Air France-KLM has placed a firm order for ten additional widebody A350-900s with Airbus.
The move will take its total order for the aircraft type to 38 planes. The A350s are
intended to be operated by Air France. Scheduled for first delivery in the second half of 2023,
the initial batch of passenger aircraft will serve to renew the narrowbody fleets of KLM
and Transavia Netherlands and renew and expand that of Transavia France.
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The A350F order would come with full substitution rights to A350 passenger jets. Air France
already flies 12 of 38 A350s on order. “We are very pleased to announce this first transaction
with Air France,” said Marc Baer, President of Griffin.
“Our management team’s long relationship with Air France-KLM dates back decades, and
these transactions affirm the great working relationship we have developed over that period.
The A350-900 forms the core of Air France’s long-haul fleet renewal and will be instrumental
in achieving increased efficiency and economics well into the future.”
The A350 features the latest aerodynamic design, a carbon fiber fuselage, and wings, plus new
fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce engines. Together, these features translate into unrivaled levels
of operational efficiency with a 25% reduction in fuel burn and emissions. The A350 XWB’s
Airspace by Airbus cabin is the quietest of any twin-aisle and offers passengers and crews
the most modern in-flight products for the most comfortable flying experience.
By the end of November, the A350 XWB Family had received 959 firm orders from 51 customers
worldwide, making it one of the most successful widebody aircraft ever. The deal marks another
step in Air France's initiative to establish itself as a champion of sustainable aviation
through the fleet-wide introduction of new aircraft types with markedly better environmental
performances than previous generations, and the more widespread use of biofuels.
The Air France-KLM Group aims to be carbon neutral by 2050. It is no surprise that Airbus
continues to do well with their narrowbody orders, with a full range of airplanes from
A220, A320neo, and A321neo. With KLM switching to the A320neo family on short-haul flights
in Europe, all the European major carriers use Airbus with the exception of RyanAir.
The key to winning narrowbody orders is having the flexibility of converting to the bigger
A321neo, for which Boeing does not offer any such comparable product. Boeing did not go
with a clean sheet airplane design but simply chose to re-engine with the B737 (order pressure
from American Airlines and Southwest Airlines). The A321LR and A321XLR will change the landscape
of operating the narrowbody to the 6-8 hours market, yet allow flexibility for airlines
to deploy them on short-haul routes as needed. The Airbus A350 is one of the most fuel-efficient
aircraft operating in the world today. The state-of-the-art aircraft is built from advanced
materials. A combination of carbon composites, titanium, and modern aluminum alloys delivers
environmental benefits such as lower fuel burn and reduced CO2 emissions. Its nitrogen
oxide emissions are nearly a third below the current industry standard, with noise levels
also much lower compared to previous generations. It’s a huge leap forward for greener air
travel. The A350 has a revolutionary adaptive wing design - inspired by birds – which
morphs while airborne to achieve maximum aerodynamic efficiency. At over 240 feet long, the A350-1000
is nearly the length of a football field. Cabin air in the A350 is renewed every two
to three minutes to minimize the effects of jet lag, meaning you arrive at your destination
feeling more refreshed than ever. The modular cabin layout can be reconfigured
overnight to allow airlines the flexibility to adapt to seasonal needs. The cabin is laid
out with twin aisles, typically with eight abreast and six abreast seats in economy and
in first class, respectively. The cabin is 5.36 -wide and 46m long in the A350-800. The
rest area for the eight cabin crew is installed above the rear bulk cargo hold.
Honeywell was selected to provide the environmental control management systems for cabin heating,
cooling, and pressurization. The flight deck accommodates two pilots and is fitted with
a head-up display, an A380 onboard information system, an onboard airport navigation system,
and a dual integrated standby instrument system. The A350 has six 38cm (15in) displays.
Airbus uses something called CFRP, which stands for carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic. It’s
lighter than aluminum, stronger than iron, and more corrosion resistant than both. CFRP
is used for the wings, the center wing box, keel beam, tail cone, skin panel, frames,
and doors, while the door surroundings, landing gear, engine pylons, and high load frames
are made of titanium. Airbus calls this biomimicry, an innovative
design approach that borrows cues from nature such as bird wings that have evolved over
millennia, changing form to give maximum lift and minimum drag. The Rolls Royce Trent XWB
engines that power the A350 are enormous. So large, in fact, that the fuselage of Concorde
would fit inside one. The Trent family of engines first appeared in 1990 and several
different variants have flown for millions of hours since.
The Trent XWB is the latest iteration of the range. The secret to building an efficient
jet engine is something called bypass ratio. That massive fan at the front of the jet engine
only funnels a small amount of the air it gulps into the turbines, where it mixes with
fuel and ignites. The vast majority of the air sucked in by those huge blades bypasses
the main engine, goes round the outside, and rejoins the heated, compressed, and ignited
air at the back of the engine. Airbus is testing electronically dimmable
windows, which first debuted on the Boeing 787 aircraft. However, Airbus is working with
the third generation of the technology which gives over 99.9 percent blackout when the
windows are installed on an aircraft. For passengers, this means they no longer have
to balance between open windows to look out and closed windows to escape the light outside.
They can just pick a dark level of their comfort and still get a view outside their window
as well. Airbus is experimenting with seat concepts
where tiny IoT sensors are fitted into your seat belts and seat backs, and rather than
cabin crew having to come over to check if your seats are straightened and your seat
belts fastened, they can get all the information on a tablet. Passengers, meanwhile, can use
their own phones to change their seat positions rather than having to fiddle with the seat
buttons, etc. And when the flight is done, if any seat ran
into problems, the seat can directly relay this information to the ground maintenance
team, who can be ready to fix it on arrival. A350-1000 aircraft features a long and spacious
cabin to accommodate up to 366 passengers in a typical seating configuration. It can
accommodate up to 440 passengers in a higher density configuration.
The economy class features 18in-wide seats. MIT also offers e-mail and Wi-Fi connectivity
for the passengers and is equipped with air-conditioning, lighting, acoustics, in-flight entertainment
(IFE), galleys, electrics, washrooms, and water waste systems. The aircraft can house
44 LD3 containers and 14 pallets underfloor. The total bulk loading volume of the aircraft
is 208.2m³. Pilots also benefit from a Head-Up Display
(HUD), where primary information is projected onto a clear screen in their forward line
of sight much like fighter pilots so that they never have to take their eyes off the
outside world. The Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) found on the A380 has been improved
upon with the system handling 40 functions against the A380s.
These include functions such as; Undercarriage, air systems, pneumatics, and fuel. The benefits,
of course, will be weight reduction as fewer processors are required onboard, as well as
a more stable system running a 100 Megabit per second network. Airbus has adopted a three-prong
main landing gear configuration with the two main prongs attached to the rear wing spar
forward and to a gear beam to the rear which is itself attached to the wing and fuselage.
The main gear will come in four and six-wheel bogies. Four for the -800 and -900 variants
and six for the heavier longer-range -1000 and also the -900r are being proposed for
British Airways to enable a London to Sydney non-stop type range. “Rationalising and
modernizing the fleet is central to our effort to regain our leading position in Europe,”
said Benjamin Smith, chief executive of Air France-KLM Group.
“It will strengthen our performance from both an economic and operational standpoint
and will help us deliver on our ambitious sustainability agenda. Offering a 25 percent
reduction in fuel consumption compared to previous generation aircraft, the Airbus A350-900
is a jewel of European expertise and a passenger favorite.”
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