "neo" in the name stand for "New Engine Option". The Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 will be the only engine to power the airliner. The A330neo will also feature other enhancements such as winglets (inspired by the Airbus A350), a longer wingspan (64 meters) and new engine pylons. According to Airbus, these enhancements will reduce the fuel burn per seat by 14%, with additionally lower capital cost making the A330neo the most cost-efficient medium-range wide-body aircraft in the market.

Development

Airbus's management had been studying whether to equip the A330, its bestselling wide-body airliner, with newer and more efficient engines: "New Engine Option", or "neo" to maintain sales. Airbus sales chief John Leahy felt it was competitive at mid-range routes with that of the Boeing 787, even without new engines. It was also the most inexpensive widebody aircraft positioned to serve high-density routes shorter than 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) and had the potential to create a monopoly in that market segment. Moreover, customers such as AirAsia X and Delta Air Lines were interested in a re-engined A330 and pushed Airbus to develop one. However, an A330neo could have also caused problems for Airbus; being in the same twin-aisle market segment as the Airbus A350, the A330neo could have hampered its sales.